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[schema type=”recipe” name=”How to Make a Pizza Cake” author=”Rachel Howard” pubdate=”2014-01-29″ image=”http://www.sundaybaking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pizza-Cake-Top-View-700.jpg” description=”A delicious chocolate cake designed and decorated to look like a Pizza!” prephours=”2″ cookmins=”40″ ]
It’s taken me a little while to get back into baking. I didn’t bake half as much as I had wanted to over the Christmas season, then we went away for New Year and now I’m busy at work doing half of my current job and half of my new job.
And work is the reason behind this Pizza Cake! I happened to be in the old office when a colleague from Spain came in. I had worked with her before moving to a different department but hadn’t seen her since so it was lovely to bump into her. She was asking me if I would be around for the next big meeting as she would be coming back over and then let it slip that it would be her birthday on the Monday.
So I emailed her colleagues in Spain to see if there was anything she loved and they said chocolate cake and pizza…so I have combined the two!
I loved making this cake! I really felt that I could create a piece of art in cake form. I think it was because I was using a paint brush (don’t worry – it was a new one!) on it. And there wasn’t any pressure to get things perfect as pizzas aren’t symmetrical or neat.
[callout title=Ingredients for the Chocolate Cake:]
- 220g plain flour
- 350g granulated sugar
- 95g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 240ml buttermilk
- 120ml vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs – at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 240ml freshly brewed strong hot coffee
[/callout]
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170C
- Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake tin (I just used non stick spray)
- Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside
- Using a handheld or stand alone mixer, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low
- Add the coffee and mix together – the mixture will be very thin
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and bake for around 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
- Allow to cool before frosting
[callout title=Ingredients for the White Chocolate Frosting:]
- 170g white chocolate – melted and slightly cooled
- 230g unsalted butter – softened to room temperature
- 240g icing sugar
- 60ml extra thick double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
[/callout]
Method:
- In a medium bowl using a hand held or stand alone mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute
- Switch the mixer to low speed and slowly add the icing sugar
- Quickly stir the cooled white chocolate so that it’s smooth and add to the butter/sugar mixture
- Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes until thick and creamy
- Add the cream, vanilla extract and salt
- Beat for 1 minute until combined
[callout title=Ingredients for the Pizza Base, Sauce and Toppings:]
- Roll out icing – enough to cover your cake. I used around 500g
- Fondant icing – enough to make your toppings
- Flowerpaste – enough to make toppings that you want to set hard
- Food colour pastes – ivory, brown, red, yellow, black and anything else you may want to use – green for peppers etc
- Around 30g White chocolate – enough to grate and melt for your cheese
- A dash of vodka – just enough to mix with the food colours to thin them
[/callout]
How to put your pizza together:
Start by making the toppings so they can dry a little before you use them –
PEPPERONI: Roll out some sugarpaste nice and thinly and then cut them into small circles. I used the end of a large piping nozzle to do this. Roll up the edges a little and leave to dry. Once hardened, mix up a little red and brown colouring with a splash of vodka and paint them. Leave to dry and then add any effects you wish. I painted the edges with brown colouring and dabbed a few brown and red specks in places to give them some texture. I just used white sugarpaste but you could always pre colour it before rolling it out to add to the colour depth.
PINEAPPLE: This time I coloured the sugarpaste first with yellow paste. I then rolled it into small balls and shaped it into a pinapple chuck shape with my fingers. With a blunt knife, carve in the texture and leave to dry.
MUSHROOMS: Roll out some thin white sugarpaste and using a knife, cut out mushroom slice shapes. Mix a tiny dash of black colour gel with a splash of vodka to give you a greyish mix. Paint this lightly all over the mushroom slice. Dip a toothpick into black colour gel and draw on the detail. I then dabbed on some brown colour using a piece of kitchen towel to create some texture and colour.
CHEESE: Grate half the chocolate as you would cheese. Melt the other half to drizzle over the “pizza”.
Making your “Pizza”…
- Cut your cake in half
- Place the bottom half onto a cake board or plate – secure with a small dollop of frosting
- Frost the top of this cake and then place the second cake on top
- Frost the top and sides so the whole cake is covered
- Place extra frosting around the top edge of the cake so it’s easier to create your crust
- Roll out your ready to roll icing so it’s big enough to cover the cake
- Slowly and carefully place it over the cake and mould it into the cake using your hands
**TIP – try to smooth upwards on the sides of the cake. If you drag your hands downwards you will stretch and break the icing over the top**
- Carefully, using your thumbs, create a crust by pressing gently all around the top of the cake – about 1 inch from the edge
- If you want to create some air bubbles in the “dough” roll out a thin piece of icing, roll a small ball of icing up and place it onto the cake and then cover it with the thinly rolled piece. Blend the edges in with your hands
- If you get a few cracks in the icing, don’t worry – I think it adds to the effect
- Mix up a little ivory colour paste with a splash of vodka until you have a dough colour. Pain this thinly all over the icing. Press a piece of kitchen paper into bits to create texture
- Thinly roll out a piece of sugarpaste for the tomato base. Cut to shape (I wish I had made mine rounder) and place onto the cake. Mix a little red and brown colour with a splash of vodka until you have the right tomato shade and then thinly paint onto the icing.
- The rest is then up to you! Place your toppings on the pizza, drizzle with melted cheese (white chocolate) and sprinkle on the parmesan (grated chocolate)
- Paint any extra finishing touches on like a bit of dark brown on the crust, a bit of brown colour drizzled over the top to give the illusion of browned cheese – let your creativeness shine!!
There is a lot of inspiration out there. I found mine on this lovely website and I even found this video!
The recipe for the cake and frosting came from Sallys Baking Addiction.
The Pizza cake was presented to Gloria at our awards night. They asked her what her favourite food was and luckily she said Pizza!! It went down really well and I was advised that it tasted lovely!
