Ida and Dan's wedding at The Hotel Windsor

We were lucky enough to make a gorgeous wedding cake and custom favours for the lovely Dan and Ida at the weekend. They hosted an intimate reception at the beautiful Hotel Windsor in Melbourne. Ida's favourite colour is lilac so they wanted this reflected in the details of their special day. Congratulations guys!

Recipe for Bienenstich (bee sting cake)

photograph by Stewart Leishman

We made this cake for our recent photoshoot for Wedding Nouveau, its a traditional German cake named Bienenstich, or Bee Sting Cake - and not only did it smell amazing as we were baking but it tasted delicious! The crunchy honey almond topping reminded us so much of baking honey joys in the school holidays as kids - the smell, yum!!! The cake is really simple to make, and even though it has quite a few steps is totally worth it for a special occasion - we will be making this one again that's for sure!! (Recipe from about.com)

Makes 10 to 12 servings of Bee Sting Cake - Bienenstich

Ingredients:

• Topping:
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• Cake:
• 1 3/4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) butter, slightly softened
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk 
• Filling:
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large beaten egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Preparation:

1. For the Topping: In a medium saucepan, melt butter and honey. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Add vanilla and almonds, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
   
2. For the Cake: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut a parchment circle to fit the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Coat pan bottom and sides with cooking spray. Place parchment circle in bottom of pan.
   
3. Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream 4 ounces butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in 5 tablespoons sugar, about 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup honey and beat 1 more minute.
   
4. Blend in eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla and half the flour mixture, and mix briefly. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add milk, then remaining flour, beating briefly after each addition.
   
5. Scrape into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle top with remaining 1 tablespoon flour, then pat top of cake smooth with your hand. Pour topping over batter, gently spreading evenly. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick tests clean. Do not overbake. Cool cake in pan completely on a wire rack.
   
6. For the Filling: In the top of a double boiler over medium heat, combine cornstarch, milk and 1/4 cup sugar. Stir constantly until thickened, at least 3 minutes. Add in 1 beaten egg and keep stirring constantly for about 2 minutes until very thick. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract, if using.
   
7. Chill in an ice-water bath, stirring occasionally. Place plastic wrap in direct contact with surface of pastry cream and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.
   
8. Whip the cream with the cream of tartar and confectioners' sugar until stiff. Add a dollop of cream to the pastry cream and stir to lighten the cream. Then fold in remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate while you prepare to assemble the cake.
   
9. Run a knife around the edges of the cooled cake and remove the springform ring. Invert cake onto a plate. Peel off the parchment paper and invert again on a serving platter, so the almond side is showing. Cut cake in half horizontally and fill with pastry cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

collaboration with Stewart Leishman for Wedding Nouveau

We're so pleased to finally share these with you!

We have been looking for the perfect project to collaborate with the amazingly talented photographer Stewart Leishman for a little while now, and when the lovely Fri from Wedding Nouveau asked us to contribute to their Fall 'Playhouse' issue, we knew we had found it!

We were asked to create a dessert tablescape that was influenced by childhood fantasy. So we loosely took the theme of the story of Little Red Riding Hood and its German/French origins, and ran with it! Traditional German sweets like lebkuchen (spiced cookies), bienentsich (bee sting cake - which is DELICIOUS!), black forest cake, and classic donuts, teamed with a gorgeous centrepiece cake to create a lush dessert landscape. The stationery was based around a traditional papercut which told a typical 'boy meets girl' story. And our little matching favours sewn into sweet little glassine bags are a nice little take-home treat!

Working with Stewart was a great experience and a really fun morning in the Dandenongs on a rather chilly wintery morning! Thank you so much Stewart for interpreting our story so well!!

We are also giving away a digital copy of Wedding Nouveau's Fall issue, so be sure to check out our earlier post on how to enter - the competition closes on October 16th so hop to it!

Happy weekend!

Wedding Nouveau sneak speak

 

We are super excited to share with you a sneak peak of the upcoming Fall edition of Wedding Nouveau, a really lovely digital mag that is "the premiere style guide for intercultural brides and multi-ethnic weddings". Their strapline is 'Dream in Culture' which we think sits with the Cake Ink. branding quite nicely, so when we were offered the chance to submit some pics for a dessert buffet feature we jumped at the chance! We collaborated with the amazingly talented Melbourne-based photographer, Stewart Leishman, whose work is impeccable - he has such a great eye for capturing spirit and character and his images tell amazing stories!

You will have to wait until 'The Playhouse Issue' launches on October 13th (US time) to see our feature but here is a little taste! :)

We are also lucky enough to be able to give away a digital copy of Wedding Nouveau to one of our readers (thanks Fri!). All you need to do is subscribe to the Wedding Nouveau newsletter (you can do that here), OR become a 'liker' on their facebook page, then just leave a comment here to let us know you've done so, then consider yourself entered - easy! The competition is open to all our readers, and runs from October 10-16, with the winner announced on October 18th. Good luck!

Have a lovely week, and we will share more with you soon...