Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Collar

I had been wanting to try my hand at the chocolate collar after recently noticing several birthday cakes in the cake shops having them. Chocolate decorations was the other thing I had been postponing trying.  So, when my sister came visiting from Delhi just few days after her birthday, it gave me a perfect opportunity to bake a belated birthday cake for her and at the same time try my hand at chocolate decorations. For the cake, I again used the same recipe as the  Tuxedo Cake which is currently my favorite chocolate cake base.I kept it simple this time with just 2 layers of cake with the sides and the insides filled with chocolate coffee ganache.

It was unfortunately a very hot Sunday in Mumbai when I made this chocolate collar, so the chocolate took a lot of time setting up. I tried to hasten the process by keeping it in the refrigerator for 30 secs which was a bad idea as the chocolate hardened in that short time. I had to apply a thin layer of melted chocolate to make it stick around the cake. Thankfully, it was not that hard that it couldn't take the round shape of the cake.

I am just sharing the recipe of how to make the collar, for the cake recipe, you can refer to Tuxedo Cake.

Ingredients

Cake, frosted and assembled.
White chocolate [ For making patterns, decorations]
Dark/milk chocolate
Parchment paper.

Method
Measure the Cake :
Determine the height and circumference of the cake. This needs to be done after the cake has been frosted , as frosting will increase both of them and we don't want our chocolate collar to fall short.

1. The height can be measured with a ruler/scale . You can either keep the height of the cake same as that of cake or add some more centimeters if you want to cover your cake with fruit toppings. 
2. The circumference can be measured using a thread/yarn.Wrap the thread loosely around the base of the cake and add an additional inch to ensure that there are no gaps when you wrap it around. 

Cut the Parchment Paper: 
As per the measurement , cut the parchment paper.

Make Chocolate Collar and Wrap around the cake

1. Melt both the chocolates separately. 
2. Fill the melted white chocolate in a piping bag and cut a small tip. 
3. Place the parchment paper on your work surface. Make a pattern with the white chocolate. Since this was my first time at chocolate decoration too, I used the simplest zigzag pattern.
4. Once the white chocolate is set completely, apply the dark chocolate over the entire parchment paper using an offset spatula.Spread evenly.
5. Leave the chocolate collar to set, so that it is sticky/pliant and is  not fully hard/brittle. This is the step where the Mumbai weather played a spoilsport.
6. Pick up the band and carefully put one end on the cake and press it to the frosting, wrapping it around the cake.
7. Transfer it to the refrigerator for  30 mins to get it completely set. Once it is set, peel the parchment paper. It comes off easily :)

Melting Moments - Eggless Cookies

Bill Gates famously said I always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because he will find an easy way to do it. Not sure if it is just one of the funny sms/forwards, but as  as a lazy girl, I am forever in search for easy recipes. What attracted me to the "Melting moments" cookies  was not only  how easy they were to make but these were eggless and so cute to look at. Taste wise , it was incredible just like its name . This one is a keeper recipe and these are something I am going to make often. I  wanted to keep them a bit crunchier, so baked it few minutes extra, it was crunchier on the outside and had soft buttery crumbly interior. Absolutely delicious. These cookies are usually sandwiched with a filling, but I skipped that.  I made half the amount and landed up with 20 cookies.

Ingredients

[ 50 unfilled ones]

8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract   [ I skipped this and instead used powdered cardamom]
½ cup icing sugar, sifted     [ I used sifted powdered sugar]
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
½ cup corn flour (cornstarch), sifted

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 160C/325F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Beat butter, vanilla and sifted icing sugar in a bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in  all purpose flour and cornstarch using a wooden spoon. If the mixture is too soft and sticky, chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. With floured hands, roll rounded teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls. Place balls about 2.5cm apart and then flatten slightly with the back of a lightly floured fork.
5. Bake cookies about 15 minutes or until just cooked through and light golden. Stand 5 minutes in tray before lifting onto wire racks to cool.

 My oven doesn't have the option of 160C, so I set it to the nearest 155C and  baked for 22-24 minutes to get the crunchiness. You can adjust the baking time according to your choice.

The cookies can be stored  upto 1 week lined between parchment paper in an airtight container.

Recipe Source: The Australian Women’s Weekly Macroons & Biscuits mentioned here