Australia shaped cake

I really really really wanna make an Australia shaped cake for Australia day... Every year we go to our good friends house and there's a whole bunch of friends and we just have the BEST day. Back yard cricket, lamb on the barbie and a few drinks. So this year we're either to bring a Salad or a dessert, and I've decided to bring a dessert cause everyone will be bringing a salad. ANYHOO, I really really REALLY wanna make a cake in the shape of Australia, that would be totally awesome.. But I reckon im not artistic enough to do it freehand lol and it would come out looking like i dont know italy or something lol

You could do a huge sheet cake like A4 size, and print out an A4 size print out of the Australia shape. Than put it on top and trace it with an edible pen, or with the knife. I think its easier to cut if its been cooked a day beforehand and kept in the freezer.

Why not do a google image search, get a good picture you can use as an outline, print it, cut it out, put it on top of your cake and cut around it?

SNAP Christy :lol:
PMSL, and Cai :rofl:

Great minds eh, great minds... :lol:

EASY! Just get a photocopied outline of australia. Attach it to the cake with tooth picks and trim around with a bread knife. And same for tassie :)

:rofl: Ah well if it looks like italy at least you tried!
I think the best way to do it is how they make shped kids cakes, so make you basic cake recipe in different shaped tins, then carve up the cake afterwards. I'd prob use two round ones and perhaps a rectagula one in the middle. You can make Cape york and tassie from the off cuts you have from shaping the rest of the coast! Give it a whirl, i'd love to see the pics. :D

If you decide it is all too hard, you could make a flag cake with the aussie flag on it......

LOl yeah that thought did cross my mind but dp laughed at me.. glad to see it's not so silly after all!

i just googled cake and australia, then clicked on images and there is a cool one with the aussie flag on it.....

:lol: great minds indeed!!

oooo cool falguni, can you pm me the link?

Ohhh im so going to do this cake!!!!!!! Quick question though.. How do you girls make your icing..? there are some icing recipes on taste.. but how much dark blue (for the flag) coloring should i put in it? And what flavour cake would you do? Im thinking chocolate cause EVERYONE loves chocolate..

eta: just realised also how the heck am i going to manage the stars and the red and white cross eeep lol

the best iceing for a cake like that would be butter iceing (it wont melt and as a guide line wont meld into one colour) iceing suger and un-stalted butter... just cream them together from a recipe i've just found (i think its my one from tafe...)
~you'll need~
140g butter softend (unstalted)
280g Iceing sugar (can be the 'blend one' if no one has any glutin issues)
1 tbs milk (optional...)
~methord/maddness~
1. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft.(dont over do it...) Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth. (its a very light yellow...)
2. Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk. (depending on how thick/thin you want it)
3. add any food colouring you'd like :)

My tip for making the iceing "smooth" on the cake is smother it with the bace colour (blue?) and use the non-bumpy end of a butter knife and smooth it off (it'll be a little thick...but it 'looks' good) and put it in the fridge to let the butter 'set' (so about 10-15mins..) and then get a copy of the stars/union jack and trace it with a sqwer (sp?) and then use a zip lock bag (or something like it) and fill with the colour for what your doing (eg. stars..white) and cut a corner off it and use it as a pipeing bag, then just fill in the stars.

HTH...PM me if you need any more help...im not good at making the cakes but i have books on it some place here i can scribe out for you :)

Depends what sort of icing you like?

The two I make are buttericing and swiss meringue icing oh and chocolate buttercream (white or dark).

Don't forget a crumb coating, and if you want a clean board put 4 thin pieces of parchment on each side of the board (just so the cake sits on top) then once its iced carefully remove the paper and you'll have a clean board.

Well im not sure what sort of icing to do cause it's got to be blue for the flag kwim? So you couldn't really have a chocolate one? Or could you...................

I wouldn't have thought so. A basic butter icing would be much easier to get a blue color. You could always use ready rolled icing to cut out the stars and cross. You can get it from cake decorators and some supermarkets. You can dye it too. I have never used it but noticed it often!

You could still have a choc cake though. ;)

Actually you can but it would have to be white chocolate ;)

If you're going to use pre-rolled icing make sure you use gloves as the dye gets into your hands when kneading. For the best blue I'd buy some icing gel colour (its a dye not the gel stuff you use for writing) you can get it at cake decorating stores. Normal blue vegetable dye tends to go green with butter icing due to the yellow tinge it has (unless you use spreadable butter in which case for some odd reason it whips whiter). It will also happen with white chocolate buttercream because it is slightly yellow as well. Swiss Meringue icing isn't as yellow, due to the meringue.

Kirsty, I have a womens weekly kids cake book, it's the fantastic cakes with a lion on the front. Anyway, in the back of it, they have an aussie flag cake.
They've made it from a 26cm x 36cm sized baking dish, covered it with whipped cream instead of an icing, then decorated it with blueberries and strawberries. The blueberries - 1.5kgs of them :o cover pretty much cover most of the cake for the blue, and strawberries for the red', then melted white chocolate piped into star shapes and let to set for the southern cross. it looks pretty cool. If you want I can try to scan it tonight and email it too you?

Nic

LOl wow! nic.. sure that would be really interesting to see!!!

Cai would the meringue icing go / taste ok with the chocolate cake?

Absolutely I make it with chocolate cupcakes all the time! Its seriously the most smoothest, silkiest DIVINE icing you've ever had. Its a martha stewart recipe, very popular in the US with wedding cakes and cupcakes :)

Also if you want to make the WW one, why not go cream cheese icing instead of cream. Will taste soooo much better with the fruit, and yes cream cheese icing goes fantastically with chocolate cupcakes. Its one of my fave combinations and everyone will be wowed I'm sure!

Well in that case cai.. get your recipe crackin on here young lady!!!!

