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Wimbledon Cake (Carota Boys' Version)

A 4-layer, Wimbledon-themed, strawberries & cream cake, decorated with tennis ball macarons & marzipan carrots, inspired by the Carota Boys
Course Dessert, Snack
Keyword All-In-One method, Cream cheese, Italian macarons, macaron, marzipan, strawberries and cream, strawberry, vanilla cake, Wimbledon
Prep Time 4 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Chill time 12 hours 30 minutes
Servings 12 people

Equipment

  • candy thermometer
  • 4 piping bags
  • 1 fine round piping tip
  • 1 medium round piping tip
  • 1 fine, food-safe paintbrush
  • cocktail sticks/skewers
  • Food-safe disposable gloves
  • Chopstick (or other small implement with a rounded point)

Ingredients

For the ganache:

  • 50 g milk chocolate
  • 50 g double cream

For the tennis ball macarons:

  • 48 g ground almonds
  • 52 g icing sugar
  • 30 g egg whites (about 1 egg white, split into 2x15g portions)
  • 48 g caster sugar
  • 15 ml water
  • 80 g white chocolate
  • purple and green food colouring (see Note 1)
  • gold lustre dust (see Note 2)
  • vanilla extract (see Note 3)

For the marzipan carrots:

  • 72 g marzipan
  • orange food colouring
  • 6 sprigs mint
  • icing sugar for dusting

For the vanilla cake:

  • 150 g Stork (see Note 4)
  • 150 g self-raising flour
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp milk

For the strawberries & cream filling:

  • 150 g strawberries
  • 150 ml double cream
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar

To decorate:

  • 175 ml double cream
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar

Instructions

For the ganache:

  • Place the chocolate and cream into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on low, in 30 second bursts, stirring well between each burst, until you have a smooth ganache. Cover with cling film, pressing it directly onto the surface of the ganache to prevent a skin forming, then chill in the fridge overnight before using.

For the macarons:

  • Line a baking tray with baking paper. Fit a piping bag with a medium, round nozzle and set aside.
  • Place the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor. Pulse 10 times, then sift into a large bowl, discarding any bits of almond that do not pass through the sieve. Add 1 of the 15g portions of egg white to the almonds/sugar and mix well to form a paste. Set aside.
  • Place the other 15g portion of egg white into the clean, metal bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Put the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the syrup.
  • When the syrup reaches 112-114°C, start mixing the egg white in the bowl of the stand mixer on high speed. When the syrup reaches 118°C, remove it from the heat and pour it down the side of the bowl, into the egg white (which should be at soft peaks). When you have added all of the syrup to the bowl, turn the mixer up to full speed and whisk until the meringue reaches stiff peaks. When the meringue is ready, the outside of the bowl should only have a slight hint of warmth, when touched.
  • Add 1/3 of the meringue to the almond paste and, using a metal spoon, mix it in thoroughly until well combined. Add the rest of the meringue and fold it in, using a figure of eight motion, until the mixture is cohesive and comes off the spatula in ribbons (if you leave those ribbons for 30 seconds, they should settle back into the mixture). Do not overmix at this stage.
  • Place the macaron mixture into the piping bag. Hold the piping bag vertically and pipe your shells, leaving plenty of space between each one. You will need 12x 3.5cm diameter shells and 2x 4.5cm diameter shells.
  • Once you have piped your macarons, lift the tray slightly and tap it down on the surface a couple of times, to raise any air bubbles to the surface. Use a small, sharp knife or cocktail stick to pop any remaining bubbles, allowing the mixture to fall back on itself. Set the macarons aside to form a skin- about 30-40 minutes on a dry day, longer if it is more humid. The macarons will be ready when you can gently touch the surface of the macarons, without any batter coming off on your finger.
  • While the macarons are forming a skin, preheat the oven to 165°C fan. Bake the macarons for 11 minutes, or until you can gently wiggle your finger on top of the shells without them wobbling independently from their feet. Remove the macarons from the oven and let them cool completely on their tray before decorating.

