| There's a certain amount of pleasure gained from | | | | more room-temperature rubble mixture can be |
| making fancy birthday cakes that cost next to | | | | added. |
| nothing. How? Not cheap ingredients! Make your | | | | Rubble Cake: my original experiment (quantities are |
| fancy birthday cakes from the trimmings of other | | | | variable!) |
| cakes. | | | | - I was using a mixture of fat-free sponge trimmings |
| There is inevitably some 'fallout' from making | | | | and leftovers already carrying some ganache and |
| celebration cakes, particularly wedding cakes made of | | | | white chocolate mousse. I broke up all the cake into |
| many layers. These cakes always need trimming and | | | | small pieces about the size of a walnut into a bowl. |
| cutting into shape before they are glazed with | | | | - I made sure the ganache was at room temperature |
| chocolate. | | | | (ie soft and slightly runny). I put it through the |
| But what can you do with those delectable | | | | microwave for 20 seconds. |
| biscuity trimmings? | | | | - I added enough runny ganache to the cake morsels |
| What to do with the traces of ganache from | | | | to just coat them. On stirring, the mixture was similar |
| the different fillings? | | | | to very large breadcrumbs or crumble. (Drier than |
| What to do with the spare cake and cream left | | | | you might think.) |
| over from the cake shaping? | | | | - I covered the bowl with film and left it for about |
| You can just eat it all, then and there, but that | | | | 30 minutes. |
| seems downright greedy - or throw it away, which | | | | - When I came back to it, all the sponge had |
| seems downright wasteful... or you can make more | | | | softened, I gently stirred and broke it up with a |
| brand new fancy birthday cakes! | | | | metal spoon. |
| Just after delivering a large wedding cake one year, | | | | - Then, using my hands I scooped up some of these |
| to be honest I was a bit 'caked out'! But my | | | | 'cooked cake crumbs' and compressed them slightly. |
| grandson wanted one of my 'fancy' birthday cakes. I | | | | It formed a mouldable ball of 'rubble' like loose sticky |
| needed something different, quickly. | | | | dough. |
| I remembered that in my Grandmother's time, bakers | | | | - I did the same with the rest of the cooked cake |
| used to put all their cake ends and scrapings from | | | | crumbs. |
| the day's production into a large bowl, together with | | | | Note: exact results are unpredictable according to the |
| any plain cake left unsold and a goodly slosh of | | | | original cake components. Remember that 'less is |
| alcohol. This was mixed, made into a large slab and | | | | more' regarding the amount of ganache you add to |
| sold next day in small slices as Tipsy Cake. | | | | the cake crumbs. Too sticky a mixture is difficult to |
| That set me wondering. | | | | work with. However, don't panic if you do add too |
| Could I do something similar for my grandson, but | | | | much ganache; just pop it in the fridge to chill slightly |
| keep it alcohol-free, and also use up the spare | | | | in order for it to harden before use. |
| ganache I had prepared for that wedding cake? | | | | Model at will! |
| Yes! It was one of my most successful fancy | | | | As well as fancy birthday cakes, this same mixture |
| birthday cakes, a 3D chocolate dinosaur. | | | | makes good plain truffles if rolled into little balls and |
| The basic 'construction material' is now known in our | | | | dusted with cocoa. It can be used as a base for cold |
| family as Rubble Cake. | | | | chocolate mousse cake or can be used as one layer |
| Rubble Cake is excellent for creating 3-dimensional | | | | in a chocolate layer cake. |
| detail. For larger cakes, use sponge layers and | | | | (Note: so successful was Rubble Cake that now the |
| ganache for the main body of the shape, then rubble | | | | joke is on me. Instead of making Rubble Cake cakes |
| cake for the rest of the modelling. The shaped cake | | | | from leftover trimmings I now have to bake new |
| should be refrigerated at regular intervals to harden | | | | cakes to break up for my fancy birthday cakes... |
| the chocolate in the mixture. Once the model is firm, | | | | |