I found Rose in June when I was looking for the perfect frosting to hold up to the Summer Heat in Hong Kong. I got hooked through the blog immediately and the mousseline was just what I was looking for. I finally got my copy of The Cake Bible this week and just completed my first “Rose” cake. Love the process!

I made two layers, torted them and filled with two layers of ganache and one layer of the Caramel Silk Meringue Buttercream- I love salted caramel, so I added a pinch of sea salt when finishing off the creme anglaise. It is hands down the yummiest frosting I have ever, ever tasted! The chocolate lattice had to be included- well, just because. I’m already looking forward to making the next cake from this book!

Congratulations, that is one beautiful cake!  Love the modern chocolate band.  And I’m with you on the caramel silk meringue, it’s my favorite, too.  I love the coffee-caramel version, as well as the chocolate praline version, which may just be the tastiest buttercream known to man   Were you able to find cake flour in Hong Kong?

Thanks! I’ve done bands from modeling chocolate before, but not tempered. I’ve wanted to try and I think it really elevated the look of the cake. I can’t wait to try the other SMBC flavors! They all sound soooo good and are much less intimidating now that I’ve done one. Yes, cake flour is fairly readily available. We actually able to get a good selection of flours. I used “Royal Fan”, which is a brand out of Thailand. The cakes turned out beautiful with a moist, fine crumb.

Lovely looking cake!  I made the Caramel Silk Meringue buttercream recently for the first time, and was underwhelmed.  I now realise I should have done what you did, which was add a bit of salt to the caramel or the creme anglaise.

Welcome to the forum, Georgie!!!  Your cake looks absolutely delicious, and the flavors sound wonderful together!!!  I am so impressed that it is your first cake!  I really look forward to seeing more of your baking!!

Thank you Little Island and Anne! Anne, I love the chocolate band technique. Very easy and oh so beautiful! It really looks impressive with very little effort. Little Island, the intensity level of the caramel was kind of like in flan- or what I imagine a whipped flan would taste like (without caramel sauce topper). I used a very good french butter that came through reminding me of butterscotch candies. It worked very well with the chocolate! I could see some flavor combinations I would like a more intense caramel flavor for. For those I may try either using golden sugar instead of white for both the caramel and the italian meringue, or adding a tablespoon or so of Toffee liquor. I might also use a more neutral butter.