Walnut Caramel Cake

I made this cake today (don't mind the bad photography - that's one of the main reasons for me to create this blog). The cake is from the Whimsical Bakehouse book(great book btw). It cost me way too much for its taste (walnuts are quite expensive here). I didn't really get the chance to taste the cake properly so I'm not sure I can properly judge it. But the least I can say is that it did not overwhelm me with its greatness.

I made their House buttercream for the first time. I think I like it! And I decorated the cake using a technique described in the book: tint 1/2 cups of icing 6 different colors or shades. After crumb-coating the cake, press "blobs" of colored icing randomly on the cake minimizing overlap ( so the colors won't run into each other). Chill until the icing is hard to the touch. Smooth using a hot spatula (dip in hot water and wipe off). I love the effect! I assume this technique would only work with a non-crusting buttercream like the one used since the colors need to "blend" into each other. I also loved using the buttercream tinting guide listed in the book. I always thought I had enough knowledge of color mixing to just use intuition, but I never got as nice colors as I did using the chart (how come??!).

Since I had also used the same batch of buttercream to do my first FBCT, I didn't have enough left for the "swirls" so I just used the leftover coffee mousse (coffee flavoured whipped cream). I know, I know ... bad idea. It could've looked much better if I had made the effort to make a new batch of the buttercream. The whipped cream looked bleh on the outside of the cake and was too airy and soft to hold up well for the decor.

I also happened to use the new cake pans I "borrowed" from my mother. Great pans! Shiny, metallic straight-sided aluminum pans. Unfortunately, they are very hard to come by down here. For years I believed teflon-coated pans were the best for baking since they're almost all we have here. Now I know better! Too bad she got them across the border - from Saudi Arabia - so I have to wait until I can get my own set. So they will remain "borrowed" until then hehe.