Conker Cake
When October 1st rolls around and I can snuggle into an oversized sweater, eat all the pumpkin things and go for long walks in the leaf-covered woods, I’m finally in my element. I can stop the silly business of trying to dress for Summer while trying to still look like an adult and pull on thick tights and boots and enjoy the combination of an amazingly sunny yet crisp cold morning. The feeling I used to get when going back to school, the air smelling like bonfire and cinnamon slowly creeping into my baking from now until Christmas makes Autumn my absolute favourite.
This is why when I was asked this week to make a birthday cake inspired by conkers and Autumn leaves my heart sang a little bit. I went for a wander and collected some stuff to inspire me including lots of amazing leaves in all their beautiful colours. I made the leaves by colouring flower paste in orange, yellow, green and red and using a variety of leaf cutters, homemade templates and veiners to shape them. I then airbrushed the edges with food colouring so they looked like they had changed. I then brushed them with brown edible dust to look like they’d fallen from a tree and been on the ground a while.
However, making the conkers was my favourite. I shaped some fondant coloured with this ‘Chestnut’ colour and then painted each of them with the food colouring too so they would have some depth. To give them that conker shine I sprayed them with this. I arranged them on top of an Oreo cake dripping with chocolate ganache and finished with a handwritten birthday plaque. Happy Birthday Jayne! xxx
