I made this remembrance cake when our dear friend David passed away. He and his wife, Linda, are well known in the expat community here in France. His death was a shock and when Linda asked me to make a cake for the wake I was very honoured.
We wanted to give David a good send off and the wake was to be a celebration of his life. He was a proper american gentleman who spent the last years of his life living in France and had a love for everything French, the culture, the food, and the wine. In fact, his ashes are scattered at a local vineyard. What better send off than a bottle of wine dedicated to him in the form of a delicious chocolate cake.
The cake was a rich chocolate one made in a rectangular tin 10″ x 7″. I carved out the shape and had a bottle of wine sitting next to me so I could be as accurate as possible. The filling was a rich chocolate ganache.
I covered the cake in a green/grey coloured icing. Then I sprayed it with a sparkly green spray. It looked horrible before I sprayed it.
The label is crimped around the edges and I let it dry slightly before I wrote on it – all the writing was done freehand so I had to work the spacing out. I spoke with Linda and some close friends who gave me the ideas for the wording for the label. I actually wrote the wrong date which is why I had to put a black label over it and then rewrite the dates with a gold pen.
The cakeboard was also iced. I used a ruler to make the main lines on the board and then I made the rest of the wood effect using a sugarcraft tool. The board was covered in white icing which I brushed with a watered down edible paint wash.
It went over very well with the guests. They thought it was the perfect gesture and it tasted delicious. The French make delicious patisseries but these novelty cakes are rare around here so I’m becoming quite well known.
David’s cake
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