For the tennis ball decoration:

  • Melt, temper & colour half of the white chocolate purple. Place the chocolate into a piping bag, fitted with a fine, round tip. Pipe the outline of a curved, teardrop shape (a bit like half of the yin & yang symbol) onto half of each macaron shell. Pipe a little bit more chocolate within the outline, then use a small, sharp knife/cocktail stick to push that chocolate to the outlines, so that you have a smooth layer of purple chocolate on each shell. Leave at room temperature to set while you move on with the next batch of chocolate.
  • Repeat the process, colouring the second batch of chocolate green, instead of purple. Pipe the green chocolate up against the set purple chocolate, so there is no gap between the two colours, then finish off the circle and fill it in in the same way. Allow this to set at room temperature, as well.
  • When the chocolate has set completely, mix some gold lustre dust with a few drops of vanilla extract in a small bowl, until you have a smooth, fluid 'paint'. Use a fine, food-safe paintbrush to paint the gold colour into the seam between the green/purple chocolate halves. You can do a couple of layers of this, waiting for each layer to dry in between, to get a more opaque colour. Allow this to dry completely before sandwiching the macarons.
  • To fill the macarons, place the chilled ganache into a piping bag, fitted with a medium round tip. Pipe a small amount of ganache onto half of the shells, then gently press an unfilled shell on top of each filled shell. Place the macarons into the fridge to chill while you make the rest of the cake.

For the marzipan carrots:

  • Cover your work surface with a piece of baking paper. Wear disposable gloves to protect your hands. Knead the marzipan until it forms a smooth ball, then use your thumb to make an indent in it. Add a generous amount of orange food colouring to the indent.
  • Knead the colour into the marzipan until it is even. Split the orange marzipan into 6 equal portions (each about 12g) and roll each into a ball. Form one ball into a log shape, applying more pressure to one end to taper it slightly. Use the blunt edge of a knife to press horizontal indents around the carrot, and a chopstick (or similar implement) to press a round indent in the top (the wider end) of it. Repeat for all of the portions of marzipan to make 6 carrots. Poke a sprig of mint into the top indent of each carrot, to act as the leaves. Set the carrots on a piece of baking paper to dry out at room temperature.

For the cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C (conventional oven). Grease and line 2x 6-inch cake tins and set aside.
  • Place all of the cake ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on low speed to incorporate the flour, then increase the speed to high and whip until the batter is smooth, fluffy and pale- about 1 minute total. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
  • Split the batter evenly between the two cake tins. Spread out the batter so that it is even, then bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched gently. Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove them from their tins and place onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • When the cakes are cool, split each cake in half horizontally, so that you have 4 thin layers of cake.

For the strawberries & cream filling:

  • Wash and dry the strawberries, then hull them and chop them into a small dice.
  • Place the cream and the icing sugar into a bowl, then whip to just below stiff peaks. Use a spatula to fold the strawberries into the cream.

To assemble the cake:

  • Place one of the cake layers onto a cake board/plate. Add 1/3 of the strawberries & cream filling on top, then spread it out into an even layer, before topping with another layer of cake. Repeat the process twice more, until you have used up the filling and cake layers, finishing with the final cake layer. Place the layered cake into the fridge to firm up for 20-30 minutes.

For the whipped cream icing:

  • Place the cream and icing sugar into a bowl. Whisk until it reaches just below stiff peaks.

To decorate the cake:

  • Remove the chilled cake from the fridge. Spread the plain whipped cream icing generously over the top and sides of the cake.
  • Stick the largest macaron to the front of the cake, so that it is resting on the cake board/plate. Use the 6 standard macarons to create a 'cascade' down the side of the cake- prop them against each other and use any remaining whipped cream to help stick them down.
  • Add the marzipan carrots to the cake- prop them against the macarons, stick them to the side of the cake and place them on the board, to finish off your Wimble-cake. The finished cake will need to be stored in the fridge, where it will keep for 2-3 days. Note that the marzipan carrots will absorb moisture from the fridge and start to bleed their colour/become sticky. If you want to make this cake in advance, I recommend adding the carrots just before you are about to serve it.

Notes

  1. You need to use an oil-based food colouring to colour chocolate. I used the shades Purple and Green from Colour Mill. 
  2. I purchased this gold lustre dust, from Sugarflair, but any edible lustre dust will work. 
  3. While you need to use a good quality vanilla extract for the cake, the flavour is barely noticeable when you use it for the lustre dust painting. Therefore, don't waste a good quality, expensive vanilla extract on this stage- use a cheaper version if you have it. 
  4. As always with my cakes, I prefer to use Stork for a fluffier, lighter cake. If you do not want to use Stork, you can substitute the same amount of softened, unsalted butter.