It's not just the glimmer on your finger; even the crystals on your wedding cake can take everyone's breath away. Here's a look at the making of geode cakes...
Chef Mohit Khilnani, Belgian chocolate geode cake
Chef Mohit Khilnani adds finishing touches to a Belgian chocolate geode cake at his Oshiwara outlet. Pic/Sneha Kaharabe
In the summer of 2014, when chef Mohit Khilnani and his partner Manju Hemrajani, received a request for a geode cake, they were in a bit of a fix.
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"We didn't know what they were. I assumed that the client wanted a cake with some stars on it. It was only after some research that we learned what a Geode cake is," laughs Khilnani, who runs Cocoatease, a patisserie in Oshiwara that specialises in English toffees, personalised cakes and chocolates. While he turned down the request back then due to lack of time, there's no ignoring the Geode anymore, thanks to the steady growth in its popularity. "While it's a rage abroad with bakers swapping buttercream frosting for crystal clad confections, it's slowly gaining in popularity here. We have received about four requests this season," he says.
Inspired by geodes, volcanic rock creations that look like normal rocks until they are split open to reveal a sparkling crystal interior, these cakes are made with rock candy and coarse sugar. The sweet treat is coloured to look like a geode and the intricate design is normally placed inside an otherwise minimalist cake. "We usually use a base of either chocolate or vanilla with about 20 varieties of fillings. There's also red velvet for those who want something different," says Khilnani, who has prepared cakes for actor Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan's daughter, Aaradhya's birthday and also Rani Mukerjee and Aditya Chopra's baby girl, Adira.
The cakes are made with rock candy prepared in-house, and coarse sugar
So, when we meet the duo on a Wednesday morning at their DN Nagar outlet, they are in the midst of making a two-tiered chocolate geode cake. By the time we arrive, Khilnani has baked the Belgian chocolate cake and applied the white fondant, a pliable icing commonly used in cake decorating. The effect is that of smooth marble. After sketching out a shape with an edible marker, he uses a knife to make insertions to the silky smooth surface. "It's carved in a 'V' so that it looks like a den and then we coat the cake with buttercream and ganache which holds the crumbs." It's a tedious process, where the ruby-hued crystals need to be individually picked with a tweezer and then stuck on the cake after the application of edible glue. Starting with dark shades of red, he moves to saffron and then white, giving the cake an ombre effect.
Heat, however, is an enemy. To ward off humidity, which could melt the sugary shapes into blobs, Hemarajani feels it's always best to cut the cake within a couple of hours.
The appeal, they feel, lies solely in its appearance. "The cake has one focal point. When clients approach us, they have so many ideas, but we need to edit them out. Your eyes can't be all over the place. So, with geode, the first thing you notice is the crystallised effect. You don't care about how many hand painted beads I've put on them," he jokes. One cake will set you back by Rs 2,000-2,500 per kg. "The gold and silver leaves that are used are expensive, which make it a costly affair," he explains.
Despite the price factor, more and more chefs are buying into the trend. Award-winning Chef Riki Kapoor, who has nearly 20 years of experience in pastry making, plans to introduce this in the syllabus at Cakesmith, an avant-garde studio for baking courses at Kala Ghoda. Kapoor, who came across the concept during his stint in Dubai, says, "It's a fun cake because of the colour aspect. It looks like it's cut out of a rock. The beauty is also in its versatility. Some of these cakes feature turquoise and deep blue crystals, silver rocks rising outside the cake's borders." Although the appeal lies mainly in its frontal appearance, Kapoor feels the back of the cake is as important. "It's more of a painting than a baking project. And people, I feel, find the joy in that process."
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