from How To Cake It
These mini tacos are made with Chocolate Cake wrapped in tortillas sprinkled with a sugar and spice mix, then filled with chocolate Rice Krispy and jellybean meat. Here comes the best part: toppings! Each taco is completed with licorice tomatoes, coconut lettuce, and modelling chocolate cheese!
Ingredients
2 lbs chocolate cake
Icing:
½ recipe of ganache
1 batch of simple syrup
Decorations:
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp nutmeg
Buttercup yellow gel color
6 x 6” tortillas (or 8”)
½ recipe of modelling chocolate dyed yellow/orange
Electric green gel color
1½ cup shredded coconut
Tools
2 x 6″ round cake pans
Parchment Paper
Simple Syrup Squeeze Bottle
Sharp paring knife
Rubber spatula
Sharp paring knife
Cheese grater
Sieve
Shortening or vegetable oil
Offset spatula
Directions
Modelling Chocolate Cheese: To make your modelling chocolate, add your compound white chocolate and clear corn syrup to a heatproof bowl then place it over a pot of simmering water and let it melt completely. Once it’s melted, take it off the heat and color it to look like cheddar cheese. Let it chill until room temperature then place it in the fridge.
Bake Your Cakes: Line your pans with parchment paper then preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare 2 lbs of chocolate cake batter then divide into your two 6” pans and bake each for 40 minutes. Let your cakes cool completely in their pans before removing.
Level and Cut: Remove your cakes from their pans then level each one and cut each in half to create 4 semi circles. Level your humps as well then cut them in half and stack two together (each stack will be the same height as your other layers). Trim your cakes to fit the tortillas – I used 6” wraps so I trimmed away the excess that would otherwise stick out.
Keep It Simple! Use Sir Squeeze A Lot to soak all of your cake layers with simple syrup then let them sit for a couple of minutes.
Crumb Coat and Chill: Crumb coat your cakes with chocolate ganache and for the humps, sandwich them together first with ganache then continue to crumb coat. Make sure you crumb coat both sides then let chill in the fridge.
Taco Shells: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt your butter then stir in some buttercup yellow gel coloring. Create your sugar and spice mix by combining sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg together. Lay 2 tortillas on a silicone mat then brush both sides of each with the butter and sprinkle on the sugar mix (only on one side). Bake for 3-5 minutes then let cool for 1 minute. Lay one cake layer on half of each of the tortillas then wrap them around the cakes and repeat for the other 4. NOTE: Make sure you act fast because the tortillas will harden as they cool.
Lettuce: Dilute a bit of electric green gel food coloring in some water then soak your shredded coconut inside the color to dye it for about 5 minutes. Strain your coconut with a sieve and sprinkle the flakes onto a paper towel to dry.
Chopped Tomato: Cut up some licorice nibs to look like chopped tomatoes. TIP: Use a bit of vegetable oil or shortening on your knife blade to make it easier to cut the candy.
Shredded Cheese: Grate your modelling chocolate to look like shredded cheese.
NOTE: your modelling chocolate should be cold.
Taco Meat: Once you’re ready to fill your tacos, it’s time to make the meat! Melt your two chocolates then add cocoa rice krispies (or regular) and black jelly beans in and mix together to create the meat.
Stuff Your Tacos: Use a spoon to add your meat mixture to the tortillas then lean them against something to keep them propped up. Before the meat sets, top it off with all your fave toppings: licorice tomatoes, coconut lettuce, and chocolate cheese. The more toppings the better! Repeat this for the rest of your tacos. TIP: if your meat begins to set, pop them in the microwave for about 10 seconds just to soften it up a tad.
Enjoy!
Nada’s Tips & Tricks: This book is chock full of creative edible designs…from beginner to seasoned bakers. Bring a little WOW to your next celebration! For a video to guide you every step of the way, check out https://howtocakeit.com/blogs/recipes/mini-tacos
Copyright © 2017 by How To Cake It Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Creative direction by Connie Contardi, Yolanda Gampp, and Jocelyn Mercer. Designed by Gareth Lind. Photography by Jeremy Kohm. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-cake-it-yolanda-gampp?variant=32205549436962
