“The Dancer” has turned 21.
My Niece has been a dancer all of her young life. Although she is extremely bright she just didn’t enjoy high school. Thankfully, she was able to study music and dance at school and even though her other subjects suffered she excelled in music. We were all very proud when she won a place at Brent street, after school finished, and she came to live with me for a year. Tragically she injured her back and was unable to keep up with the gruelling pace at this commercial performing school. It has taken her a a little while to recover and find her way again.
She is now studying at Newcastle University. Bachelor of Music, in performance, majoring in voice. She is not only an accomplished dancer but has an amazing voice. She is still shy and unsure of herself, but she has blossomed into a beautiful intelligent woman who does not realize how talented she is.
I made her birthday cake and thought this cute dancing design suited her. Making a cake with a dancing theme was much easier than trying to do one on singing!! The idea is based on a pinterest image from bubolinkata The birthday girl’s favourite colour is Aqua…….quite a difficult colour…is it blue is it green?. I wandered around spotlight with three bolts of tuille trying to decide which one was Aqua. No body I asked (3 people)could agree, so I went with this shade
Ballerina Cake
The cake is gluten free and is layered with buttercream. The sugar paste used is also gluten free. Look for it at www.cakedecoratingsolutions.com.au
Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Ballerina Cake
Ingredients
- 550 gm castor sugar
- 3 whole orange zest zest only
- 350 gm gluten free flour I used 250 hazelnut flour and 100 gluten free flour
- 135 gm cocoa dark
- 2 teaspoons baking powder gluten free
- 1/2 teaspoon bi carbonate of soda
- 200 ml buttermilk
- 200 ml coffee cooled
- 200 ml milk
- 125 gm melted butter
Buttercream
- 200 gm butter unsalted
- 400 gm icing sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2.5 kg sugar paste fondant or roll out icing
Instructions
- I used a 28 cm cake tin (12 inch) and baked this recipe 3 times. I start this about 2-3 days ahead. Line and spray the tins very well.
- Combine the zest and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and mix for 1 minute to extract the flavour. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix.
- Melt the butter and set aside
- Mix the eggs, liquids and eggs together. Add the wet ingredients and butter to the dry ingredients and beat several minutes till smooth. Bake each layer at 170 deg ( 340 F) for approx 40-50 minutes. Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake. It should come out clean. Cool completely
Buttercream
- Beat the softened butter with the very finely zested orange and vanilla till
- very light. Add the sifted sugar and beat till very light and fluffy. You can add cocoa to this buttercream if desired. Add 1/2 a cup at a time.
Decorate
- Layer the 3 cake layers with 1/2 of the buttercream. Setting the rest aside for coating the cake.
- Put the cake into the fridge to set 1/2 an hour or more. Once cooled put the cake onto the base it will be served on. Spread the remaining buttercream onto the cake smoothing out the top and sides as much as you can. The edges should be crisp and smooth.
- Set aside at least 700gm of icing for the shoes. Dust the bench with powdered sugar and knead the sugar paste till smooth. Roll out the sugar paste as you would pastry making sure that the bench is dusted with enough icing sugar to stop it sticking.
- Measure the sides of the cake. the paste needs to reach over the sides and across the 28 cm (12 in) top. Roll the paste onto the cake using the rolling pin and smooth down eliminating all the air. It will stick to the buttercream. This can be put into an airtight container and put into the fridge.
- To make the shoes. Shape two pieces of sugar paste into logs and then gradually into ballet shoes.
- I decorated the shoes with satin look ribbon and sugar balls. Make an edible sugar paste glue by using a Tablespoon of egg white and enough sifted icing sugar to make a stiff paste. Leave the shoes out of the fridge to dry
- The Tuille skirt ( 1 metre) is gathered together and tacked with blue cotton before sitting the cake on top.
Ballet cake
Happy 21st Em……………
thats a beautiful cake! i have zero co-ordination so i envy dancers!
wow you made that! Those delicate ballet slippers! Not aqua but blue (close) is my favourite colour too. No matter how I tried to shake it, it’s been that way all my life. I think it was to rebel against girls having to like pink.
What a beautiful cake for equally beautiful and talented dancing queen 🙂
That’s exquisite, T. You are SO clever, I’d have no idea where to begin with all that icing. What a gorgeous girl your niece is, and what a lovely aunt YOU are! 🙂
A beautiful cake for a lovely lady! I bet it tasted divine.
Cheers,
Rosa
She sounds like a wonderful young lady and so talented. What a beautiful and fitting cake for her.
It preety damn beautifull!
are you pro pastry or bakery chef ?
No Im not Dedy, but thanks
Absolutely gorgeous! your ballet slippers look so realistic! I don’t think you need any sort of cake decorating class-you might be teaching them instead! 🙂
Don’t be silly
What a wonderful aunt you are! This cake is stunning, and very happy birthday to your niece. I have great admiration for people who are artistic musically and with dance, and I hope she can continue with her passion and talent for many years to come.
What a beautiful cake for a special young woman! I hope she had a wonderful birthday.
The gluten free dancer cake looks as beautiful as your niece! Happy Birthday!
stunning Tania, both your cake and your picture of your niece at sunset.
(I wish I had an aunt like you!)
What a gorgeous cake indeed! Am sure it was delicious too! Very lucky niece- and happy birthday ballerina!
These are such gorgeous and elegant images, she is simply amazing, you must be so proud of her!
Your cake is a work of art, I would love to try the recipe, it sounds like a delicious combination.
G’day! I’m not a dancer, but LOVE your cake, TRUE!
Was wondering if you can provide HOW you got your frosting to be SO smooth as I always have trouble with that too! Thank you!
Cheers!
Joanne
What’s On The List
http://www.whatsonthelist.net
From the cake to the dancing, there is a lot of talent in your family. How tragic your niece injured her back. But it seems she has other gifts and that singing will now be her thing. The images on the beach are stunning. And I just love this cake. What a talent you are – Em must have loved it xx
What a beautiful cake Tania! And that gorgeous pose in silhouette is stunning!
The cake sounds lovely and the coffee would be a nice subtle inclusion- yummo!
That’s a beautiful cake. Did she cry? If someone went to that much work for me, I would have cried. 🙂
But you are a very sweet girl x
What a lovely cake for the ballerina birthday girl…I know she has to love it.
Happy Birthday to your talented niece. It’s great to hear that she has found her way again. With so much support and lover from her family I’m sure she will excell in her new path. The cake is precious Tania! I love the blue – Aqua color and the ballerina shoes. Have a great weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day to you!:)
OH thank you Nancy for being so thoughtful