Ease of preparation: Complex
Yield: 1 cake
Ingredients:
Cake
4 teaspoons (20 ml) bamboo charcoal powder
2 cups (480 ml) milk, divided
4 ½ cups (1.1 l) flour
4 cups (960 ml) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) baking powder
2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking soda
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vanilla extract
2 cups (480 ml) boiling water
Buttercream frosting
2 cups (480 ml) butter, softened
8 cups (1.9 l) icing sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
Turquoise gel food colouring
4 tablespoons (60 ml) milk
Mirror glaze
6 packages gelatin
1 cup (240 ml) lukewarm water
2 ½ cups (600 ml) sugar
¾ cup (180 ml) light corn syrup
1 cup (240 ml) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
4 cups (960 ml) white chocolate chips
4 gel food colourings: black, blue, magenta, turquoise
Edible silver dust
Special Equipment
Small star cookie cutter
Offset spatula
Method:
Let’s get baking!
To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
Grease two 10-inch (25 cm) round cake pans and cover bottoms and sides with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk charcoal with ¼ cup (60 ml) of milk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk flour with sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
Beat eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and continue beating. Slowly add boiling water and beat until thoroughly combined.
Pour 1/2 of the cake batter into a separate bowl.
Pour the charcoal milk mixture into one bowl of batter and stir until thoroughly mixed and even in colour. Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to use.
Pour the plain batter into a 10-inch (25 cm) prepared cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Level the cake by cutting off the top using a serrated knife. Using a small star cookie cutter, cut several stars out of the cake.
Remove charcoal batter from the fridge. Pour about 1/3 of charcoal batter into the second 10-inch (25 cm) cake pan and spread evenly to cover the bottom of the pan. (You want a layer that measures ¼-inch [6 mm] or so in the bottom of the pan.)
Stand the stars upright touching so that they form a ring in the middle of the pan. Carefully pour the remaining charcoal batter over top, making sure that the ring of stars stays in place. Gently tap and jiggle the cake pan to release air bubbles and ensure an even layer of batter. Bake cake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing from pan and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
Level the cake using a serrate knife. Chill until ready to frost.
To make the buttercream icing, cream together butter and icing sugar. Add vanilla and turquoise gel dye and continue beating. Slowly add milk until buttercream is smooth.
Place the cake on a cake plate. Spread frosting over cake to crumb coat. Place cake back in the refrigerator to chill.
Spread frosting over the cake a second time to create a smooth, clean layer of frosting. Place back in the refrigerator to chill.
To make the mirror glaze, add gelatin powder to a bowl with the lukewarm water. Whisk until the mixture resembles applesauce.
Combine sugar and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan and heat over medium until bubbling. Remove from heat, add gelatin mixture, whisking until dissolved. Whisk in sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and salt.
Pour mixture over white chocolate chips and set aside to melt for 2-3 minutes. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
Pour half of the mirror glaze into one bowl. Add blue and black food colouring and whisk thoroughly (this will be the base layer of frosting).
Divide remaining mixture into 3 smaller bowls:
- Keep one bowl white
- Add turquoise to the second bowl and mix in
- Add magenta to the third bowl and mix in
To finish, cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place a glass or small bowl upside down in the centre of the baking sheet, then place the cake on top.
Slowly pour the dark blue mirror glaze over the entire cake, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet.
Use a spoon to drizzle the white, turquoise, and magenta mirror glazes in lines across the cake surface. Use an offset spatula to gently and lightly pull the lines across the icing to create soft swirling galactic designs.
Splatter with silver edible dust.
Allow cake to drip for 10 minutes and then clean edges with a small spatula, remove from the the bowl, and place on a cake platter.
Once the gelatin has set, slice cake with a sharp, clean knife.
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