“The Lion’s Den”
“Clever Cakes”: Beautiful motif cakes made easy?
© Bernd Michael Maurer / RTL
In the current season, “The Lion’s Den” focuses on hobby bakers and anyone who wants to become one. “Clever Cakes” are designed to help us create magical themed cakes that really make an impression. We tested the finished fondant sleeves!
Anyone who has ever worked with fondant to cover a cake knows that the sugar mass can be really bitchy. For example, fondant must be rolled out thin enough so that it does not tear when you cover it. Once it has creased the cake, it is difficult to straighten it out. And the sugar mass does not like moisture at all – the cake should be coated thinly and as smooth as possible with a base suitable for fondant, such as ganache or firm buttercream, otherwise the fondant will melt like ice in the sun in the worst case.
“Clever Cakes” from “The Lion’s Den” is intended to make covering cakes easier
So there is quite a lot to consider if you want to conjure up beautiful motif cakes with fondant. No wonder that not everyone dares to do this. A new product from “The Lion’s Den” should now remedy the situation: With the so-called “clever cakes” are ready-made fondant covers, into which cake bases and cream fillings can simply be stacked. Additionally included decorative elements embellish the finished motif cake on top of that. But how well does it really work? I, hobby baker and BRIGITTE editor Steffi, did the test!
The “Clever Cakes” in the test
The “Clever Cakes” come in different decorative designs – I got the birthday set for my test. This consists of a white fondant cover, colorful fondant stars to stick on, a kind of twisted fondant cord that is placed around the cake and a “Happy Birthday” lettering. A disposable baking mold is also included in all sets. There are various recipe suggestions on the company’s website. Practical: The respective quantities refer to the baking pan included, so I was able to save myself the sometimes cumbersome quantity conversion.
I decided to test the recipe for the lemon cream cheese cake. The base consists of a simple sponge cake, in which all the ingredients are simply added one after the other before the dough comes into the included disposable baking pan. This is where I got a little worried for the first time: The baking pan is made of a kind of baking cardboard and I wasn’t sure whether the rather liquid dough wouldn’t leak out at the bottom. Little tip from me: When using liquid dough, always place some aluminum foil around the bottom of the baking pan and fold it in at the edge so that nothing spills out. I did that here too and the dough stayed in its shape so well.
Layer by layer to the “Clever Cake”
Unfortunately, the bottom didn’t rise quite as well when baking, as I would have liked, cracks had also formed at the top. But at least the latter blemishes are fortunately covered by a fondant cover, so I wasn’t bothered about it. The base then had to cool for a long time – in the meantime I was able to mix the cream. Here, too, the ingredients were simply mixed together, so the recipe is absolutely suitable for beginners.
Now it was down to business: I cut through the cooled floor twice and myself then worked along the “Clever Cakes” instructions. The step-by-step explanation is understandable: First I spread a thin layer of cream on the bottom of the fondant cover and also pulled something up on the fondant wall. Then came the first cake base, followed by another layer of cream and so on. Another tip: For an extra fruity touch, I sprinkled a few peach chunks on top of the cream layers.
Help, my floor is too low!
Now I got the problem that I was expecting: The bottom had just gotten too low to fill the whole fondant case. Since I couldn’t bake a second base – I didn’t have enough ingredients or a second baking pan of the right size – I had to use tricks. On the one hand I made the layers of cream between the bases a little thicker and on the other hand I simply folded the end of the fondant cover onto the cake base.
© Private
Unfortunately, the amount of cream was also quite tight – in the end I was missing a bit of cream to completely line the sides of the fondant cover. That caused one or the other slight dent, but I couldn’t change that anymore. I then only put a cake plate on the finished cake, turned the whole cake over and then had to put it in the fridge again.
An hour later I was able to peel off the foil from the fondant cover and the Decorate the cake to taste with the stars provided. And thanks to the fondant cord, the fondant finish, which was no longer so pretty due to the folding action, was easily concealed – done!
© Private
My conclusion
From a purely visual point of view, the cake looks great – and I was able to save myself the whole time-consuming process of rolling it out and covering it. The lemon cream cheese recipe is easy to implement, but I liked the taste of the cream much better than the base. If you want to put a nice motif cake on the table and don’t want to bother with fondant, “Clever Cakes” is a good choice. However, the fact that there is only one baking pan can be a bit of a problem: If the bottom doesn’t rise properly, as in my case, you may have to do a little tricking.
And also the price is a drawback for me: The basic fondant cover without any decoration costs 16.90 euros, a set with decoration 34.90 euros. For comparison: For the latter price you can already order a completely finished cake on the Internet.
Are you interested in baking? In 2021, the ready-made baking creams from “BACK`O´FUNNY” were presented at “Die Höhle der Löwen” – you can find my test report here.
Did you miss an episode or want an overview? All further information about “The Lion’s Den” can be found here. The current show is always on Mondays at 8:15 p.m. on Vox and anytime TVNow.
Sources used: The Lion’s Den, Vox, Clever Cakes