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  • Welcome to How To Cook That I am Ann Reardon

  • In response to lots of requests in the comments we are making a divergent cake today. You've

  • also been asking for how to make a tiered cake and for a tutorial on how to make a cake

  • with mousse between the layers so I'm going to combine all of those requests into the

  • one video.

  • The cake itself is divergent to match the theme of the book, and now movie of course.

  • Inside we have a layer of vanilla sponge cake followed by chocolate mousse and chocolate

  • cake for the dauntless faction, then ice cream mousse for candor, a layer of vanilla cake,

  • then strawberry mousse for amity, a layer of chocolate cake and then a coating of white

  • chocolate ganache and fondant decorations.

  • For the decorations on the cake I have symbols from each of the factions.

  • And you may be looking at this cake and thinking what on earth are those symbols all about,

  • well that means that you have not yet read the books. If you don't have heaps of spare

  • time to read you can download and listen to them from audible.com. They have all three

  • books there and 150,000 other books. and for How To Cook That subscribers if you

  • go to audible.com/howtocookthat you can choose any book you want and get a free 30 day trial

  • membership.

  • I must say my favourite books to listen to of theirs are dramatized ones that have sound

  • effects as well as the voices. Like the star wars ones with the little R2D2 beeps, so you

  • can go there and choose a book.

  • OK back to making the cake, bake one quantity of my sponge cake recipe and bake it in two

  • tins, one smaller one and one slightly larger I'll put all the measurements in cm and inches

  • on the website. Then repeat that with the chocolate cake recipe. The videos for both

  • of these cakes are on the youtube channel showing you how to make them. I'll link you

  • to the channel at the end of this video.

  • While they are baking lets make our trees. The trees are for the Amity or the peaceful

  • faction, I am making them orange, their clothes are reds and yellows which kind of gives an

  • orange look as a group or people. Roll out a thick snake of fondant, cut it to the right

  • length and then split it in half at the top. Split each of those branches in two.

  • I think it would be pretty hard to choose a faction, a balance of all of them would

  • be better than an extreme of one, I guess that would make me divergent.

  • Then split each of those branches into two again at the top. If your knife is starting

  • to stick to the fondant rub a little bit of oil on it.

  • If you were Tris though and it was your choosing day and you had to choose a faction which

  • one would you have chosen to hide in?

  • Now we want to roll out an extra branch to stick on the top of the tree. So roll out

  • a small branch, cut it in half at the top. Then stick that to the front of the tree.

  • Take some baking paper and place it under the branch to support it. Then split the ends

  • of that branch a couple more times. I made 7 of these each about 13cm tall.

  • Once the cakes are baked and cooled we need to split them into layers. This chocolate

  • cake recipe always bakes with a thin layer on the top, it doesn't look pretty but it

  • tastes amazing and we'll cut that bit off the top anyway so it really doesn't matter.

  • Take the cake out of the tin and using either a knife or a cake leveler split each cake

  • into two even layers. Clean you cake tine and line the base with

  • baking paper using a little butter or margarine to make it stick. Then we need to line the

  • sides to make them taller than the tin. If you have acetate you can use that like it

  • have here. If not take two clean document protectors and put piece of paper in each

  • and use them to line the tin, again using some butter to stick them into place. Use

  • some tape to secure the sides of the plastic so that when we fill it up with the mousse

  • and the cake it doesn't expand out and make a mess.

  • Now to make the three mousses

  • For the strawberry mousse, wash and hull your strawberries and place them into a blender

  • or into a food processor. For the written quantities that you need for this recipe go

  • to the website howtocookthat.net and all the fondant amounts and cake recipes are there

  • too, I'll put a link in the description below this video.

  • For the ice cream mousse measure out your ice cream and leave it in a bowl to melt.

  • For the chocolate mousse pour hot cream over the chocolate, leave it for a moment and then

  • stir it. You can of course make just one mousse flavour

  • if you prefer you don't have to make three, or you could just use frosting between the

  • layers.

  • Keep stirring until it is smooth.

  • For the strawberry and melted ice cream take two tablespoons and place it into a smaller

  • bowl. Then for the chocolate mousse put two tablespoons of cream into a bowl. Add a heaped

  • teaspoon of powdered gelatin to each one of those and stir well. Leave those to sit and

  • the gelatin will absorb the moisture.

  • Place your egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer and put the sugar and water

  • into a saucepan and stir until it is dissolved, wash down the sides of the pan and add a candy

  • thermometer. Turn the mixers on to beat the egg whites

  • and by the time they are done the sugar syrup should be at 238 degrees F, if it is at that

  • temperature before the egg whites are whipped then just take it off the heat while you wait.

  • Once the egg whites have soft peaks pour in the hot sugar syrup and leave the mixers running

  • for about 3 more minutes until your italian meringue looks nice and firm like this.

  • Split that onto three bowls and leave it to one side. Then whip the cream up to soft peaks.

  • Heat up your strawberry gelatin mixture until it is melted.

  • Warm the larger bowl of strawberry puree in the microwave for about 15 seconds, we don't

  • want it hot, you just want it slightly warm, about body temperature. Then mix the melted

  • gelatin into that and tip the whole thing onto 1/3 of the italian meringue. Mix this

  • in really well so you don't have any lumps of italian meringue, you can use a whisk for

  • this if you like. Then fold in the whipped cream. This fresh strawberry mousse taste

  • so good, I could eat a bowl of it just on it's own.

  • Place a layer of chocolate cake at the base of the container. Try and choose one that

  • is really flat on the top and put that down the bottom with the flat side down. Then add

  • 1 1/3 cups strawberry mousse on top and spread it out evenly.

  • In the larger tin put a layer of chocolate cake just like we did in the smaller one and

  • the rest of the mousse. Then add a layer of sponge cake into each tin.

