ZEBRA CAKE

     I believe an important part of cooking is to present food that looks as marvelous as it tastes. As well there are times for decorative garnishes that are artfully made from food, but not necessarily eaten, like sculpted watermelon shells for example. There is probably no more involved food art than the decorated cake. But as I said it should look as good as it tastes. There are those TV shows and competitions where the cake is an incidental building material, with no regard to taste and texture. Let’s not forget the culinary part of things as to be pleasing to the palate. Otherwise these fantastic cakes could be just made of Styrofoam, or Leggos. And we all have had a pretty bakery cake that tastes bland, and the icing is dull mouths full of sugared shortening.

     Having said all that, and in keeping with a discussion of food art and the visual component of cookery, a friend (thanx R.) sent me this video some time ago for this whimsical Zebra cake.  It happens my daughters favorite colors are bright pink and lime green, as well she loves zebra patterns. So when I saw this cake I knew I had to try it for her birthday. This meant waiting some months but it was worth it. Here is the video first. Then below is my attempt and success or no and tips I found from doing this. Her Birthday celebration was Saturday last. 

    So here is my version. As you can see I added lime green to the décor, and made gum paste hibiscus flowers to add to a tropical feel.

    I did want to make it taste good as I said so I instead of just white cake batter, I made a white cake and flavored it with a tsp of ginger and one of almond extract. As well I made a chocolate cake batter and colored it black for the darker stripes. For frosting I made cream cheese icing and mixed it with the same amount of white decorator icing. To give it enough body but a nice taste. Taste-wise it was all delicious.

     

I will say however be sure your batter is thin enough to pour well. My batters were rather thick, and while it made for a rich moist and yummy cake, I had a hard time getting the successive scoops of batter to displace the scoop underneath. I had to tap my pan bottom on the counter many times to get it to settle in, and as you can see,  the stripes did not come out as well, which was a bit disappointing as that, to me, was one of the most delightful parts of the whole thing. Alas, so there is the first tip from my learning experience, thinner batter.

As well I made the gum paste hibiscus and should have left them in the fridge after drying until the last minute, as they “wilted” a bit in the summer heat of July before we finally had the singing of happy birthday.  And so I know a few tips to do a better job next time. But the cake was very attractive I think, I even found zebra striped candles in black pink, and lime green, and it did taste very yummy. And best of all my Daughter loved it. Wish I had gotten a photo of the candles on the cake but with lighting all of them and singing, I forgot to get my camera back out until we were already slicing it.

     Until next time. Blessings mes amis