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Fortune Teller Cake

Eva
Fortune Teller Cake

I must admit that the theme of this year’s Halloween recipe fascinates me. I told you some time ago that everything that has to do with the circus of terror (some time ago I left you a cake with this theme), Freak Shows and others, is something that catches my attention. So this year I leave you with this Fortune Teller Cake, inspired by the fortune tellers’ booths that read your palm, the crystal ball or the cards.

What’s more, this year I share the theme with my family and we are going to celebrate Halloween by simulating a Freak Show or circus of terror. Of course, I knew right away what my costume was going to be, directly related to the theme of the cake that I bring you today. My sister is the one who is setting up everything and has been decorating for a week now…. By the time Halloween rolls around, she will have been decorating the house for two weeks! As you can imagine, I’m really looking forward to it.

Since I won’t be able to see everything that is being decorated at my parents’ house, it’s a surprise and they don’t tell me anything? I will show you the decorations after the publication of this post (I will upload some pictures here if everything goes well and I can make them, that maybe the excitement leaves me perplexed) because I will see it hours after leaving you the traditional post of every year for Halloween. I think there will be a smoke machine from what I can gather.

I’m not going to lie to you, this recipe has a lot of elaboration and requires patience and desire to dedicate time to it. But if you enjoy these things, the end result is worth it in every way.

The recipe consists of a gingerbread cookie decoration, the same that I left for Dorothy’s house from The Wizard of Oz. The good thing about this type of cookie is that it allows us to create a perfect, durable and economical skeleton for our creation. It can be made with other ingredients, but I think it makes the recipe very expensive (for example, if we make it all chocolate).

The exterior decorations are all made with modelable chocolate.

I love working with plastic chocolate (I have left you several recipes using it), you can create many things, model… It holds up wonderfully well and the finish is extraordinary, with a lot of detail. In my case I used silicone molds for this purpose. Then I painted everything with powder coloring, green and gold, because I wanted to achieve a rusty bronze effect.

It’s amazing how versatile it is and the good results we get. It allows you to add incredible and very elaborate details without having to spend a lot of time, since silicone molds are great helpers.

The base is a cake with a very tender sponge cake, slightly syrupy, with two fillings; chocolate ganache and toffee buttercream. The outer decoration is a milk chocolate ganache and plastic chocolate decorations.

Fortune Teller origin.

The origin of the “Fortune Teller”, better known among us as pythonesses, is as old as our origins, since divination and the search for destiny have been fundamental practices in almost all cultures throughout time. Fortune Tellers are historical and mythological figures that have existed in many forms and with different methods of foretelling the future.

In their essence, they are people who are dedicated to predicting or revealing the future. This concept has its roots in divination practices that date back thousands of years. Some of the most ancient civilizations already practiced forms of divination and consulted specialized figures who functioned as “mediums” between mortals and the gods.

By the way, this is my custome for this year!

Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.

In ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, priests and priestesses practiced divination using different methods, such as dream interpretation, reading the stars (astrology), and observing the entrails of sacrificed animals. On the other hand, the Egyptians consulted their gods through oracles and sacred figures. It was believed that these priests could intercede with the gods to discover the secrets of destiny.

Oracles of Ancient Greece.

One of the most famous examples of Fortune Tellers is found in Ancient Greece, with the oracles. The most famous was the Oracle of Delphi, where the Pythia or Sibyl interpreted divine messages that were believed to come directly from the god Apollo. People of all social classes, including rulers, turned to these oracles for advice and to learn their fate before carrying out significant events in their lives.

Rome and the Sibyls.

In Ancient Rome, sibyls were prophetic women who predicted the future. They were considered inspired by the gods and their prophecies were recorded in texts known as the Sibylline Books, which emperors consulted before making important decisions. Divination in Rome also included haruspicina, which consisted of reading the entrails of sacrificed animals, a practice that was believed to reveal messages from the gods.

Middle Ages and the demonization of divination.

With the arrival of Christianity in Europe, many pagan practices and figures related to divination, such as Fortune Tellers, began to be demonized. The Catholic Church saw divination as a threat, as it was considered a form of heresy or witchcraft. However, divination continued under other more accepted forms or in clandestine circles.

Divination practices during the Middle Ages, despite being subjected to relentless persecution, continued in many parts of Europe, especially among gypsy peoples, who are famous for their palm reading, tarot and other methods. These divinatory figures were known to use crystal balls, cards and other means to predict the future. Their social role varied from being consulted for important matters to being seen as marginal or mysterious characters.

