The 66th Bake: Celebration Rum Torte

I had an excuse to bake a big flash layered cake as family are visiting from Australia.  This took most of the afternoon, although I have to say, having been through these steps before it does make it easier somehow.  I needed two baking tins, so moulded one out of tinfoil to save having to bake the second sponge after the first. It was Maori language week and I went for coffee with my family to Crave, a local cafe.  They were getting right into the spirit of things. If you ordered your coffee in Te Reo, you got it free.  So I ordered “He rate pĩni nui koa” Large soy latté please.  It’s great to see the Maori language encouraged as although my Te Reo is wanting, it’s good to give it a go.  Funnily enough “Kei te pēhea koe?” was in my head from childhood, don’t know how, but it’s there.  So much better and more effective to learn a language as a kid, when we can soak up information like a sponge without having to think about it.  Now for the baking,  I first madethe sponges. These were incredibly light and fluffy, because I had to beat the egg whites until stiff, then add half the sugar to make a meringue.  Then I beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the ribbon stage, then combined the two egg mixtures together with flour.  It was so aerated and fluffy, and a lovely smell and colour with the freshly squeezed orange juice.  I separated the mixture into the two prepared tins and baked until golden.  Then made the crème pâtissière which was fun and worked a treat this time.  The mixture turned out smooth and silky.

This Celebration Rum Torte involved quite a few steps.  Each sponge was cut in half and brushed with rum syrup, then crème pâtissière which had been mixed with rum infused cream!! Yum. Coruba, Jamaica, Montego Bay songs from the 80s were playing through my head as I baked, revived with a bottle of rum and not a drop had been drunk!!  So I covered each layer with rum syrup and then crème pâtissière.

There were four layers in total.  Then covered the whole cake in cream infused with sugar and rum.  There was alot of rum in the cake, 4-5 tablespoons in total but with the mixture of orange juice, zest and cream it was smooth and not too sweet.  The family certainly appreciated it, and were all hovering to try it.  Nice way to get a whole four layered cake eaten that’s for sure. 🙂