A Messy Cake Recipe to Celebrate an NYE Rewind Party!
Rich chocolate cake, luscious vanilla bean swiss meringue buttercream, sublime passionfruit curd...
Messy Cakes - the latest baker craze to take over Instagram. It’s wacky, it’s unhinged, and it defies all traditional cake conventions — which is why I had to give it a go! My eyes are visually obssessed with the wild frosting swirls, saucey drips, funky florals, colours, textures, and amazing flavour combinations…
Our dear friend Peter never stays in Dubai for New Years Eve. Instead, he travels abroad (usually somewhere in Asia) to celebrate the turn of the year. So when he returns to Dubai, you can count on him to host a New Years Eve Rewind party. Because the guy loves a good party — so any excuse to throw one, right? (And for me, a party is a good excuse to bake a cake, right?)
It was easy deciding on the two base flavours - my favourite rich chocolate cake and my favourite buttercream frosting. But what feature flavour to choose? Ah, yes. Passionfruit curd. Tart, bright, visually stunning, and it cuts through the sweetness of both chocolate and buttercream. Perfect.


GIGI’S FAVOURITE RICH CHOCOLATE CAKE
Yield: 3-tier round cakes (6”, 8”, 9”) or 2 x square cakes (10”)
405 grams All-Purpose Flour
400 grams Pure Maple Sugar*
150 grams Cocoa Powder
2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Pink Himalayan Salt
4 teaspoons Reishi Powder***, optional
345 grams very hot Strongly Brewed Coffee or Americano
25 grams finely ground Flax Seeds
125 grams Canola Oil, or Refined Coconut Oil
200 grams Buttermilk or Laban
150 grams Full-Fat Cream Cheese
4 large free-range organic Eggs
150 grams Dark or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, optional
To prepare the cakes, first preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Line the bottom of 3 round cake pans (6-inch, 8-inch, 9-inch) with parchment paper and grease the sides with butter. Dust with cocoa powder. Tap our excess cocoa powder.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, pink salt and reishi (if using); set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the flax seeds into the hot coffee until well mixed. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, buttermilk or laban, cream cheese and eggs until well incorporated. Add the coffee mixture into the egg mixture and whisk again until thoroughly combined.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold until no dry ingredient streaks are left.
Pour cake batter into prepared pans equally.Tap a few times on the counter to remove excess air bubbles.
Bake for 35 to 50 minutes, rotating periodically, until a toothpick comes out clean (no wetness).
Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, and then carefully transfer them out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
*Note 1: if you don’t want a 3-tiered cake, you can bake the chocolate cake batter in 2 x 10-inch square pans instead or 9-inch square pans if you want a taller cake
**Note 2: you can raw cane sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar, or whatever is your go-to-sugar, instead of maple sugar.
***Note 3: I always add a functional ingredient to my baked desserts, be it reishi or chaga or lion’s mane or ginseng (alongside flax seeds), but you can omit this if you wish.
***Note 4: I usually bake my cakes 1 or 2 days before assembly. I wrap the baked cakes in cling film and aluminum foil before placing them in the freezer until I’m ready to assemble.
FOOLPROOF VANILLA BEAN SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
227 grams free-range organic Egg Whites (from 6 large eggs)
425 grams Caster Sugar
425 grams Unsalted Butter (I use Kerrygold), softened but not warm, cut into 1-inch cubes
Caviar from 1 Vanilla Bean Pod (preferably Madagascar, or Hawaiian if you’re so lucky)
Combine the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and set over simmering water, whisking constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the temperature reaches 160°F/71°C on a candy thermometer.
Remove from heat and immediately beat using a balloon whisk until fluffy, doubled in volume, and medium peaks form. Ensure the meringue is no longer warm but at room temperature before you start adding your butter cubes.
Next, beat in a little cube of butter one at a time, until the meringue is creamy and lightened.
Reduce speed to the lowest setting, add the vanilla bean caviar, and then increase the speed to medium-high. You can also add some food colouring at this point. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes more, until light and creamy.
*Note 1: less butter produces a firmer buttercream when kept at room temperature.
**Note 2: more sugar produces a sweeter but less creamy buttercream. Less sugar produces a silker and more buttery-tasting buttercream.
SIMPLE PASSIONFRUIT CURD
Pulp from 9 Passionfruit
15 grams Pure Maple Sugar**
In a small saucepan, combine the passionfruit pulp and sugar.
Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture thickens to a syrup-like consistency, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature before using.
Transfer the passionfruit curd to a glass jar or container with a lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
*Note 1: if you don’t fancy passionfruit curd, you can always substitute it for a tart cherry compote, frutti di bosco jam, or even a wonderful fig jam (paired with an earl grey-infused swiss meringue buttercream?).
**Note 2: you can raw cane sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar, caster sugar, or whatever is your go-to-sugar, instead of maple sugar.
FINAL CAKE ASSEMBLY
1 recipe baked Rich Chocolate Cakes
1 recipe Foolproof Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream
1 recipe Passionfruit Curd
2 to 3 extra Passionfruit, for garnishing the cakes
Flowers, for decorating the cakes
Other possible garnishes: edible gold leaf, chocolate shavings, sprinkles
Place the unwrapped cake on a flat work surface. Using a long serrated knife, slice off the top 1/4-inch dome to even out the top of the cake as necessary (I don’t cut off too much in order to build a taller cake!). Reserve the cake scraps for snacking. You deseserve it.
Using a 10-inch (scalloped) round cake board as the bottom, place 1 cake layer on the cake board, cut side up. Place the cake board on top of a revolving cake turntable. Measure out 1/2 cup of the Swiss Meringue Buttercream and set aside for use in the decorating of the cake.
Using an offset spatula, spread a generous layer of Swiss Meringue Buttercream evenly over the first cake layer to the edge of the cake. Drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons of passionfruit curd over the buttercream layer. Top with the second cake layer. Repeat the same with the buttercream and passionfruit curd. Finally, top out the cake with the third and final cake layer. Repeat again with the buttercream (no passionfruit curd this time). Spread a 1/2-inch thick layer of the remaining buttercream around the sides of the cake as evenly as posible. Remember, this is supposed to be a messy cake, so don’t worry about smoothness as much as evenness.
Using a prepared pastry bag fitted with your desired tips, pipe random swirls and designs around the side and top of the cake. Just before serving the cake, drizzle the cake with remaining passionfruit curd, and garnish with your desired flowers, edible gold leaf, sprinkles, chocolate shavings, et cetera.
Enjoy!!!
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