Cheeky chimp – novelty cake class

Well I think a very enjoyable day was had by all on Friday’s cheeky chimp cake carving workshop.  I certainly enjoyed helping all the students achieve a cake that they were proud to take home.

The class was to introduce the students to the art of carving cake, something that many feel frightened of even attempting!

The students had been asked to bake a cake using my chocolate cake recipe (the one that’s in most of my books) so after I’d conducted a blind sugarpaste taste – the results always differ from class to class – it was time to taste test the cakes to demonstrate the difference the quality of chocolate makes to the end result! I think everyone agreed that the cheaper, lower cocoa solids chocolate, really doesn’t make as tasty a cake as the better quality, higher cocoa solids, chocolate.  It was the first time we’ve done a cake taste test and it was such fun that we now plan to incorporate it into future courses.

So next it was on to carving – what a difference a sharp knife makes! Many of the students ended up borrowing my knives as blunt knives tend to make the cake crumble and fall apart. So if this is your problem, I suggest you add a good knife to your birthday or Christmas present list!

Everyone’s cake slowly took shape and by adding a little white sugarpaste to the basic carved shapes, suddenly the cakes started to look like a chimps. Covering was done in two stages and finally the eyes and mouth were added and wow we had a whole family of chimps, all with their own characters!

Two quotes from Friday’s class:
“I’m not cutting this cake I’m keeping it forever”
“I’m so proud of my cake”

 If you feel inspired to join us in the autumn, please visit the classes page of our website for details.