The image of the Fortune Teller as we know her today, a woman in flowing and ornate dresses, covered in translucent fabrics, beads, flashy makeup, always accompanied by her crystal ball, tarot cards and a halo of mystery surrounding her personality, is part of the result of centuries of evolution. In the Victorian era (19th century), there was a revival of interest in mysticism, esotericism and divinatory practices. During this time, various forms of divination emerged that evolved into what we recognize today as the classic Fortune Teller.

Fortune Tellers in popular culture.

Over time, Fortune Tellers have gone from being mystical figures to being part of popular culture, appearing in movies, books and entertainment shows. In many cases, their image is shrouded in an air of mystery and exoticism, with a halo of occult wisdom.

Circus culture, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, fortune tellers were part of traveling shows and circuses, where they were one of the main attractions. They read fortunes with crystal balls or tarot, becoming a symbol of mysticism in these shows. Throughout the 20th century, this figure reached the cinema, especially in horror or adventure films, where they usually have prophetic roles, warning the protagonist about future dangers.

Recipe Fortune Teller Cake

GINGERBREAD COOKIE: ROYAL ICING: SPONGE CAKE: SYRUP/SYRUP: DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE FILLING: CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM FILLING: PARA LA GANACHE DE CHOCOLATE CON LECHE (COBERTURA): PLASTIC DARK CHOCOLATE: EDIBLE FABRIC (CURTAINS): OTHER DECORATIONS: MATERIAL USED AND VISIBLE IN THE VIDEO: CUTTER MEASUREMENTS: This post contains affiliated links.