  • Now for the ice cream mousse. Melt the gelatin until it is hot then warm the ice cream for

  • 15 seconds in the microwave. Mix these two together and then combine that with the italian

  • meringue mixing well until it is combined. Then fold in the cream just like we did for

  • the strawberry mousse. Pour about 1 1/3 cups into the smaller tin

  • and the rest into the larger one. Then add a layer of chocolate cake.

  • For the chocolate mousse, melt the gelatin and warm the ganache. Then combined the two

  • of them together stirring it well. Pour it over the italian meringue and using a whisk

  • mix it together until you can't see any more lumps of white.

  • And yes if you want to you can use milk chocolate for this instead of dark I just like the intense

  • flavour of the dark chocolate. Then add 1 1/3 cups of mousse over the top.

  • Add the rest to the larger tin and then add your final layer of cake.

  • Cover with plastic wrap and leave that in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours, I

  • left mine overnight.

  • Trim the top to be level with the cake, add a cake board if you don't have one just cut

  • a circle out of thick card and cover it in foil. That will be fine. Flip the cake over

  • and remove the tin. Cut the sticky tape and remove the plastic.

  • You could of course eat the cake just like that but because we want to decorate it using

  • fondant I am going to cover it in a thin layer of white chocolate ganache.

  • To make the ganache heat the cream and pout it over the white chocolate. Leave it for

  • a moment and then stir until smooth.

  • If you put fondant straight over mousse it will dissolve the underneath layer because

  • the mousse is so moist and you'll get a sticky liquid oozing from the base of the cake. Which

  • isn't too big a deal unless you are making a tiered cake like we are, it's going to mess

  • it up. So the ganache will give a protective layer or a barrier between the mousse and

  • the fondant to stop that happening. So put ganache over both your cakes then put that

  • in the fridge to firm up. Once it comes out of the fridge you can smooth it out and use

  • any left over ganache to fill any gaps.

  • To cover the bottom tier of the cake I am going to make it half black and half white.

  • The candor faction wear black and white and have scales for their symbol. Cut a straight

  • edge on your fondant and place it over the cake. Smooth the edges and trim it at the

  • base and then if it is not quite centered, like mine is, use a ruler an a knife to trim

  • it up so that it is exactly in the middle. Now repeat that with the black fondant and

  • place that over the other half. To make the scales cut a circle and then cut

  • it just below half way. then cut a couple of thin strips of black. Cut a piece for the

  • base, the stand and a thinner bit for the arm.

  • Add the upright piece right on the join of the black and white then add the base and

  • the arm. Put the semi circle in place and the two thin strips going up to the arm.

  • Repeat that using white fondant on the black side.

  • Now if we place our second cake straight on top the weight of the cake would squash down

  • the bottom cake. So what you do is add cake spikes to support the top one. You can get

  • these at cake decorating stores. Put one in and mark off where the level it needs to be

  • cut then cut all three to match that same height.

  • Then push all three of them back into the cake in a triangle shape. If you've got a

  • bigger cake then you'd need more cake spikes. Put that cake back into the fridge while you

  • work on the top one. Because we've got mousse between the layers it needs to stay refrigerated

  • for the mousse to stay set firm. Cover the top cake in light blue fondant and

  • using powdered colour and a dry paint brush, brush on some yellow followed by some orange

  • for a sun set sort of effect. Roll out some white fondant and cut and eye

  • shape out, if you don't want to do this free hand you can print out the logo and use it

  • as a template instead.

  • Using a little water to stick they eye onto the cake and then use a circle circle cutter

  • to mark the iris and the pupil

  • Take some blue gel food colour and paint on the eye lid and the pupil, leaving the white

  • highlight. then outline the base and around the iris. Water down some blue colour and

  • add some at the base and a line under the eye lid to make it look like a shadow.

  • Now place that on top of the base cake and you'll see the weight didn't squash the other

  • cake at all because we have those supports there.

  • Roll out a thin snake of blue and add it around the join of the two cakes.

  • Now add your trees. Use a little water to attach each one to the cake and add them the

  • whole way around.

  • Roll out some skin coloured fondant and print out the abnegation logo. I have it on the

  • website in the size I used. Cut around it and then use your knife to gently indent where

  • the fingers go. Take the paper off and using black gel colour

  • paint in the outlines. Use diluted black to paint the shadows.

  • Add it onto your cake between the two front trees. To me this looks like such an awkward

  • grip so to make it look more like hands I am using a straw to add finger nail indents.

  • Now flames for dauntless, the faction that Tris chose. Heat sugar and water in a saucepan

  • until it is dissolved. Then wash down the sides of the pan and let it boil until one

  • area starts to go golden. Remove it from the heat and mix in some yellow, immediately pour

  • out half of it onto a silpat or non-stick baking paper. Mix in red to the remaining

  • syrup and pour it our on either side of the yellow.

  • Using a knife zig zag across to combine the colours and then drag it at the top to look

  • like flames. Do not touch with your fingers as it is extremely hot.

  • Take an oiled knife and make an indent right down the centre then leave it to cool.

  • Once it is cold it will be hard and you can break it into shards. Reheat the sugar left

  • in the sauce pan and use it to coat one side and the base of each piece and glue them together.

  • Continue to add more until you are happy with it and then add it to the top of the cake.

  • If you want to you can also cover the cake board in black fondant like I have done here.

  • Subscribe to how to cook that for more cakes chocolate and desserts click here to go to

  • the chanel and see how to make the sponge and chocolate cakes and heaps of other amazing

  • things. Click here to go to the website and get the recipe details and click here to see

  • last weeks video. Put all your requests in the comments below don't forget to check out

  • audible.com and I'll see you Friday. Have a great week.

Welcome to How To Cook That I am Ann Reardon

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