2D 1
Haikus are easy, but sometimes they don't...
by Cat Rotondo · submitted Aug 3, 2009 · 2009 contest
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Description
What I conveniently forgot is that things tend to go wrong when I make stuff up.....
I wanted to make a threadcake for my wonderful and patient partner as a treat. I really wanted to make the Haiku cake, because I absolutely love the shirt! So I racked my brain for ideas on the best way to cake it and this is what I came up with.
I did a Japanese inspired refrigerator cake. Firstly, I had never made a refrigerator cake before, so I surfed the net for a standout recipe. Nothing grabbed me though, but I got the gist of how they worked so I figured that I would make it up. I started with baking a 1" chocolate mudcake slab to build on. I made up a black cherry syrup and poured that over the top, making it a tray of cakey, sticky awesomeness. My third layer was of thick chocolate mousse, which I quickly whipped up and popped back into the fridge to firm. Lastly I wanted to have a slab of white chocolate, to give a satisfying 'crack' when slicing the cake. I melted some chocolate and smoothed it onto some baking paper, cut it to size and carefully placed it on top.
Now, to decorate I wanted to write the haiku in Japanese. I don't speak or write in Japanese, but I figured I could just online translate it. Hmmm... turns out the translation programs I tried didn't like the haiku! Silly programs!!! Luckily, we had our local multicultural festival today, and I found some really lovely Japanese ladies who were happy to write down the character for Haiku, and Refrigerator. After all of the stuffing around online, I was happy to settle for the 2 main words. So I piped these onto the slab. And then coloured some white chocolate to 'paint' a Japanese inspired background. Im not Japanese, Im no artist, and I also haven't worked with chocolate before. Good thing I have a sense of humour and realise that what works in my head... may not work in reality.
All in all, it worked out alright. If I had worked with a recipe I would have avoided the oozy chocolatey mess that I made when we lifted the cake out of the tray. But thats half the fun of learning. The cake was ridiculously rich... definately as fun to eat as it was to make!
I hope you get where Im coming from with this, and that it does the awesomeness of the shirt some justice. I really hope you like it! :o)
I wanted to make a threadcake for my wonderful and patient partner as a treat. I really wanted to make the Haiku cake, because I absolutely love the shirt! So I racked my brain for ideas on the best way to cake it and this is what I came up with.
I did a Japanese inspired refrigerator cake. Firstly, I had never made a refrigerator cake before, so I surfed the net for a standout recipe. Nothing grabbed me though, but I got the gist of how they worked so I figured that I would make it up. I started with baking a 1" chocolate mudcake slab to build on. I made up a black cherry syrup and poured that over the top, making it a tray of cakey, sticky awesomeness. My third layer was of thick chocolate mousse, which I quickly whipped up and popped back into the fridge to firm. Lastly I wanted to have a slab of white chocolate, to give a satisfying 'crack' when slicing the cake. I melted some chocolate and smoothed it onto some baking paper, cut it to size and carefully placed it on top.
Now, to decorate I wanted to write the haiku in Japanese. I don't speak or write in Japanese, but I figured I could just online translate it. Hmmm... turns out the translation programs I tried didn't like the haiku! Silly programs!!! Luckily, we had our local multicultural festival today, and I found some really lovely Japanese ladies who were happy to write down the character for Haiku, and Refrigerator. After all of the stuffing around online, I was happy to settle for the 2 main words. So I piped these onto the slab. And then coloured some white chocolate to 'paint' a Japanese inspired background. Im not Japanese, Im no artist, and I also haven't worked with chocolate before. Good thing I have a sense of humour and realise that what works in my head... may not work in reality.
All in all, it worked out alright. If I had worked with a recipe I would have avoided the oozy chocolatey mess that I made when we lifted the cake out of the tray. But thats half the fun of learning. The cake was ridiculously rich... definately as fun to eat as it was to make!
I hope you get where Im coming from with this, and that it does the awesomeness of the shirt some justice. I really hope you like it! :o)