Instructions

FORTUNE TELLER BOOTH
Prepare the gingerbread cookie dough.
  1. In a saucepan add the honey along with the two types of sugar. Place over medium low heat and, stirring occasionally, allow the ingredients to melt and integrate completely. Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of the KitchenAid add the butter and using the paddle attachment, beat on speed 1. Add the molasses you prepared in a continuous thread. Mix on speed 1 until smooth.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting to add the second one when the first one is integrated.
  4. Add the spices along with the salt and mix again.
  5. Finally, add the flour little by little while mixing the cookie dough. You will obtain a homogeneous dough.
  6. Dump the dough on a clean work surface and knead a little with your hands.
  7. Flatten slightly, wrap with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
Roll out the gingerbread cookie dough.
  1. Stretch the dough between two sheets of Teflon giving a thickness of 6 mm with the help of an adjustable rolling pin. It is possible that not all the dough will fit on the tray, I advise you to divide into two parts and roll out separately.
  2. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until the next day.
Cut out the cookies.
  1. With the help of cutters or a template that you make yourself, cut out the pieces to make the booth.
  2. Once you have cut them all, carefully lift them off the Teflon sheet to remove them. If you square the cutters properly, it will not be necessary to move the pieces. If you have to do it, I advise you to keep them cold to prevent them from losing their shape.
  3. Below I detail the amount of dough to cut for each part and thickness.
  4. Refrigerate while you preheat the oven.
QUANTITY OF DOUGH TO BE CUT
Bake.
  1. Preheat the oven to 165ºC, heat up and down.
  2. Bake directly from the refrigerator. Place the tray halfway up in the oven and bake for 16-18 minutes, making sure they do not brown too much.
  3. Remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.
  4. Once you have baked all the cookies, let stand at room temperature for 14-16 hours in a cool, dry place, if possible.
Prepare modeling chocolate.
  1. Add the chocolate in a waterproof bowl and melt in a double boiler.
  2. Remove from heat and add the warm corn syrup or corn syrup. Mix until completely homogenized.
  3. You will obtain a dense and slightly oily paste. That's right.
  4. Store the dough in a freezer bag or cling film. Stretch slightly, remove the air and reserve at room temperature until it becomes firm. It will take about 8 hours.
  5. NOTE: To preserve it we can keep it refrigerated if it is very hot or in a cupboard, cool and dry. Always wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put it in a zip bag to prevent it from drying out.
Prepare royal icing.
  1. Sift the royal icing mix.
  2. Add with the water and mix lightly with a spatula. In this way you will avoid making a cloud of powder in the kitchen. With this first quantity you will obtain the royal icing base.
  3. Mix the mixture with the water in the KitchenAid (using the paddle on speed 1) for about 7-8 minutes. You will obtain a white and homogeneous glaze.
  4. To decorate the cookies, depending on how you want to decorate them, you should add a little more water.
Paint the wall of the booth.
  1. Take some of the royal icing and tint with black paste coloring.
  2. With the help of a pastry spatula, spread the icing on the cookie to cover it all over. Do not worry if it is not perfectly smooth, it will simulate a painted wall. Let it dry completely.
  3. Once dry, using a stencil, place on the cookie and spread a layer of icing. Use the spatula to give uniformity. Carefully remove the stencil and let dry completely.
  4. Finally, paint with metallic gold paint the reliefs you created with the stencil. Let dry.
  5. NOTE: I also created a base of these dimensions to place the stand on the cake. I brushed the entire surface with lightly lightened and dyed black icing.
Paint the side walls with windows.
  1. The rectangles that have come out of the windows can be used to create decorations. In my case I reused one to create the table where I placed the crystal ball.
  2. Paint the two cookies that will be the walls with windows with black icing. Let dry completely.
  3. Place two sheets of gelatin to simulate the windows, glue them to the cookie with a little royal icing. Let dry for 1 hour.
Assemble the booth.
  1. Once the cookies have dried, proceed to put them together. Place the painted wall leaning on the work table, spread a good amount of black royal icing on the sides and place the two walls with windows. I recommend placing glasses or other objects on the sides to support them while they dry.
  2. Let dry for 12 hours.
Paint the sign.
  1. Paint the cookie that will be the sign with royal icing dyed black. If you wish, you can create a beveled edge in my case. Let dry completely.
  2. With the help of metallic gold paint, paint the text “Fortune Teller” and, if you wish, you can add a drawing like the one I show you. Also paint the outer edge with gold paint. Let it dry completely.
  3. Use a silicone mold with baroque or renaissance decorations, small size. Use modeling chocolate to create these pieces.
  4. Place on the cookie with icing and let dry completely for 12 hours. Paint the reliefs with gold coloring powder.
  5. Finally, you can add some gold sprinkles as decoration.
Place the sign on the stand once it has dried.
  1. Reuse one of the cookie rectangles to place on the top of the stand to support the sign. File the top and bottom to give as straight a finish as possible.
  2. Paint the surface with black icing and let dry completely.
  3. Once dry, place between the two windowed walls with a good amount of black icing at both ends.
  4. Place a support under the cookie so that it dries and stays in place. Leave to dry for 12 hours.
  5. Once the stand has dried, place the “Fortune Teller” sign in the center of the rectangle with a good amount of black royal icing, leave to dry for at least 12 hours.
Prepare the table for the booth.
  1. Reuse one of the window rectangles to make the table. You will have to cut a small part of it to fit the inside of the booth.
  2. Cover the entire surface of the table and sides with black royal icing. Place a piece of rice paper on the surface of the table, of the same dimensions as the table, and carefully press it together.
