Red Velvet #2

So the medics society has organised a bake off to amass enough cakes to feed the first years. In return the medic bakers are in for a chance to win a top prize of 50 pounds. Frankly I have always wanted to take part in a baking competition of some sort and I have been shamefully spending hours thinking of how I was going to decorate my cake. I knew I wanted to bake a red velvet cake since that's the best cake I've ever made and is a family favourite. The issue was to decorate it in a way that's pleasing to the eye as well as to the taste buds.

In the end I decided to pipe some rose swirls using the cream cheese frosting on the sides and decorate the top with some macarons.

The decoration process went fairly smoothly although a few of the white roses didn't stick very well to the sides since it was my first attempt at piping rose swirls!

One of my favourite moments in the baking process is the photography session. Luck was on my side as the weather was fine and not too sunny or cloudy, that means good adequate lighting.

The whole baking process took me at least 6 hours as I had to make the macarons, prepare the Swiss meringue buttercream, bake the sponge, prepare the cream cheese frosting, frost the cake, pipe the swirls and some buttercream on which the macarons sat. I was quite proud of the fact that I figured a way to prevent getting soggy macarons (since macarons and cream cheese don't get along very well!) by piping a cushion of buttercream under the macarons.

 

My cake in the box prior to transportation.

The result in the end: I won the first prize! That's 50quid and a mixing spatula tied with a ribbon. :)

It was great fun taking part in the bake off and it was nice to see so many medics have a go at baking. A variety of medical themed cakes were on display:  Thoracic anatomy cake, Brain cake, Heart anatomy cake with all the great vessels, abdominal anatomy cake just to name a few. It's incredible what those bakers managed to come out with!

I certainly look forward to the bake off next year if there is one.