6 spotted cake Recipes

cake flour, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, at room temperature, sugar, eggs, pure vanilla extract, grated zest of 1 lemon, milk, apricot preserves--melted, strained and cooled, water, unflavored gelatin

cakes, cooled, cardboard cake rounds, recipe chocolate ganache, recipe vanilla buttercream , colored red, black licorice rounds, coin size (for the spots), white wafer candies (for the eyes), candy coated chocolate pieces (for the eyes), red licorice whip (for the mouth and antennae)

foam cake savvy, eggs separate more easily when cold but whip up better when at room temperature. separate the eggs as soon as you take them from the refrigerator , then let the whites sit out in a bowl for about 30 minutes to come to room temperature before beating them., if a recipe calls for whisking the eggs or egg whites over hot water, do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water or the eggs will cook., be sure to use a spotlessly clean bowl and aters or whisk for ating egg whites. any spot of grease or fat (including egg yolk) will prevent the whites from expanding to their full volume., lift the beaters or whisk from the whites and turn them upright to determine if they have formed soft or stiff peaks. soft peaks will gently fall over onto themselves, while stiff, dry peaks will stand straight up., overbeating eggs will cause them to clump and look somewhat chalky, and the cake will not rise as successfully., before baking the cake , gently run a kitchen knife or small rubber spatula through the batter to deflate any large air bubbles., a foam cake is done when the top is golden and the cake springs back when gently pressed with a fingertip.