Hi Rita,

Thank you! It is a little hard for me to remember, but I'm pretty sure I did all of the GC filing first, then a light coat of ganache around the sides, followed by the basket weave, and finally the shell borders.

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I just love both cakes! you have inspired me to attempt my first basketweave cake. Can you tell me which steps you took? basketweave sides first or did you do the GC frosting top first? I'd love to have my cake look have as nice as this one. And did you crumb coat it with ganache? sorry if these are "trade secrets"

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where do i find the recipe for the blueberry lemon cake?

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Ooh, Annie, that sounds so lovely! Do you have pictures? Please post a link or perhaps post them on Show and Tell over on the Forums.

Congratulations!

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The cake turned out great! Thanks for all your help. I made 1.5 times recipe of passion fruit mousseline which was plenty for the 4 layers. I made the blueberry topping also, but with fresh blueberries and cooked them somewhat to get the dark blue sauce - a cross between the winter and summer blueberry sauces from TCB. The orange of the mousseline and dark blue was pretty stunning. Thanks to all for your help and support. It really does feel like there is a team behind one!

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I'm sure they will be fine... just be sure to support the individual layers while you are moving them about, just like you would do normally. Hint - cold layers are sturdier than room temperature ones.

Btw, if you ever have a problem with a layer breaking, you can usually "glue" it back together with a bit of frosting. :)

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Patrincia, I haven't stacked it yet - I just wrapped the 'naked' layers individually with the view to finishing it tomorrow. I do hope they won't collapse!

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Great - the cake should be fine if you've stacked it already... I meant the sides help keep the naked layers in tact. Can't wait to hear how it turns out! :)

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Thanks, Patrincia, but too late I'm afraid. I cut all the crusts off and wrapped the layers up. Will fill and finish tomorrow so hope it doesn't collapse!

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Annie - I can only speak for butter cakes, but the sides actually help keep the layer in tact, so you could always fill and stack the layers first, then trim the sides with a serrated knife... just a thought.

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Great, I'll do the tops & bottoms. I made the White Choc Whisper cake and the sides came away from the tins when out of the oven so they are a bit brown. I guess it would be more difficult to scrape the side crusts off and still keep the cakes perfectly round. Too risky for me!

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normally I don't, since I mostly bake Biscuit and Genoise, the sides are mostly gone when running my knife thru it when unmolding.

it is really up to you how much crust to remove, if any, just a personal choice.

to keep most of the cake, scrape the crust off with a serrated knife instead of slicing it away.

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Thanks, Hector and do you do the sides as well? I'm worried there won't be much left!

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On my cakes, I always do!

top/bottom crusts tend to turn gluey or pastey with the frosting or syruping.

to make stripes on charlottes, you leave the crusts.

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Matthew, did you remove the top and/or bottom crusts from the cakes? I always see the brown lines on mine especially with light colored cakes and frostings?

Annie

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I bet the hand rubbing of the zest and sugar is similar in that it releases the essential oils from the rind, but I'd think you might end up with too much oil on your fingertips, and not enough in the sugar. (I'm guessing here)

I like to use the microplane quite a bit too. I don't mind the bits of zest in most things, but I like my curd smooth :).

Btw, the very best lemonade I've had is made by "muddling" squeezed lemon rinds with sugar, right inside the lemonade pitcher... the lemon flavor is so intense, yet not bitter or sour.

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I use the Microplane, too. I love it! If I want a really smooth texture in the final product, then I spin the zest in the food processor with the sugar. For some recipes I don't bother.

I was looking at a cookbook recently -- I think maybe it was Dorie Greenspan's "Baking" but I'm not sure -- where the author called for rubbing the grated zest into the sugar with your fingers to release the flavor. I bet that would work too.

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Like Matthew, I like to grind lemon zest in the food processor with sugar - I'm not fond of the tiny bits of zest. It is how I always make Rose's lemon curd.

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Looking forward to your posting Rose. Very interesting topic.
I always squeeze citrus fruit by hand too. Sometimes I use a reamer.
I use the microplane to zest the fruit. I let the zest sit in a little bit of the juice for about 15 minutes to soften it.

