Thursday, October 19, 2017

Murder on the Orient Express Train Cake




We're getting ready for our Murder on the Orient Express Party to celebrate the new movie. What better dessert than a train, made out of cake, so Kerry, Sharon, Lorraine and I all got together to make it happen. 

Materials:
- train cake mold
- flour spray to get the cake out of the mold
- black cake paint (we got ours from Michaels)
- Coconut flakes for snow
- Chocolate chips for the stacks
- Gold icing for the light
- Black icing to help coal and stacks stay in place
- Black sugar balls for the coal ( we got ours at Michaels)
- large tray to seat the cake on
- Foil covered cookie sheet

We made our cake using the Williams Sonoma Train Cake mold (many can be found on eBay).



Step One:
Make the cake. William Sonoma recommends the following recipe for the train cake: 

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 Tbs. vanilla extract

Directions:


Have all the ingredients at room temperature. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease and flour the wells of a railway cake pan and spray with flour spray. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla until combined. Fit the mixer with the flat beater. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and beat on the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are moistened, 15 to 20 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Divide the batter in half and set half of it aside. 



Spoon the remaining batter evenly among the prepared wells. Tap the pan firmly on the countertop to release any air bubbles. To ensure good details on the cakes, spread the batter so it reaches the top edges of each well and is slightly lower in the center of the well. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes.Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert the cakes onto the rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before decorating or serving. Wash and thoroughly dry the pan. Grease and flour the wells and repeat with the remaining batter. Makes 18 cakes.



Step Two:
Cover the tray with coconut flakes so it looks like snow.

Step Three:
Spray paint your train car cakes. We used the foil covered cookie sheet underneath the cakes so we would't make a mess. You can use plates because the spray is edible, but it's one more thing to clean. 




Step Four:
Add a little black icing on top of coal cars and then add the black balls at the tops. The icing will help the balls stay in place.



Step Five:
Add a dab of icing on top of the smoke stacks and add chocolate chips.  

Step Six:
Take your gold icing and put it over the light on the front of the engine. 



And now you have a beautiful train cake for your fabulous party. Check out our Murder on the Orient Express sandwiches.

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