It was M’s birthday and he’s a Monster fiend, so D and I made him a cake that he would never forget! No need for energy drink after consuming all this sugar, though!
This one would definitely not be filed under “healthy” but it’s only once a year lifetime that I would do something this crazy!
Preheat oven to 165°C. Butter and flour 4 x 10cm wide x 6cm high soufflé dishes.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth.
Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture using a large spatula, adding a tablespoon or two of milk to loosen the batter if necessary.
Divide the mixture evenly between the soufflé dishes and gently smooth with a spatula.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Trim the tops with a large serrated knife so they are flat and take a thin slice off the bottoms to expose the crumb for better sticking.
Warm the strawberry jam and remove any lumps, then use a silicon brush to spread it fairly thickly onto the flat faces of the cakes that you will join together. Stack the cakes and trim if necessary so it is a smooth cylinder.
Mix butter, sugar syrup and vanilla together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the powdered sugar and stir until combined and smooth.
Remove 150g of fondant to a small bowl and set aside.
Into the large portion, knead enough black food colouring to achieve the desired shade. Of course, you are aiming for black, so the desired shade will be black. I used one and a bit 30g tubes of gel colouring. You may need to add more powdered sugar to compensate for the colouring liquid. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, pressed onto the surface of the fondant and refrigerate until ready to use.
Take the fondant you removed and remove 50g of it to a small bowl, knead enough fluoro green food colouring to get the desired shade for the M and set aside.
Into the 100g remaining, knead enough black food colouring to get a metallic grey colour. A few drops should do (mine’s a bit dark).
Cover both small bowl tightly with plastic wrap, pressed onto the surface of the fondant and refrigerate until ready to use.
When you’re ready to cover the cake, take the three bowls of fondant from the fridge and knead until pliable.
Roll out the green fondant to 3mm thick between two sheets of parchment, remove the top sheet and use a small, pointed knife to cut out the M. With the remaining green fondant, fashion the ring-pull.
Divide the grey fondant in 2 and roll out between two sheets of parchment about 3mm thick and cut into circles big enough to cover the ends of the cake. Remove the top sheet of parchment.
If you’re not constructing the cake straight away, you can refrigerate the green and grey parts until ready to use – just take them out a few minutes ahead.
Roll out the black fondant between two sheets of parchment to about 3mm thick in a rectangle that is wide enough to cover the length of the cake and long enough to completely wrap the cake – about 20cm (depending on how much your cakes rose and how much you trimmed off) x 32cm. Remove the top sheet of parchment.
Spread one side of the constructed cake with jam.
Place the cake on its side on the black fondant towards one end, jam side down.
Spread the rest of the cake with jam.
Roll the cake carefully using the parchment to help you, pressing the fondant around the cake and smoothing the join with a damp finger and trimming the ends of the fondant (I tucked mine over but I would trim them in future for a flatter surface). If the fondant has softened too much to handle easily, wrap the whole thing in the parchment and lie it down on a towel in the fridge for 30 minutes, until it has firmed up a bit.
Gently press the M into place, brushing the area extremely lightly with a few drops of water or sugar syrup if necessary to make it stick then allowing it to dry in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Press the grey circles onto the ends of the cake.
Stand the cake up, use a sharp knife to score the tab and put the green ring-pull on the top.
Wowzers! I’m sure the birthday boy will remember this for the rest of his life 🙂 How sweet of you!
A once in a lifetime job, for sure! LOL!
This is one of the cutest cakes I have seen! I am definitely going to try making one soon. Only thing is, I’ll probably finish the whole cake all on my own, yikes.
hahaha I love it !! What’s the healthiest : The real Monster drink or the monster cake? I don’t know !!
Well, really nicely done !!