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I always wash lemons and oranges and scrub them with a soft brush before zesting them, even if i buy organic .
Obviously, non-organic are sprayed and coated with a waxy coating which needs to be taken off before zesting but even organic fruits need to be washed thoroughly, IMO anyway!

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Matthew, your zest method sounds like from heaven!

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I always do it by hand, so I couldn't say Hector. I will tell you one place I have noticed it though. I find I get a stronger lemon flavor if I zest in long strips and then process with sugar to get fine zest (instead of chopping it finely on the cutting board). I think more oil is left behind on the cutting board, whereas the oil is absorbed into the sugar with the processing method.

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Matthew, do you find any flavor differences when you squeeze lemon by hand vs by machine?

I spent part of my Sunday squeezing a case of lemons by hand. My Japanese chef does it this way. I didn't feel like a slave because she was doing it herself all morning that day!

I remember that if you smash the lemon skin with your fingers, in front of a lighted match, the lemon oil shoots out and burns. If I extract lemon juice by machine, the skin never gets smashed.

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Uh oh... new computer issues - sorry :(.

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Matthew - I love each cake! Your piping looks fantastic; the basketweave is flawless. I want to dive right into that lemon/blueberry cake - sooooo yummy looking. Excellent photos!

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Both are gorgeous! That first one looks like a real basket. I can't believe that's frosting!

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Those look amazing!

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Thanks, geejay. I don't know how I missed that one. I've been here all the while. I can NOT wait for this book to come out. Anna

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Anna
Here's the link. It was posted by
Rose on 30 August 2006. If you search for "classic german" you will find it.
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2005/10/list_of_books.html

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Where on this blog do I find the GCC filling recipe? Gotta have it! Thanks.
Anna

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Wow, two of my absolute favorite cakes on perfect display.

O.K...now I have to go bake a cake, darn it!

I really need to get myself a new camera. For mother's day weekend at Capital Tea, I made a white butter layer cake filled with citrus curd (combo of lemon and honeybell juice--one of the best tasting curds I ever made) and strawberry conserve and iced with a Swiss Meringue buttercream. It was beautiful, delicious, and sold out almost immediately.

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Agreed with Julie, that was my first impression, on how beautiful/yummy/practical the piped shell border looks when holding the blueberry topping.

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This looks soo mouthwatering...

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Wow! There are so many talented people in this world. Those cakes look stunning!

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Matthew, these are truly lovely! I'm in awe of your piping work - the basketweave is spectacular, and the shells holding in the blueberry filling must have been perfectly executed, to not let drips escape down the sides. Need any taste-testers?

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Just Beautiful!

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I don't know which one to choose...May be a wedge of both, just before making my decision ;)

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The blueberry lemon cake is dripping with goodness! looks beautifully yumm!

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Simply stunning Matthew! (Once again I wish for someone to develop tast-o-vision - or at the very least smell-o-vision via the web!)

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Thank you Rose, it was nice of you to repost these and thank you to everyone else for the wonderful comments. All of the components for each cake are from the Cake Bible, and the GCC filing is posted here on the blog from the upcoming book.

GCC:
Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake
1 recipe GCC filing
1 recipe Dark Chocolate Ganache

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Lemon Blueberry (essentially Blueberry Swan Lake):
White Chocolate Whisper Cake
1 Recipe Lemon Mousseline
1 Recipe Winter Blueberry Topping
Borders are White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream (only because I was a little short on mousseline)

I did want to make the swans, but it poured rain all weekend, so I decided it was probably a waste of time to try them this time.

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WOW! Those are both gorgeous! Well done. I am in awe of the basketweave on the german chocolate and love the way the clear glass cake plate diplays both cakes.
And since I am working on lemon cake now, I am curious. Is the lemon blueberry cake the white chocolate whisper cake with lemon buttercream (as in Blueberry Swan Lake in the Bible)?

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Where can I find the recipe of this beautiful cake! (Bluebery/ Lemmon) Beautiful!

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Matthew, your cakes are Cake Bible picture material! The blueberry lemon cake took my breath away, excellent execution and perfect photography.

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This website has beautiful pictures all in which I would love to try just because how the photos were taken. Delicious!

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Wow. That's beyond impressive.

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So impressive! Works of art. I wonder how much time went in to the detail work on the German Chocolate Cake, and how it felt to take that first slice into the Blueberry Lemon!

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