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Strawberry Mud Cake – Happy Birthday Elia

Strawberry Mud Cake – Happy Birthday Elia

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This strawberry mud cake is a recipeI am making for the first time and it’s probably my favorite chocolate cake ever!

The sponge is made with sponge cake without butter and is filled with a strawberry pudding, topped with a rich ganache and decorated with Kit Kat chocolates and marzipan piggies.

George Kyriacos and Elia

How time flies!   My little girl is turning 21 today!!  Happy Birthday Elia.

Elia blowing the candles

We celebrated her birthday yesterday, as her younger brother on the left is at work until late in the evening, so we preferred to celebrate it a day earlier when all the family is together.

Elia's Birthday Cake

My children love my cakes and I think they would not trade them even if bought from the best confectionery.  I asked Elia what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday and she said chocolate with strawberries.

I was looking for inspiration on the internet and loved this one as soon as I saw it.  The post was in a language I do not know and without a recipe to translate, so I just made it the way I always make my cakes.  The only problem was that the piggies were made of gum paste, something I have never attempted to make until now, so initially I decided to decorate the top with some strawberries.

Marzipan piggies

I bought 500 grams strawberries in order to make a Strawberry Sauce, which  I used to make the cream filling using the 400 grams.  The remaining were saved for the decoration on top, which eventually I did not use.  I kept thinking how I could make those piggies, which were the most fun part of the whole concept and the idea of making mazipan piggies came up.

Mud Cake cut

I blanched some almonds, dried them well and then powdered them with the icing sugar to make the Almond Paste.  The only thing which is not edible is their tails.  I used thin wire and ribbon which I glued with fabric glue.

I did not have any food colours as I rarely use any but I solved the problem using syrup from the strawberries to make the piggies and did not make the lifesaver.

Collage cakeStrawberry Mud Cake, recipe by Ivy

I prepared the sponge cake from the previous day, adding 1/2 cup extra dark cocoa powder.  The cake is a little more dense than usual and this time I used a smaller baking tin (23 cm / 9 inch), so the sponge is much higher than usual and this enabled me to cut it into 3 slices.

I wet each slice with syrup from the strawberry sauce.  I placed the first piece on a platter and put the cake ring back.  I added half the cream and continued with the second piece.  I added the remaining cream and ended with third piece and kept the parchment paper on top.  The cake was put in the fridge for an hour for the cream to set.

I broke the kit kats in the middle and surround the cake.   I secured them with a ribbon which I tied around the cake and refrigerated it overnight.

Strawberry Sauce/Coulis:

  • 400 grams strawberries
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup leftover sour cherry syrup (if you don’t have any add more sugar and water, just enough to dissolve the sugar)

Directions:

Strawberries were boiled in a shallow non stick frying pan for about 15 minutes until the sauce was thick.

Stawberry Cream:

  • Strawberry sauce (I used the syrup to wet the sponge and mashed the remaining, which was about 1 cup)
  • 50 grams corn flour (starch)
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Heat the milk.  In a pot add the corn flour and using a ballon whisk dissolve with the hot milk.  Add the pureed strawberries and mix until the cream sets.  Add the butter and mix.  

Marzipan Piggies:

Ingredients:

  • 100 grams blanched almonds
  • 120 grams icing sugar
  • 2 tbsp Strawberry syrup (from the sauce)
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Peel and dry the almonds.

In a food processor add the almonds together with sugar and powder. Sieve so that there are no big pieces. Add lemon juice and strawberry syrup and mix to make a paste.  Form the piggies and refrigerate overnight.

The next day I prepared the ganache.  After removing the parchment paper I poured the ganache on top of cake.  I refrigerated it for about an hour (or until it starts setting) and then placed the piggies on top.

Chocolate Ganache:

  • 200 ml heavy cream
  • 250 grams couverture chocolate
  • A pinch of salt
  • A pinch of freshly grated black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp orange zest

Directions:

Over a double boiler heat the cream (do not boil).  Add the chocolate and mix until it melts.  Add butter, salt, pepper and zest and mix.  Set aside until it cools.

Extra Ingredients:

12 Kit Κat chocolates (11 1/2 needed)

You will find more cake ideas in Volume 2 of my e-cookbook, sold by me in pdf format or on all Amazon stores.

Piggies in mud cake

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

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Katie

Monday 20th of July 2015

The cake looks really beautiful. It really is such a pretty cake and it looks and sounds like it was so delcious. Your daughter's birthday sounds wonderful!

Surya Tejaswini

Tuesday 20th of May 2014

A very happy birthday to your doll Elia. Hope she must me more excited after seeing this cake. It is a perfect combo. The cake is not just yummy. It is quite healthy too. Straw Berries have a bunch of health benefits.Hei Elia celebrate yummy and healthy Birthday dear..... :). Keep making such healthy cakes.... :)

Lee

Friday 22nd of March 2013

Hi That cake is one of the best pieces of work I have seen for a long time. You can taste it from here. I shouldn't come to your site it makes my cooking look bad.

Great recipe, lee

Ivy

Monday 18th of March 2013

Thank you so much for your lovely comments and wishes :)

Mary

Monday 18th of March 2013

I love the cake you made, so cute with the pigs floating in chocolate mud! I'm impressed that you made your own strawberry marzipan and shaped the pigs out of it, that was quite a project in addition to making the layers, ganache, and strawberry coulis!

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