https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/twilight-cake-2 • Posted by Muffinator
Twilight Breaking Dawn cake I made for my sister's birthday. It's a white/vanilla and mild chocolate cake with a white chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. The chess board and chess pieces are chocolate as is the pawprint. The black flecks are edible glitter. Everything except the candles is edible! Took me a total of 3 days to bake and assemble, but boy did it taste good! I don't have photos of the steps, because I wasn't intending to do this as a how to, but I've had a couple of requests for instructions on decorating, so figured I'd convert. Because of the time needed to set the chocolate and filling in the fridge I wouldn't recommend trying to make this in a day. Give yourself at least two days, three is better. That way you can take your time and not freak out if something goes wrong! If you do make this cake, I'd LOVE to see a version of it!
Twilight Breaking Dawn cake I made for my sister's birthday. It's a white/vanilla and mild chocolate cake with a white chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. The chess board and chess pieces are chocolate as is the pawprint. The black flecks are edible glitter. Everything except the candles is edible! Took me a total of 3 days to bake and assemble, but boy did it taste good! I don't have photos of the steps, because I wasn't intending to do this as a how to, but I've had a couple of requests for instructions on decorating, so figured I'd convert. Because of the time needed to set the chocolate and filling in the fridge I wouldn't recommend trying to make this in a day. Give yourself at least two days, three is better. That way you can take your time and not freak out if something goes wrong! If you do make this cake, I'd LOVE to see a version of it!
Bake your happy cake. However you want. Go nuts, really. :P If you want to go my route you'll need a special pan. Mine is a Wilton Checkerboard Cake Pan that I have had for years. I ended up using multiple recipes of batter (either two or three, I can't remember now), since the pans are huge. If you don't want a ton of cake, a standard recipe or box with two layers is more than enough.
Let the cake cool and prepare your filling. My filling was a whipped white chocolate ganache. One of my standard recipes for white chocolate ganache is two bags of white chocolate chips to one cup hot cream. Heat the cream and pour over the chips. When the chips are completely melted cool the ganache in the fridge for about an hour. When it's thick whip with an electric beater (I used my stand mixer) until light and fluffy. (resist eating it now)
While everything is cooling you can start the decorations. The chess pieces are chocolate molds I got from Amazon. Just do a search for "chocolate chess mold" or something similar and you'll get plenty of results. If you're lucky enough to have a baking store nearby, they should have something as well. Fill the molds with melted chocolate and then lightly tap the mold against the counter (this brings the air bubbles to the top). Cool in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Pop them out and repeat. When you have two perfect pieces (or as perfect as you want) pipe a thin line of melted white chocolate down the middle of one piece. Align them and stick them together. Let cool completely. I then trimmed the pieces so they were exact, but you don't have to. Use red melting chocolate for the pawns or get oil based food color. Don't just use regular food color or your chocolate will seize and be nasty.
For the paw print I drew out a print on paper and placed wax paper over it. I then piped melted chocolate over the outline (on the wax paper) and flooded it with chocolate. I got the weird color by mixing milk, dark, and white chocolates together until I got a color I liked.
The chessboard is basically the same as the paw print. I traced the cake onto a sheet of paper and drew a checkerboard on the paper. I covered it with wax paper and piped the outlines in chocolate onto the wax paper. Then I flooded the squares with alternating dark and white chocolate.
If you are making your own buttercream now's the time to do so. I use Bakerella's buttercream recipe. Found in Tuesday, November 11, 2008's "Finally, I Found It" post. I used cream, real butter, and clear vanilla extract to keep it white. I did double the recipe, but didn't use all of it.
Now it's time to assemble the cake. Level your layers with a serrated knife or one of those lovely leveling things. Place the bottom layer in the center of your display place and cement in place with a drop of frosting. Keep your plate clean with thin strips of wax paper tucked under the edge (but not all the way under) your cake. Coat with the filling. Depending on how many layers your amount will vary. I had four layers so I split my filling into thirds. Always go with one less than the number of layers you have. Add the next layer and cover with filling. Repeat until you hit the top. Pop that bad-boy into the fridge to set.
After at least 45 minutes (more is better) you can frost your cake. Do a thin crumb coat first (very thin) over the whole cake and pop back into the fridge for about 10-15 minutes. Once it's set you can add the rest of the frosting. Start at the top with a huge glob of frosting and work it down the sides of your cake. Try to keep things as level as possible on the top. You also don't want a huge thick layer of frosting on the top. With all the chocolate up there it's gonna be sweet. Once it's all frosted carefully pull the strips of wax paper out from under the frosted cake. You can use damp fingers to smooth any bubbles in the frosting. If you have a decorating tool, feel free to use it. I did, and put stripes on the sides, just for the heck of it. I also blew edible black glitter onto the not-yet-set frosting. You can also add any random decorations to the sides/bottom now. I had some leftover black frosting so piped a decorative edge from where I removed the wax paper. Now back into the fridge! Store refrigerated until serving day.
Shortly before serving assemble the decorations. Slowly and carefully flip your piped chessboard onto the top of the cake (feel free to cement with frosting or melted chocolate, I didn't need to though). CAREFULLY peel off the wax paper.
Place tiny dollops of melted chocolate on the back of your paw print pieces and flip it carefully onto where you would like it on your chessboard. You won't be able to move it, so make sure it's where you want it to be. Let it set for a few minutes (the fridge is a good idea again!) and then Carefully peel off the wax paper.
You can either use more melted chocolate to glue the chess pieces on or not. I opted for not myself. I did glue on my extra not-so perfect pieces around the sides of my cake though. I thought it added a nice touch. The candle holders are blobs of melted chocolate with candles stuck in them until the chocolate hardened. You do have to hold the candle upright until it thickens or they'll just tip over.
Now admire your hard work and enjoy! Take a picture of it and share your version. :) Just a warning- the chocolate chessboard cracks and chips when cut into, but hey, it's chocolate, enjoy it.