OHH before I forget.. I made the malteser slice i think maybe you put the recipe up for ? OH MY GOD it was like a slice of heaven.. my mum was so jealous and wanted to know how to make it too hahahaah

Which one? Cream cheese icing or swiss meringue icing? I have a craving for chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing now!!!!!! And *yay* @ the malteser slice ;) Good to know. Have you made the peanut butter slice I posted years ago? Its like reeses pieces, thats always a winner too!

Hey cai, haven't tried the penut butter one, that was actually next on my list :lol: The swiss meringue one might the go I reckon :D ta!

This is my secret weapon. So you better be grateful...

:

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Martha Stewarts Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients for Buttercream

4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter (375gms), room temperature, cut into small cubes.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In the bowl for your mixer (heatproof), set over a saucepan of simmering water (like you would for melting chocolate), combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl with a whisk. Keep stirring until the sugar has melted (this does happen quite quickly so I do the finger test by touching the white mix and rubbing between two fingers if its still grainy keep stirring) You want it to be warm to touch not hot. This also pasteurises the eggs (so this recipe becomes safe for elderly and pregnant women). Once the sugar has melted and the mix is warm to touch attach the bowl of the mixer to the mixer and using the whisk attachment (if your mixer doesn't have this normal beaters are fine). Beat the egg white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and cooled for another 6 minutes (I usually know its ready by feeling the outside of the bowl if its cool its ready, takes me between 4-6 minutes).

Switch to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter several cubes at a time, beating well after each addition. (If the frosting seperates, which it does, it will look curdled but don't stress this is normal. Beat on high for another 3-5 minutes till its smooth and shiny again). Beat in vanilla and then beat on lowest setting to eliminate any air bubbles for about 2 minutes.

Instead of Vanilla you can add other essences if you want a different flavour. You can fold in lemon curd, or jam that had been processed quickly. You can also make Chocolate Swiss Buttercream by adding 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate after the butter has been incorporated (make sure the chocolate is not hot or it will melt the icing!)

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It sounds complicated but seriously from start to finish is about 10 minutes. And its soooo worth it! I forgot one thing, with the blue it might look really shiny and light to beging with (if you use the blue from the decorating store) because the shininess of the meringue reflects the colour. But it will darken. I did a "Doom kitty" (from ruby gloom) cake for my DD's ruby gloom party, and I thought it was never going to go black, by the time the party was it was pitch black.

Kirsty, did you get my PM? I can't find your email addy in your details.

Kirsty, did you end up making an Australia cake? I have been watching this thread and at the last minute decided I'd give it a go! It ended up being a real rush job on the icing (esp the union jack, its dodgy haha) but it turned out ok for a 1st go. Here it is

nice work Tania, looks fantastic! Now i want cake................ too early? ;)

Thanks :).....Its never too early for cake ;)

hey girls, I made the cake with Cai's icing recipe ... YUMMO btw cai ;) cut it out.. got to the party.. and thought bugger, haven't taken a photo yet cause i've been that flat out.. go upstairs to get the camera, by time I come down EVERYBODY has munched into it. NO PHOTO and I was absolutely devo! So i guess i'll just have to make another LMAO

WOOHOO! I'm glad it went well. And now you have my secret weapon ;)

Tannis, yours looks great too! Well done! I feel like cake now, I'll just much on salami and cheese with my bubbly instead ;)

Oh KL, :( no photo??? Well you will just have to make another! It must have been a hit if they couldn't wait until you got back. I've been craving cake all day, might whip up some cupcakes for dessert...

:

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This is my secret weapon. So you better be grateful...

:

---

Martha Stewarts Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients for Buttercream

4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter (375gms), room temperature, cut into small cubes.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In the bowl for your mixer (heatproof), set over a saucepan of simmering water (like you would for melting chocolate), combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl with a whisk. Keep stirring until the sugar has melted (this does happen quite quickly so I do the finger test by touching the white mix and rubbing between two fingers if its still grainy keep stirring) You want it to be warm to touch not hot. This also pasteurises the eggs (so this recipe becomes safe for elderly and pregnant women). Once the sugar has melted and the mix is warm to touch attach the bowl of the mixer to the mixer and using the whisk attachment (if your mixer doesn't have this normal beaters are fine). Beat the egg white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and cooled for another 6 minutes (I usually know its ready by feeling the outside of the bowl if its cool its ready, takes me between 4-6 minutes).

Switch to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter several cubes at a time, beating well after each addition. (If the frosting seperates, which it does, it will look curdled but don't stress this is normal. Beat on high for another 3-5 minutes till its smooth and shiny again). Beat in vanilla and then beat on lowest setting to eliminate any air bubbles for about 2 minutes.

Instead of Vanilla you can add other essences if you want a different flavour. You can fold in lemon curd, or jam that had been processed quickly. You can also make Chocolate Swiss Buttercream by adding 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate after the butter has been incorporated (make sure the chocolate is not hot or it will melt the icing!)

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It sounds complicated but seriously from start to finish is about 10 minutes. And its soooo worth it! I forgot one thing, with the blue it might look really shiny and light to beging with (if you use the blue from the decorating store) because the shininess of the meringue reflects the colour. But it will darken. I did a "Doom kitty" (from ruby gloom) cake for my DD's ruby gloom party, and I thought it was never going to go black, by the time the party was it was pitch black.

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A-ha! I knew I'd find this here :D

Droolin just thinking about how good this is with jam in it! Going to do dessert on Friday and hope this will be just the ducks guts ;)

Hehehehehehe! I'm fearing there is going to be a new wave of Swiss Meringue Icing lovers... and my secret weapon is not so secret anymore LOL! If you want the exact Jam measurements I'll PM them to you xxx