  3. Brush the surface with a little water and purple food coloring to give it color and a fabric-like finish.
  4. Create a bottom ruffle with rice paper on the front of the table. Place the rice paper and brush with purple water. Shape to simulate reliefs.
  5. If desired, add a sprinkle for decoration. Let dry completely.
  6. When dry, spray the surface with edible glitter (in my case it was silver).
  7. Cut two cookie squares and place as table legs, attach with black royal icing. Let dry completely.
Decorate the outside of the house with modeling chocolate.
  1. To make the chocolate decorations, I used silicone molds. Below I will show you the ones I used, but you can vary them and use the ones you have at home or the ones you want to buy.
  2. If it is very cold, the chocolate will become firm. Take a portion and massage it between your hands to provide warmth, then it will be very easy to stretch, shape and mold.
  3. Create all the decorations on the outside of the house, let your imagination run wild. In my case, in addition to creating the columns, I then added details from parts of the silicone molds to create decorative ornaments.
  4. I glued all the chocolate decorations with black royal icing.
  5. Let dry for 12 hours.
  6. The next day, paint the modelable chocolate. In my case I wanted to give it an oxidized bronze finish.
  7. Subtly paint a base with “Ivy Green” powder coloring. Over this, paint delicately on the reliefs part, especially with golden colorant.
Place the stand on the cookie base.
  1. To be able to move it more easily, I placed the stand and the table on a base made with cookie and painted in black. I advise you to attach the stand to the cookie with black royal icing to prevent it from moving or falling.
Prepare the edible fabric.
  1. Hydrate the gelatin, you can use powdered or in sheets (in this case I recommend chopping it), in 40 g of water. Let it stand for 20 minutes.
  2. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie or in small batches in the microwave, being very careful not to burn it.
  3. Heat the hydrated gelatin for a few seconds in the microwave until it acquires a fluid consistency. Do not overheat the gelatin or you risk damaging its gelling ability.
  4. Pour the gelatin over the melted chocolate and mix until homogenized.
  5. Add the food-grade glycerin and mix again to promote perfect integration. This ingredient is responsible for making the fabric elastic.
  6. Pour the mixture on a silicone mat or silpat and spread with the help of a spatula. Try to create a “fabric” that is not too thick or too thin, the latter will break easily. You should work fairly quickly because the gelatin will soon begin to solidify.
  7. Let it cool at room temperature until it solidifies, it will take about 30-60 minutes, depending on the outside temperature.
  8. With the help of a soft brush (I advise you to use a new blusher brush) paint the whole surface with metallic powder colorant. In my case I used a ruby shade, but you can use any shade you prefer.
  9. Carefully remove the fabric from the mat, flip it over and paint the other side.
  10. When you go to decorate the booth, you can cut it to fit the curtains to your liking.
  11. NOTE: In case when you are stretching the mixture it has cooled quickly and does not allow you to work with it well, let it cool a little more and remove it from the mat. Put it back in the microwave and heat until it reaches a fluid consistency. Gelatin is thermo-reversible, allowing us to reheat it as many times as necessary in case the result is not as expected.
BASE, THE CAKE
Prepare the sponge cake.
  1. In the bowl of the KitchenAid, add the egg yolks with the water and 70 g of sugar. Beat with the whisk at medium high speed until a whitish color and a creamy texture, you will notice that it gains some volume.
  2. Begin to incorporate the flour, little by little. Integrate while mixing on speed 1. Add the baking powder along with the salt, mix.
  3. Once everything is integrated, set aside.
Whip the meringue.
  1. In another bowl, add the egg whites and begin to whip. Once it starts to foam, add the sugar (the remaining 70 g).
  2. Whip with the whisk at medium-high speed until a semi-whipped meringue is formed. At this point, add the cornstarch in two batches.
  3. Add half of the cornstarch and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining starch and whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Integrate the meringue into the egg yolk mixture.
  1. Begin to incorporate the meringue, little by little, into the egg yolk mixture.
  2. Add a small amount, mix with a spatula until fully integrated and continue adding more. The first part of meringue will help smooth the mixture. As you add more, the mixture will become smoother and lighter.
  3. Add the last batch of meringue and mix with the whisk using gentle, encircling motions to integrate it.
Pour into the mold and bake.
  1. Preheat the oven to 356ºF/180ºC, heat up and down.
  2. Grease and line a 20 cm square baking pan with baking paper.
  3. Pour the mixture into the pan and tap gently to settle the mixture. Bake for 25 minutes.
  4. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes in the pan and unmold.
  5. Place on a wire rack, upside down to make the dome as smooth as possible, and let cool almost completely.
  6. Wrap the sponge cake in plastic wrap when warm and let it cool completely. Refrigerate until the next day.
  7. NOTE: Wrapping the sponge cake in film, warm to cold, helps the cake to remain very juicy and tender. Refrigerating the cake makes the cutting process much easier.
Prepare the toffee buttercream.
  1. In a saucepan, add the whipping cream and glucose. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, remove from heat.
  2. In another saucepan, add half of the sugar and place over medium-low heat, let it melt. At this time, add the other half of sugar and stir by turning or moving the saucepan, never with a spoon or utensil, until caramelized. It should acquire a nice golden color, be careful not to burn the caramel.
  3. Add the reserved cream, cook over medium heat and mix constantly with a whisk. At first some of the caramel will stick to the whisk, do not worry, keep stirring constantly. It will gradually dissolve and integrate into the mixture.
