Cakewich – White Chocolate Sandwich Cake With Jam And Cream
10 Mar 2011
My youngest hit the ripe old age of 3 earlier this year and with a maturity that only a 3 year old can have, he proclaimed "I am a Chef!". For the 2 months prior to his birthday, he had been getting down and dirty with all things food. Wanting to make playdough every morning by mixing flour and water, randomly opening a cookbook and pointing to a particularly hard recipe and announcing "Let’s make that!", insisting on dressing up in an apron and chef hat even to go to the toilet and wanting to stir everything I cook. It was only apt to have a Cooking Party for his birthday. And what would a cooking party be without a quirky food themed cake?
My boys are very fussy about cake. For the past few years, they have tried and tested my patience by managing to wrangle time consuming novelty cakes out of me for their birthdays and not having a single bite. "Make me a Thomas cake on tracks that looks like a real toy Mum!" "Make me an Optimus Prime cake Mum!" "Make me a magician’s hat cake with a rabbit popping out Mum!". So this year, I was smart about it and didn’t ask him what he wanted, knowing in my heart that if he says what he wants, I will kill myself trying to make it for him. Instead I aimed to make a cake that was as simple as simple can be, one that would almost be like a regular coffee cake that you would munch on in the afternoon, a cake they dare not refuse to eat because it had fancy icing (yes, my boys are finicky about icing and all things sugar).
Having seen the Cakewich on a few blogs, I got myself a Cakewich pan and debated whether I wanted a savoury looking sandwich cake (with green lettuce, yellow mustard, red patty) or a sweet looking sandwich cake with a filling of jam and cream. The jam and cream won because it was simpler and I was pressed for time. I adapted a recipe for a White Chocolate Cake from Donna Hay’s Modern Classics Book 2, whipped up some buttercream and bought some great quality strawberry conserve. I baked the cake on the eve of the party and put it in the fridge. On the day of the party an hour before guests were to arrive, I sliced the top of the cake to give it that unique sandwich look. I then sliced the cake in half and slathered on a layer of buttercream and topped it up with the strawberry jam. I carefully arranged the top half of the cake over the filling and voila, I had a great looking giant sandwich for my son’s birthday cake. Easiest birthday cake ever!
CAKEWICH – WHITE CHOCOLATE SANDWICH CAKE WITH JAM AND CREAM
Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Baking Time – 50 minutes
Assembling Time – 25 minutes
Serves – Tiny slices served a brood of 30 odd people at the party
Ingredients
For The Cake
200g butter, chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
150g white chocolate, chopped
2 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon strawberry essence
2 eggs
For The Buttercream
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup pure icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
a jar of strawberry conserve to fill the cake
Method
To Make The Buttercream
Combine butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the milk and beat until well combined.
To Make The Cake
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Place the butter, milk, sugar and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted and smooth.
Combine flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, strawberry extract and eggs in a bowl. Add chocolate mixture and whisk until blended and smooth.
Pour cake batter in the Cakewich mould. Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 50 minutes until cooked through and golden. Remove and allow to cool in the mold. Chill the completely cooled cake for at least an hour (overnight is best).
To Assemble The Cakewich
Remove cooled cake from the Cakewich mould. Using a sharp serrated knife, carefully slice off the top 1-2mm of the cake to get the "bread slice" effect. Now slice the cake in half horizontally to get 2 bread slices.
Using an icing spatula, spread the buttercream evenly on the bottom half of the cake. Top the buttercream with uneven dollops of strawberry jam/conserve. Cover the buttercream and jam with the top slice of the cake to get the most delicious looking cake sandwich ever.
Note : I have since baking this cake, sourced more Cakewich moulds from Kool Kitchen. The lovely Farial Ameen who owns the business was very helpful. Kool Kitchen can source very cool, quirky and unusual gadgets for your kitchens!
Sneh Roy is a Designer, Blogger, Thinker, Mum, Illustrator, Foodie, Food Stylist, Photographer & Cook. Writing from Sydney in Australia, Sneh is the Principal Tastemaker & Storyteller at Cook Republic. In those non food obsessed moments, she designs wacky characters, logos and websites. Take a peek at her fabulous design blog LBOI and the eye candy portal Stars We Love. Read more about Sneh.
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Sneh, that is one marvellous looking birthday cake!! It’s so cute that your son is into cooking too, must take after his mama!
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Thanks Georgia! you think? although right now he is more interested in the mess, lol than the creation. One can always hope
naww happy birthday to your boy! that is one fabulous looking cake!
Thanks Suze for the wishes
i’ve never seen one of these before and I LOVE IT !!!!
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Very cool cake =) You’re an awesome mum hehe =D
lol, thanks Angie! I like hearing that
HAhaha good old cakewich!!! Looks great! Happy Birthday to your boy!
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Thanks for the wishes Rhonda
Looks amazing
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What an awesome cake! Your little one sounds so cute! Happy birthday to him
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Thanks Jen!
My son just turned 2! 3 seems to be a fun age! A great looking cake you whipped up for your son. Happy Bday to him!
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Thanks and a Happy Birthday to your son as well
They are so adorable at this age!
Ha ha – your kids sound hilarious with their cakey demands! I’d want my optimus prime cake with moving parts please Sneh!
Miss Piggy (MelbaToast)´s last [type] ..Misschu- Darlinghurst
Shhh Mel! Don’t give them ideas, lol!
Okay, I can’t get one of these cakewich pans fast enough! And I’ll have to see how it holds up the panini grill as well.
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LOVE it! oh how i love novelty shapes
Iron Chef Shellie´s last [type] ..Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Decadence 19th Century Dinner @ Werribee Mansion
Oh ma gawd!! How is it that I’ve never seen the almighty cakewich before?? This looks adorable and I MUST get my hands on this cake tin, stat!
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I’ve never seen a cakewich before, but it’s genius! What a cool cake. Happy birthday to your little boy!
This is just too fun! I love this idea, and I’d love for you to submit this to the M&T Spotlight at http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight
Wow, that’s the coolest thing ever! I would be so tempted to slice that on the diagonal and pick it up to eat with my hands like a real sarnie, haha!
Hungry Jenny x
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That’s the cutest thing! I want a cakewich for my next birthday
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I need a cakewich pan! I love the white chocolate frosting!