21st wedding anniversary cake!

It's that time of year again and this time I decided to make a super-duper cake. Not that we never get to eat cake or anything. I've been reading Gesine's blog for a long time now. I love the cakes and other goodies she makes. You can tell that so much love goes into them.

It took me a while to decide which cake I was going to be inspired by, well, if you've seen her blog you'll know why; so much deliciousness. I say inspired because I decided to follow the concept more than the actual recipe. Also, if I just say inspired then I can only blame myself if my brilliant ideas for change were not that brilliant. Which turned out to be the case.

Have a look at Gesine's.

I used my own recipes for the different elements. A simple fat-free sponge for the base and top and the chocolate spiral. I used ganache, cream and buttercream, like Gesine does in her recipe. My cake turned out a lot smaller, 6 inches, but that's fine. Just about right for the four of us to have a slice each.


I also cheated a little with the hearts on the side. I used my chocolate mold for those and finally I got Alex to write “Love” on top. I can't write neatly with a pencil never mind frosting!


When we cut the cake it was immediately obvious that 1) I should have put a thicker layer of cream on the rolled up cake, to get a more defined look; after all, the sensational thing about the cake was the upright ‘layers’ and 2) the sponge recipe I used was so spongy, it was difficult to get a clean cut. So, really, if you want it to turn out like Gesine's... follow her recipe!


We had some funny moments where the words ‘cake’ and ‘wrecks’ were mentioned, especially when HE was writing “Love” on the top and then, after I cut it, it didn't have the sharp effect I'd hoped for. Anyway, it was delicious and there's still half a bowl of ganache to eat later on!

Happy anniversary to us!


Liz Cupcakes