Torte that Cake!

Torte that Cake!

This post is not exactly a recipe for baking a cake but more about how to torte an already baked cake! Here are some notes from my experience. I will not be providing a recipe for the cake because you can torte any cake!

1. I made two torted cakes so I needed to make a double batch of yellow cake from scratch
2. I added a 1/4 teaspoon of yellow confectioners gel food dye for a more intense yellow color
3. This made four 9" round cakes and 12 cupcakes 
4. I filled my cupcakes with extra raspberry filling and topped w/frosting
5. Remember to fill all pans just under 1/2 full so the cake won't rise too much over the top of the pans
6. to fill pans I used a rubber spatula and plopped about 4 and half heaping spatula-fulls into the center of the pans, then I used it to spread from the center to the edges of the pan, if it looks like it is more than half full scoop some out because it will rise plenty -- trust in the rising power of baking powder! Less batter is better than too much!
7. Use parchment paper in your pans so cakes don't stick and break
8. cool cakes in pans at least 10 minutes before removing -- any sooner and you risk breaking the cakes
9. after removing cakes from pans place onto cooling racks and cool completely before torting and frosting - cool in fridge or on a cool porch
10. I used Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste to improve flavor of the cake. I find it to be better than vanilla extract. You can also find it on Amazon.com
11. I also doubled the butter cream frosting recipe, and used the same Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste in place of the vanilla extract for continuity of flavor.
12. The raspberry filling I used was a seedless Welches (squeeze bottle) jam --- I used two bottles

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You'll need

9" cake rounds

cupcake pans and liners

parchment paper

cooling rack

oven

timer

1, 2, 3 or 4 baked cakes

single or double batch of frosting

flavored filling

serrated bread knife

frosting spreader or butter knife

tall glass

pastry bag

coupler

round pastry tip (I used a Wilton 12)

small clip (I used a plastic chip clip)

lazy Susan or cake turner

prefab cake rounds 

(I cut some cardboard into 9" rounds by tracing my pans top side down - covered in tin foil.

*****

First: Bake and cool your cake(s) usually one or two cakes

Prep frosting 

Get your tall glass, pastry bag, coupler, round tip, tall glass and frosting spreader

Put coupler and tip onto bag, place bag into tall glass

Cuff the top edge of the bag over glass and fill bag using the pastry spreader 

When it is nearly full to the top
flip the cuffed edge up and add a bit more

Lift bag and slowly / gently push the frosting down toward the tip

Stopping just before it oozes out

Twist top of bag & add clip 

If you're traveling with the cake here's how to set up 

so you don't have to lift cake more than you need to

From bottom to top here's what I did:

Lazy Susan

travel carrier bottom

parchment - to lift cake out

foil covered cardboard for cake to sit on

cake

travel carrier lid 

Set the cover aside for now

If your cake did rise a bit over the 9" pan and the pan is flared

it will have a round bottom with a slightly wider top

You'll need to get the cake into a uniformly round shape before frosting

Put cake onto work surface upside down and use knife to trim away excess

*****

you can slide foil covered cardboard
under it so it's easier to lift

don't worry if it does break
just use that broken layer an inner layer of the cake
and not the top layer because the break may be visible
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Place trimmed round onto foiled cardboard 

that is set on the lazy Susan

Get the knife and hold it horizontal

starting at one side begin sawing into the cake

and using your other hand turn the lazy Susan

go ahead and torte all your cakes now

starting with one bottom layer

set aside all the rest of the layers

use the lazy Susan to turn cake as you work

get your pastry bag and make an outline in frosting 

then get the filling and make concentric circles

working your way towards the center

Here is what it looks like filled in

(sorry about the color being off this should be red because it is raspberry but looks like chocolate, LOL)

If you're making only 2 layers place the top on and skip this next step!

If you're making more than 2 layers:

continue to lay the torted halves on top and repeat pattern

of frosting the outer edge and making concentric circles of filling

until you have one torted cake layer left
this last layer should be the top and plainly frosted

***

I almost forgot to put some extra parchment under the
bottom edges of the cake, so I had to lift the edges
of the cake and tuck the parchment under about 1/2"

To do this just tear a few inches by a few inches
of parchment paper off and tuck around the perimeter of cake

***

to frost the cake put a bunch of frosting on top and
gently spread from the center
to the edges pushing the excess
towards and then over the edge and
smooth it down the sides
using the frosting spatula
try not to press too hard
or the filling may ooze out of the torted layers

here's how it should look once it is frosted 

with parchment edging in place

once its frosted you'll carefully remove parchment edging

the reason for the edging is to collect excess frosting 

and keeping the foil base clean and pretty

take cake off lazy Susan and cover

cake and keep chilled until party time

*****

Here are a few more resources!

Level a cake

Torte a cake

Choosing and using a pastry bag

Decorating bags

Filling pastry bag

Icing consistency

Pressure control with decorating bag

Frosting spatulas

Gel food colouring

Crumb coating - a method of frosting before you frost 

Covering cake board with fancy foil

Making a twirl on a cupcake

Filling a cupcake

Thanks for stopping by I do hope this was helpful for you! Have a great weekend!
xoxo, Stephie

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