Mandarin and Salted Caramel? Yes please..

Ah. Finally. I've been meaning to start keeping a blog of all my weekend baking exploits, but I keep procrastinating with more baking.

I recently ordered a new recipe book...Sweet Studio by Darren Purchese. I very rarely order books online without at least flicking through a hardcopy first, but I immediately fell in love with his cake designs on the cover. At last! These were the sorts of cakes I had always wanted to make, and not a trace of fondant to be found. If you're in the same boat as me; sick of fondant cakes, yet slightly intimidated by words such as jaconde, dacquoise and entremet, this book is for you. All of the taste and design of a french patisserie, but simplified for non-professionals.

The first cake I attempted from the book was his Mandarin and Salted Caramel chocolate mousse cake. The first attempt turned out well enough. Although I need to work on making sure all my layers are level.

From the bottom: Chocolate shortbread base, spread with a thin layer of seville orange marmalade. Then, a disk of burnt mandarin cream, and a layer of home-made salted caramel spread. Encased in chocolate mousse.

Most of Darren Purchese's cakes consist of a layered insert (biscuit base, cream, jelly, jam, caramel or chocolate spread) that is inserted into a round pastry ring filled with mousse. From the bottom, this cake consists of a chocolate shortbread base, spread with a thin layer of seville orange marmalade. Then, a disk of burnt mandarin cream, and a layer of home-made salted caramel spread. This layered insert is then encased in rich chocolate mousse, and glazed with a dark cocoa miroir glacage, or mirror glaze. For the first attempt, I kept the decorations simple...a few tempered chocolate panels and 'spaghetti', splashed with white chocolate thinned out with cocoa butter, and coloured orange. I then skinned a fresh mandarin segment...just to be healthy? In the end, the cake tasted a bit like a jaffa...but with a hint of salted caramel.

The cake was so simple to make, and each component could be made ahead of time, with the mousse and final assembly made the night before. Then the cake was frozen, and decorated the next day.

I've attempted this cake about three times now..most recently I made a large 30cm diameter cake for a 50th birthday party. I wanted to try something new with the decoration, and this was the end result. Was a good excuse to try my hand at salted caramel macarons.