Brown Rice, Almond and Honey Celebration Cake
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(0 votes)
Difficulty:
advanced
Difficulty
Preparation:
4 h.
Preparation
Ingredients
for
1
- For the cake
- 4 cups milk
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ untreated lemon (grated zest)
- 1 ¼ cups Rice
- ⅔ cup butter
- ¾ cup honey
- 6 eggs
- 1 tsp ground Mace
- 1 pinch cinnamon
- ⅔ cup self-rising flour
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- 2 cups almonds (chopped very finely)
- For the filling
- 10 sheets white gelatin
- ⅔ cup butter
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 untreated lemons (juiced, zest from 1)
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ¾ cup honey
- 2 Tbsps Cognac
- 2 cups double cream
- 6 egg whites
- For the decorations
- 4 ¾ cups shelled almonds
- 1 ½ cups honey
- 2 Tbsps Rose water
- pink Food coloring
Preparation steps
1.
Put the milk into a pan with the salt and lemon zest and bring to the boil. Add the rice and return to the boil, stirring, then cook over a very low heat for about 45 minutes, until the rice is well swollen. Drain in a sieve.
2.
Cream the butter until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the honey, eggs and spices. Mix the flour with the baking powder and stir into the butter and egg mixture with the rice and the chopped almonds.
3.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180 fan), 400°F, gas 6. Line three springform cake tins of 28, 22 and 16 cm ? with baking parchment and make four thin cakes of each size from the mixture, baking them for 10-15 minutes each. It is best to put at least 2 of the pans into the oven at the same time. Cool the cakes separately on a cake rack.
4.
For the filling soak the gelatine according to the instructions on the packet. Melt the butter and let it cool again to hand heat. Whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice, wine, lemon peel and honey and beat over a hot (but not boiling) bain-marie until thick and creamy. Squeeze out the gelatine and dissolve in the cream. Beat in the butter, a little at a time.
5.
Stand the bowl in a bain-marie of iced water and beat the cream until cold. Add cognac or Armagnac to taste and put into the fridge. Shortly before it sets, whip the cream stiffly, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold lightly into the filling. Spread the cakes with the cream filling and assemble into three tiers. Chill.
6.
Blanch the almonds by scalding in boiling water for a scant minute, then skin and dry. Grind in a blender and mix thoroughly with the honey and the rose water to make marzipan. Colour part of it pink with a few drops of pink food colouring dissolved in hot water. Roll the uncoloured marzipan out thinly between sheets of baking parchment. Cut to the shape and size of the cake and cover the tiered cake.
7.
Make long 'strings' from the coloured marzipan and twist together in twos to make twisted 'cords', varying the thickness of the strings to match the tiers of the cake. Lay around the joins between the tiers. The marzipan decorations will adhere better if they are stuck on with a little whisked egg white.
8.
For the roses: Using the coloured marzipan, form a ball the size of a hazelnut and flatten to a petal shape 2 cm in diameter. It is easiest to flatten the marzipan between 2 layers of clingfilm. Wrap the petal around to form the centre of the rose. Make more petals in the same way and add to the rose, pressing together firmly at the base and curling the edges of the petals out with your thumb. Make three roses in the same way. Roll out small pieces of marzipan (uncoloured, or coloured with a little green colouring) and cut out leaf shapes. Mark veins with the back of a knife blade. Arrange the roses and leaves on top of the cake, attaching them with beaten egg white.
