Almost There

This spring break, I spent my free time researching about what I should make as my final product for this project, and I think I know what I really want to do. A CAKE! Why not end this school year sweet? I decided that a cake would be the perfect way for me to showcase some of the things I learned during these months. My brother's birthday is on May 7th, I believe, so it's the perfect opportunity to practice. Before, I had wanted to make macarons because I love making them, but I thought that they were too unpredictable; sometimes they turned out amazing, other times, eh. But finally, I've decided. The cake should be light and fluffy, not too sweet. The filling should be sweet and fresh, not cloying. Usually I don't like frosting, but it's kind of necessary in this instance isn't it? And I get to decorate to my heart's content.

I've decided on using smittenkitchen.com's strawberry chiffon cake as my base and reference. Her cake is unfrosted, but mine will, for decorative purposes. I'll have to stabilize the whipped cream in order to not have it melt on me. I think I'll do something fancy with the strawberries, like macerate them in honey or balsamic vinegar. That should be fun.

Next, I'll use SMB for the frosting, which stands for Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I've made it before for another project and it tasted so good compared to the heavy sickly American Buttercream. This buttercream uses a meringue base and that is what makes it super fluffy and silky and not too sweet. 

I wanted to include the aspect of tempered chocolate in here only because it sounds fancy, and I recently discovered the technique of chocolate collars in desserts, and it looks really cool.

But instead of lacy chocolate swirls, I think I'll do something more illustrative with it. 

I think the hard part is going to be using the correct structure since it will be two tiered to feed the class. Transporting the cake is also something I'm worried about and serving sounds complicated. Either way, I'll hope for the best!