Orange-Cream And White-Chocolate Gateau

Cake
Oven temperature: 180°C.
Grease and line a 28cm, a 22cm and a 16cm cake tin. Beat the eggs and
sugar in a large bowl until thick and light. Sift the flour and baking powder
and fold into the egg and sugar mixture.
Heat the milk and butter until the butter has melted, but don’t allow to boil.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes, then stir the
milk mixture and vanilla essence into the batter. Divide the batter among the
prepared tins.
Bake in a preheated oven for one hour or until a skewer comes out
clean. Note: You may have to remove the two smaller tins and leave the bigger
one in for slightly longer.

Filling, icing and decorations
Filling Heat the orange juice and the orange zest in a saucepan. Once hot,
add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Bring to the boil and allow to boil for
five minutes. Remove from the heat, pour a quarter of the syrup into a small bowl
and set aside.
Place the gelatine in a small microwaveable bowl or jug and
add 60ml water. Leave to swell for a few minutes, then heat in the microwave
until dissolved. Stir the gelatine into the syrup in the saucepan and set aside
to cool to room temperature.
Beat the cream until stiff. Add a spoonful
of cream to the syrup mixture and stir well, then add the syrup mixture to the
remaining cream. Fold well to combine. Cover and refrigerate until thick.

Chocolate decorations Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a
glass bowl in the microwave, stirring continually, until smooth.
Spread a layer
of chocolate onto a piece of baking paper secured to a flat surface, or onto a marble or granite surface.
Leave for a few minutes to set, then cut rectangular slats with a sharp knife. Lift carefully and set aside.

Icing Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence until light. Add enough milk to make the icing soft and spreadable.
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut each of the three cakes in half horizontally, then brush the reserved syrup over the bottom half of each cake with a pastry brush.
Use a spatula to spread a layer of the orange-cream
fi lling over the bottom half of the 28cm cake, then top with the other half.

Ice the top and sides of the 28cm cake with butter icing. Top with the bottom half of the 25cm cake and repeat the process until all three cakes are stacked on top of each other and are iced.

Stick chocolate slats all around the edge of the top and middle cakes,
overlapping the slats slightly.

Cut off the stems of the roses about 2cm below the bloom. Stick the roses
around the bottom layer of the cake.
Then stick chocolate slats around the
edge of the bottom layer. Note: You may need to trim the chocolate slats to
make them slightly shorter, depending on how big the roses are. To finish,
stick the remaining roses into the top of the cake.