The Suckling Pig Cake
It was a beautiful spring day and I was trying to think of an idea for another animal themed cake. Tom and I had just watched the Iron Chef suckling pig battle. The piglets were so cute; the perfect cake idea. They are one of the few foods that the whole animal remains intact in the serving presentation.
My idea was to have a Tiramisu-type cake, made with white cake, tiramisu filling, a chocolate pudding liver, raspberry chocolate kidneys, and a Jell-o heart.
I started out collecting tons of pig reference photos and gathering ingredients: cake mixes, pudding, chocolates, marzipan, and various fruits.
I proceeded to bake, taking two cheap aluminum loaf pans and stretching and bending them until they resembled the approximate shapes I needed to make a pig. I then prepared the cake mix following directions on the back of the box. When I was done with the mixing, I poured the batter into the pans. Once baked, I hollowed out the inside and assembled the pieces into approximate pig form.
The hoofs, nose, tail, and ears were made out of sculpted marzipan which was then painted with food coloring and a layer of white chocolate.
Then I mixed and layered on the icing, chilling after each coating to build up a uniform surface. Somehow, I ran out of confectioner’s sugar and, in my haste and unwillingness to walk half a block to the nearest store I used granulated sugar. This made the icing more of a salt crust consistency than a light butter cream.
It turned out looking ok, but it was not as smooth as the previous fish cake and not very edible.
For the final touches I painted a red blush on the pig’s nose ears eyes and tail
as well as the “100%” stamp.
Then I piled the tray high with strawberries, grapes, and strawberry cream-filled wafer cookies,
to remind the viewer and eater that it was indeed a tasty cake.
The Wild Boar Cake
I was originally going to prepare the wild boar cake for the game food challenge however time constraints prevented its completion. I opted for a tidy apartment rather than a delicious dessert. This cake took a little less effort to complete since I had done most of my troubleshooting with the piglet cake. My plan for the boar was to have a black forest cake with cherries, chocolate mousse, and cherry filling surrounded by chocolate truffles.
Since I had my plan all set out and a little practice with the design I decided to make the cake from scratch. Once again, I used aluminum loaf pans which are easy to bend into shape. I only made a single batch of the cake but a double batch would have worked much better.
Black Forest Cake
3 eggs
1cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
3 1/3 oz powdered almonds
3 ½ oz dark chocolate
1tsp vanilla
½ vanilla bean
1½ tsp baking powder
½ lb butter
2 cups flour
½ stick cinnamon
Combine dry ingredients: flour, almonds, baking powder and set aside.
Separate eggs, beat yolks with sugar until light and pale, melt chocolate over double boiler and add in butter and vanilla.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold in with batter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Ears, hoofs, and tail were all made out of marzipan dipped in dark chocolate. The inside was hollowed out and filled with a layer of dark cherry jam, a layer of chocolate mousse, a layer of cherries, and then filled with whipped cream mixed with cherry juice and kirsch.
I had a few problems with the cherries, notably the frozen cherries went bad too quickly, the fresh cherries were fine but only lasted a few days, next time I would use jarred cherries. Next I covered the cake with a layer of butter cream frosting mixed with melted chocolate which made a really airy and light frosting.
It was a little difficult to control the shape of this icing, but this added to the rough fuzzy look of the boar, accentuated by an addition of shaved bittersweet and white chocolate.
Then I surrounded the boar cake with chocolate truffles. It made for a great presentation, and this cake actually got some tasters. Tom liked the chocolate-cover marzipan bits the best and would greatly appreciate a tasty Black Forest cake for the next festive occasion that presents itself.