20th Wedding Anniversary (China) - Wedgwood Cake

20th anniversary Wedgwood cake

Top tier showing Wedgwood detailing and Lambeth style embellishments

When it was my parents' 20th wedding anniversary, and when my sister said she'd take care of their main present gave me free reign to go crazy on their cake, I knew I had to make a Wedgwood Cake. My parents are huge pottery fans (the house is awash with Portmerion), love Wedgwood (on account of their links with Darwin) and even live in the West Midlands (pottery central in the UK). With white modelling chocolate being able to impart a very similar matte appearance to Wedgwood's classic jasper pottery, I thought it would be a perfect theme for a cake. In addition, since now Cake Lace is all the rage, and I wanted to try something new, I thought the combination of fine detail, flexibility and crisp whiteness would make Cake Lace the perfect option for this kind of decoration. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I'm glad I took the gamble!

The cake itself is deceptively complex looking - but the main detail was all done by making silicone moulds from a piece of genuine Wedgwood pottery that I bought on eBay. The rest of the cake was quite easy, just baking two tiers of regular cake - I used chocolate and nut for one tier, and coffee cake for another, but you may use any cake flavour that you would like. I used Silicone Plastique to make the moulds again, which were quite easy to make, and I'm now selling them at my Etsy shop if you would like to buy some to create your own Wedgwood cake, please click here.

Ingredients:

Top tier chocolate cake (15 cm/6"):

150 g/5.5 oz shelled and peeled almonds

150 g/5.5 oz shelled walnuts

300 g/11 oz milk chocolate

1 heaped teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

255 g/9 oz unsalted butter

100 g/3.5 oz unrefined caster sugar

6 large eggs, separated

Bottom tier coffee cake (20 cm/8"):

250 g/9 oz unsalted soft butter

150 g/5.5 oz light brown sugar

150 g/5.5 oz caster sugar

6 eggs

435 g/15 oz self-raising flour

120 g/4 ricotta cheese

3 tbsp coffee granules dissolved in 6 tbsp water

Coffee syrup: 

165 g/5.5 oz granulated sugar

165 ml/5.5 fl oz water

2 tbsp coffee powder

Filling:

1 portion buttercream

Decorations:

Cake lace

500 g modelling chocolate 

Blue gel food paste colouring (I used Sugarflair ice blue, navy blue and purple)

Royal icing

Pastillage mix, pre-made (for the cake topper, if desired).

Decorations Instructions:

1. Make the decorations first, as there are many to make, and can be time consuming. Mix the cake lace according to the recipe. I prefer to leave my cake lace to dry overnight, as then you get a softer result, and much lower chance of bubbles in the finished product. 
   
   

   

   Store the cake lace pieces between sheets of greaseproof paper before using, laid out flat and not overlapping each other, otherwise, they can get stuck!

2. Mix the pastillage according to the instructions. You may make your own from scratch, but for convenicence, I use a pre-mix powder, and make up just what I need. The pastillage will require several days on each side to thoroughly dry out, so this too needs to be made in advance. It's best to turn over the structures as they dry, so that they dry evenly on both sides.
3. Make the modelling chocolate in advance too, because it needs to set overnight after making it, and sometimes it can warm up during handling whilst colouring. If it gets too soft and starts to leak grease, it's best to leave it to rest again for several hours.
4. Make the buttercream according to your usual favourite recipe, or buy a jar of ready made buttercream.

Top tier chocolate cake recipe:

If you don't have two 15 cm cake tins, you can do half of the recipe two times

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line the bottom of two 15 cm/6" tins with a piece of greaseproof paper before buttering the bottom and sides then dusting with flour
2. Place the nuts into a food processor and whizz up until finely ground. Then add the chocolate and cocoa and whiz for 30 seconds to break up the chocolate. Put to one side in a separate bowl
3. Add the butter and sugar to the food processor and beat until pale and fluffy. At this point add the egg yolks one at a time them mix together with the chocolate and nuts.
4. In another bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate, butter and nut mix. Split the mixture into the two tins
5. Bake in a preheated oven about 45 mins. To test if the torte is cooked, insert a cocktail stick or the tip of a knife for 5 seconds; when removed it should be reasonably clean
6. Leave the cakes to cool overnight before attempting to slice. I cut the tops and bottoms of my cakes in order to remove the more heavily baked edges. When assembling, spread buttercream between the two cakes, and leave in the fridge to set

Coffee cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 20 cm/8" cake tin with greaseproof paper
2. Put the butter and sugars in a large bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Add half of the eggs, then tip in half of the flour and stir well. Repeat with the rest of the eggs, then sift in the remaining flour. Add the ricotta and coffee and mix well.
   Watch technique0:49 mins
3. Pour the mixture into the cake tin, and spread the mixture flat with the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
4. The syrup can be made while the cakes are baking. Put all the syrup ingredients in a pan over a low heat and let the sugar dissolve. Turn up the heat and boil for a couple of minutes or until thick, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.
5. Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin overnight. Once cooled, slice in half horizontally. Brush each inside liberally with the sugar syrup. Go mad here, the cakes should be really, really moist. Then spread a layer of buttercream on one side, put the other half on top, and leave in the fridge to firm up.
   
   

Assembly and decoration:

1. Once you have achieved the right colour in the modelling chocolate, roll it out to cover the two cakes. 
2. The Cake Lace decorations I found stuck very easily to the modelling chocolate, but if you prefer, you can stick them on using edible glue
3. If desired, fill in any gaps or add any further embellishments with royal icing. I added some Lambeth style scrolls and hearts to the top tier, to give a more wedding style appearance to the cake.
4. If desired, add cake pillars between the two layers. I used four 3" plastic Greek columns, with 5 inch plastic dowelling inside.

20th Wedding Anniversary Wedgwood Cake