Summer is drawing to an end and I wanted to make a very summery cake for my husband’s birthday. A seasonal fresh peach is the ideal summer treat: juicy, sweet and tangy, it quenches your thirst immediately and reminds me the numerous trips to my grandpa’s garden to pinch a peach or two during (very) hot Provencal summer afternoons. Fresh peach cake recipes don’t seem to overpopulate the internet, so I adapted a lemon and almond sponge recipe and reduced the quantity of liquid to produce this Fresh Peach cake, filled with Maple syrup cream and covered with marshmallow icing. I also just bought a new blowtorch so caramelising the marshmallow icing was a must do!
Tag Archives: marshmallow icing
Celebration cake: Toasted marshmallow and ginger cake
This cake was served at midnight on New Year’s eve covered with sparklers. This was our second wedding party with our friends and after the decadent meal we had I needed to finish off the meal with fireworks! This cake feels very wintery with the heavy ginger flavour, and perfect for celebrations with the blow-torched marshmallow icing. It is one of my husband’s favourite cake and it was a real hit with our guests.
This recipe is from my BBC Good food magazine and is now online here. This recipe produces a cake too small for our 20 guests so I decided to go for a two-tier cake. This recipe just filled my 15cm round cake tin, and I doubled it for the bottom 23cm cake.
The recipe asks for 4 stem ginger balls for the buttercream. The first time I made this cake I didn’t have time to hunt for this ingredient and decided to make my own so I’ll have the confit ginger and the syrup at the same time. It takes a bit of time but it is very easy.
Peel 3 big chunks of fresh ginger and chop it into small bits (or use a food processor). Simmer the ginger for 45 minutes in half a litter of water until it softens. Fish out the softened ginger and set aside. Measure the liquid left and add double the amount in granulated sugar, then put it all back in the pan and mix well to dissolve the sugar. Let it simmer until it thickens, then add the ginger back in the pan and here you have confit ginger with ginger syrup. You can fill clean jam pots to the top with the hot mixture, close the lid and turn it upside down. Let it cool and you can store it for months!
I love the spiciness of ginger and really wanted to give a kick to my buttercream so I used lots of this confit ginger while mixing the buttercream. Constantly taste your buttercream until you have achieve the desired level of heat.
For tips to build up a two tier cake, have a look here at my previous wedding cake post.
One tip for the marshmallow icing: Do not leave it too long at room temperature before blow-torching it as it might slide off the cake. As soon as you it is blow-torched, the marshmallow will keep its shape and the cake can be stored at room temperature until served.
Noémie's kitchen 