Everyone grew up with a different Superman, meaning the actor and costume, but everyone knows the Superman symbol. And I decided to carve this symbol out of cake. It was a fun process to me and I am glad I did it.
The recipe for the chocolate cake is the recipe I make every time I am making chocolate cake. The use of oil instead of butter in the cake, make it light. Even if you store this cake in the fridge, it won’t become harder, it will stay light and moist. The touch of coffee that I added in the recipe will enlighten the chocolate flavor.
And what I love the most about this cake recipe is how fast it is to make the batter. No electric whisk needed; just hand mix everything and you’re good to go.
Do you think Superman likes chocolate cake??
Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of oil
1 tbsp of instant coffee
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
3 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
2 eggs
For the ganache:
3 cups of dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
Other stuff needed:
Fondant
Red food color
Blue food color
Yellow food color
A printed paper of the Superman symbol
Let’s get started!
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.
First thing to do is to sift all the dry ingredients together (baking powder, cocoa powder and flour). This will help the batter to have no lumps. After that mix them well together. It’s important to make sure that the baking powder is well distributed throughout the flour.
Next are the wet ingredients. First, warm up the milk in the microwave. Then add the instant coffee to the milk and dissolve it well. Next you have to beat the eggs.
Beat the eggs with the sugar and whisk them until the eggs become lighter in color. About 2-3 minutes. Once they are beaten well, add the milk mixture to the egg mixture. Whisk in the salt, vanilla extract and oil. Incorporate them well into the milk mixture by whisking vigorously.
Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture in 2 parts. Use a spoon or spatula to mix the flour to the liquid part. When done, pour the cake batter into a greased cake pan. My pan is 10 inches. Tap the cake pan on the counter to release air bubbles that might have been trap.
Put the cake pan in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. To know when the cake is done, an inserted knife or toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
When the cake is done baking, let it cool for 5 minutes and then take it out of the mold. After that, put it in the fridge to cool completely and firm up a bit. Start with the ganache. Pour the heavy cream on the chocolate chips, add the vanilla extract and warm it up in the microwave for 30 seconds. Whisk the mixture well until it become a homogeneous liquid. If all the chocolate chips haven’t melted completely, just put it back in the microwave for 20 more seconds and whisk the ganache until smooth. Let it cool down until it thickens.
Take the chilled cake, place the printed symbol on the cake and cut out the diamond shape out of the cake. After that, split the cake horizontally in half. Spread some of the ganache in between the cake layers and sandwich them back together. Coat the cake in ganache. The first coating is called crumb coat. It helps to keep the crumbs of the cake from going all over the place. Let the first layer of the ganache set in the fridge and then give it a second coat. On the second coat try to get the ganache as straight as possible. And let it set in the fridge.
Start with the fondant. For the Superman symbol 3 colors will be needed, red, blue and yellow. I am using gel food color to color the fondant. I think gel food colors are better to use instead of liquid food colors. The blue fondant will be the biggest amount you will need out of the 3. Use glove so the food colors don’t taint your hands too much.
After coloring the 3 fondant balls, roll out the yellow fondant first and use the printed diamond symbol to cut out a yellow diamond slab of fondant. To make sure that the fondant doesn’t stick to your working surface, you can use cornstarch to keep it from sticking. Transfer it on parchment paper and let it firm up in the fridge. After dealing with the yellow fondant, roll out the blue fondant. Roll out a piece of fondant big enough to cover the whole cake. Once you are done rolling the blue piece of fondant, use a rolling pin to transfer the blue fondant on the cake.
After rolling the blue fondant on the cake, smooth the fondant onto the cake while pushing any air pockets out. Try to gather all the excess fondant at the bottom. The corners will be difficult to gather the fondant at the bottom, but take your time to do it. Don’t pull on the fondant because it might rip at the corners. Just spread the fondant like a skirt until you reach the bottom of each side. Use a knife to cut any excess fondant at the bottom. Brush off any excess cornstarch on the fondant. Use a damp paper towel to wipe off any cornstarch of the whole cake.
Take the yellow fondant slab out of the fridge. Using a wet paper towel wipe the top of the blue fondant, and position the firm yellow diamond on top of the cake to fit the shape exactly. Brush off any excess cornstarch on the yellow fondant, and use a damp paper to wipe any cornstarch left behind. Put the cake back in the fridge to set, and start working on the red fondant.
Roll out the red fondant on your work surface. Using the same diamond printed symbol, cut out a diamond shape out of the red fondant. After that, take the printed paper and cut out the red border out of the printed paper. Then, take the printed border place it on the red diamond to fit its shape exactly and cut out that printed rim out of fondant. Take out the cake, pass a wet paper towel on the yellow fondant, and place the red border on the yellow fondant carefully. That red border is fragile to transfer. Mine broke while transferring. I would suggest that you cut it first, and put it on the yellow diamond line by line. Put it back in the fridge to set.
The next step is to make the “S”. Cut the “S” out of the printed paper. It will not look like a proper “S”, just cut it the way you see it. Transfer the “S'” on parchment paper to set in the fridge. But before put you it in the fridge, take the paper “S” and position it on the fondant “S” and make sure every part of the fondant match the position of the paper; and put it in the fridge just for 5 minutes, not too long.
After those 5 minutes, take both the cake and the red “S” out of the fridge. Those 5 minutes will allow the fondant to be easier to handle. Pick it up and place it on the yellow fondant inside the red border. Wiggle it around to make it fit in the red border. The last step is to transfer the cake on a cake board. Smear some ganache on the cake board to serve as glue to hold the cake in position. Place the cake carefully on the cake board. Be careful not to pull out the side of the cake (blue fondant) while transferring the cake.
Enjoy
Thank you for your time