  4. Stir until the mixture reaches 223-225ºF/106-107ºC. Be patient, it will take a while, about 20 minutes.
  5. Pour the caramel into a bowl and let it cool completely. You can do this a day in advance if you prefer.
  6. Just before proceeding to assemble the cake, finish this filling. Add the caramel together with the butter at room temperature in the bowl of the mixer and beat with the whisk on medium-high speed until whipped. You will obtain a cream with volume, silky and uniform.
  7. Pour into a piping bag with a 1 cm smooth nozzle. Set aside at room temperature.
  8. NOTE: I advise you to carry out the last step of whipping the cream just when you are about to fill the cake.
Prepare milk chocolate ganache.
  1. Finely chop the milk chocolate, set aside.
  2. In a saucepan add the cream and cook over medium heat until it reaches temperature, but without boiling.
  3. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, mix with the help of a whisk until completely homogenized.
  4. Pour into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. As it cools and does not release too much heat, cover the surface with film leaving a small opening so that it does not condense.
Make the filling, whipped chocolate ganache.
Before we get ready to whip the cream, we must make sure of two things:
  1. Pour the cream (310 g) into the cold bowl and start to whip it with an electric mixer at speed 1.
  2. Once it starts to whip, add the sugar little by little and without stopping beating. We will increase the speed gradually but without ever reaching the maximum. The ideal is an average speed.
  3. Be careful not to over whip it or we'll make butter...
  4. Cover the bowl with film and refrigerate it until we use it.
  5. On the other hand, in a saucepan add 115 g of heavy cream and place it at medium heat. Cook until it reaches a gentle boil.
  6. Remove from heat, add the chocolate in pieces and mix until it is evenly mixed.
  7. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and leave to stand for 20 minutes to lose heat.
  8. Add a little whipped cream and mix, making smooth and enveloping movements, with the help of a silicone spatula.
  9. Continue adding whipped cream, little by little, and integrating following the same process.
  10. Transfer to a smaller bowl, cover with film and refrigerate until use.
Prepare syrup.
  1. Add the water and sugar to a saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. The sugar should be completely dissolved.
  2. Once it comes to a boil, reduce to medium-low heat, cook for 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
Cut the cake.
  1. With the help of a lyre cut the cake into 3 equal parts. I advise you to start at the bottom (the base of the cake is straight unlike the top which is domed).
  2. Keep wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
Assemble the cake.
  1. Place a non-slip pad on the rotating cake base to secure the cake disk.
  2. Place the disk and a small amount of filling cream on it, this will help you to fix the cake.
  3. Place one of the sponge cakes and press down lightly. Be sure to place on the base the cake that has the bottom of the base baked. Brush with the syrup.
  4. Pipe the whipped chocolate ganache alternately with the toffee buttercream.
  5. Place another sponge cake and press down lightly. Brush the surface with syrup.
  6. Pipe another layer of the whipped chocolate ganache alternating with the toffee buttercream. This time, I decided to alternate the order.
  7. Place the last layer of sponge cake, press gently and brush with the syrup.
Cover the outside of the cake with the excess whipped chocolate ganache.
  1. Spread the chocolate filling with a spatula over the entire surface of the cake and remove the excess with a pastry scraper or spatula. This layer will help you to “pick up” any crumbs from the cake that might come to the surface when you decorate it.
  2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes for the outside to harden.
Cover the outside with the milk chocolate ganache.
  1. Spread the ganache over the entire surface. Start at the top and continue on the sides, if desired. Smooth, removing excess, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  2. Spread another layer of ganache. Smooth the entire surface and refrigerate until you are ready to decorate it. Ideally, you should have a thin layer of ganache.
  3. NOTE: In my case it hardened more than it should have because of the cold and it was quite an odyssey to carry out this part.
Decorate the outside of the cake.
  1. Cover the sides with rice paper, place it before refrigerating the cake to solidify the ganache. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  2. Prepare some water with red food coloring paste, paint all the paper on the sides to achieve a red shade. Let dry at room temperature for 15 minutes and refrigerate until the next day.
Making the ornamental details.
  1. With the help of silicone molds, create the decorations that will go on the edges and corners of the cake. In my video you will see a suggested presentation, but you can do it any way you like.
  2. To place the modelable chocolate decorations, use melted and tempered chocolate. If the cake is cold, they will adhere without any problem. If not, you will have to use a cooling spray.
  3. Paint the decorations with the same colors as the cake stand to simulate a rusty bronze.
Place the bhoot on the cake.
  1. Carefully place the curtains inside the booth. In my case I have used flower wires to hold them, shape them and adjust them to the inside.
  2. Place the stand on top of the cake. If you wish, you can place a decoration made with silicone molds and modeling chocolate on the base of the cookie base. This will prevent the cookie cutout from showing through.
  3. Paint with cocoa powder this edge and a little on the surface of the cake. If you feel like it, you can place a glass ball, I used a marble and the base was made with modeling chocolate brushed with cocoa powder.
  4. Enjoy it very much.

Notes

With this representation of Fortune Teller Cake I wish you a very happy Halloween night. For those of you who do not celebrate this holiday, I wish you a happy All Saints' Day or Happy All Souls' Day. We must live every moment the way we like the most. Lots of love and happy Halloween! Eva This post contains affiliated links.
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