Last month, I had the privilege of making the 60th birthday cake of my friend’s husband. This friend of mine contacted me early January and sent me a cake design she wanted for the party.
By the look of the cake, the design I think is super easy. It is a two-tier cake with chocolate drip and Hennessy Liquor regular (700ml) and miniature (30ml) bottles. I knew that baking the cake was very doable. However, I was kind of not confident about how I could assemble the cake with a regular liquor bottle inserted in the top tier. Since the bottle is big and heavy and the cake is two-tier, there is a risk that the bottle will break/crack the cake and/or slide off. The party venue was fourteen (14) kilometers away from our place, so I was worried about the risks involved during transport especially since my driver (aka husband) is not available to deliver the cake personally. I make sure the cake is transported to the venue safely.
To ensure that the cake is stable with the bottle, I resolved to implement the following strategies:
- Cake bottom should be with dowels to ensure stability despite the heavy weight of the top tier.
- The top tier should be wide enough so that even though I make a hole, the cake will not crack or break.
- Cake should be the moist type of cake, so it is dense enough to hold the heavy top tier.
- Use ganache (2:1 chocolate to cream ratio) as filling to add more stability to the cake.
- Assembly of the bottles will be done in the venue to prevent damage risks involved during transport. See the Before and After photo below:
- I should book for a 5-seater Grab ride so the vehicle has a bigger space where the cake can be placed securely.
Getting hold of the miniature Hennessy bottles was a bit challenging. I could not find them in the liquor stores near me. Thankfully, there is Shopee. When online shopping, I take some precautionary measures to lessen the risks of fraud or damage.
Thank God, the cake turned out good and my friend was happy.
However, there are a few things that I intend to improve if given the chance to make the same cake again:
- I should make the bottom tier bigger. The original plan was to place two miniature bottles on top of the bottom tier. The size of the cake I made for the order is 10” (bottom) and 8” (top) diameter. I was left with only one inch per side space for the bottles. I did not force the original plan because there was a high risk that the miniature bottles would slide off the cake. Next time, I would suggest to the client that I make the bottom tier 12” instead of 10”, when the client’s budget permits.
- I should not forget to buy in advance the boxes and cake boards/drums I would be needing. I was prepared for the baking part but realized too late that I didn’t have a big cake drum and box for the cake. At the back of my mind, I know I can always order from the nearby box baking supplies store but then one was closed, one ran out of stock and the other one did not reply to my online inquiry. What I had were cake boards only. Heavy cakes require thick cake boards we call cake drums or else there is a risk of the whole cake completely falling apart or the frosting cracks at the bottom of the cake. I ended up using the chess board made from resin as a cake board. It was heavy and somehow complimented the cake design. I just asked my friend to give me back the board after the event.
Though there were setbacks that happened while making this cake order, still, all is well that ends well.