Showstopping Cakes - Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our US/CA giveaway to win one of three copies of Showstopping Cakes: Mastering the Science and Art of Baking by Rahul Mandal.

Showstopping Cakes by Rahul Mandal is the debut cookbook from the 2018 GBBO winner. From advice on stacking a tier cake to piping flowers, creating the perfect flavour pairing and avoiding a curdled cake batter or buttercream, Rahul shares his scientific know-how on achieving sublime bakes – as well as advice on how to fix things when they go wrong.

Featuring everything from mirror glaze, meringue, genoise and caramel to drip, fault-line and geode cakes, these are jaw-droppingly beautiful bakes that will wow everyone who is lucky enough to be around your table. Rahul starts with chapters on fillings, frostings, decorations, caramels, marzipan and more before delivering one astounding cake after another. Measurements are given in weight and volume.

Kyle Books shared one of Rahul's gorgeous cake recipes with us for our Members to try soon.

Carrot, orange, ginger and pecan cake with caramel mascarpone frosting and caramelised pecans
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Adding a fruit purée to chocolate ganache gives it a fruity aroma and brings a tartness that really complements the richness of the chocolate.

Serves _ 16–20
Prep  20–30 minutes
Bake  0–50 minutes

Ingredients

For the carrot, ginger and pecan cake

• 6–7 knobs of stem ginger in syrup, chopped
• 75g (2¾oz) dried currants
• 375g (13oz) self-raising flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting
• 5 large free-range eggs, at room temperature
• 300ml (10fl oz) sunflower oil
• 275g (9¾oz) dark muscovado sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• zest of 2 oranges
• 300g (10½oz) carrots, grated
• 100g (3½oz) pecans, roasted and chopped

For the frosting

• 300g (10½oz) mascarpone, at room temperature
• 250g (9oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 200g (7oz) Caramel Sauce

For the pecan praline

• 50g (1¾oz) caster sugar
• 10ml (2 teaspoons) water
• 75g (2¾oz) pecans

Method

To make the carrot, ginger and pecan cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease two deep 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed cake tins with butter and line with baking paper.

Place the chopped stem ginger and currants in a bowl. Sprinkle over the 1 tablespoon fluor and toss to combine, then set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs, sunflower oil, sugar, baking powder, ground spices and orange zest with an electric whisk until everything is well combined.

Add the grated carrots and pecans to the mixture, along with the stem ginger and currants, and mix gently.

Divide the mixture between the two lined baking tins and bake for 40–45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool in their tins for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and cream cheese with an electric whisk until smooth and lump-free.

Add about 100g (3½oz) of the caramel sauce to the cream cheese mixture and whisk until you have a soft, spreadable consistency.

Spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and set aside.

To make the pecan praline

Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan over a medium heat. Do not stir.

Once the sugar starts to take on an amber colour, add the pecans. Mix well. The mixture will be very hot, so be careful.

Pour the caramel-coated nuts on to a plate lined with baking paper and leave to cool.

Once cooled, chop into chunks.

To assemble and decorate the cake

Once the cakes are cool, cut each sponge in half horizontally so that you have four sponge layers to work with. Use a little of the frosting to secure one of the sponge layers to a 25–30cm (9-11 inch) cake board or cake stand and place on a rotating cake turntable.

Pipe kisses of frosting on top of the sponge and drizzle over little of the remaining caramel sauce. Sprinkle over some pieces of pecan praline, then place the second sponge layer on top.

Repeat until all the sponges are stacked. When you get to the last sponge, pipe two or three rings of frosting kisses around the outside of the top of the sponge, then fill the rest of the space with the remaining chopped praline.

Transfer the cake to the fridge and let everything set for a couple of hours before serving.

Special thanks to the publisher for providing three copies of this title in our promotion. Entry options include answering the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you like to try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Once you log in and enter your member name you will be directed to the next entry option – the blog comment. After that, there are additional options that you can complete for more entries. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on March 14th, 2022.