Ann Reardon

Rubik’s Cube Cake

This cake idea is not my invention, it is the brain child of Cedric Grolet, the executive pastry chef at Le Meurice in Paris. It has twenty five individual cubes of dessert sitting on platforms made of chocolate. The recipe below is my own using ingredients and methods that are easy to get at home.

To make your own rubik’s cube cake dessert you will need:

(The quantities below make nine 3.9cm (1.54 inches) cubes of each flavour, which is enough for 2 rubix cubes with some left over. You may wish to choose only three of the flavours to make, then you will end up with 27 cubes enough which is enough for one whole rubix cube.)

My Almond Cake Recipe

520g (18.34 ounces) or 2 1/2 cups margarine
420g (14.82 ounces) or 3 1/3 cups icing sugar
12 eggs
520g (18.34 ounces) or 5 cups almond meal
4 tsp baking powder
180g (6.35 ounces) or 1 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Whip together the margarine and icing sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs and almond meal and mix well. Turn the mixer down to low and just mix in the flour and baking powder. Spread into tow trays. Bake at 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for approximately 17 minutes.

Syrups

Lemon Syrup
80mL (2.71 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup lemon juice (juice of 2 small lemons)
72g (2.54 ounces) or 1/3 cup sugar
Combine and heat in the microwave until the sugar is dissolved.

Lime Syrup
80mL (2.71 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup lime juice (juice of 3 small limes)
72g (2.54 ounces) or 1/3 cup sugar
Combine and heat in the microwave until the sugar is dissolved.

Orange Syrup
80mL (2.71 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange)
72g (2.54 ounces) or 1/3 cup sugar
Combine and heat in the microwave until the sugar is dissolved.

Strawberry Syrup
60mL (2.03 fluid ounces) or 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup strawberry jam
Combine and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir well.

Vanilla Simple syrup
80mL (2.71 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup water
72g (2.54 ounces) or 1/3 cup sugar
vanilla essence
Combine and heat in the microwave until the sugar is dissolved.

Crémeux Layer

6g (0.21 ounces) gelatin
600mL (20.29 fluid ounces) or 2 1/2 cups cream
Flavours – see ideas below*
3 egg yolks
16g (0.56 ounces) or 1 tablespoon sugar
160g (5.64 ounces) or 2/3 cup milk
320g (11.29 ounces) chocolate (I used 240g (8.47 ounces) white/40g (1.41 ounces) milk/40g (1.41 ounces) dark).

Add 40mL (1.35 fluid ounces) of the cream to the gelatine and stir well.
Heat the rest of the cream and pour it into 8 bowls (70mL (2.37 fluid ounces) in each bowl). *Flavour each bowl according to what flavour you want your desserts. I used 1 tablespoon of lemon rind / 1 tablespoon lime rind / 1 tablespoon orange rind / 1 tsp coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water / 1/4 cup pistachios / 3 strawberries / 1/4 cup coconut.

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it just starts to boil. Pour into he egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then return to the heat for about a minute or until the mixture reaches 86C (186.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
Add in the gelatine and stir until it is melted.
Place 40g (1.41 ounces) or chocolate into 8 bowls and split the hot mixture evenly between the bowls. Allow the chocolate to melt and then stir it in.
Note: if you live somewhere cold you may need to microwave each bowl for 20 seconds to make the chocolate completely melted.
Strain and add one of the flavoured creams into each bowl.

Assembly

rubix cube cake

Cut the cake onto very thin layers and place one layer at a bottom of a lined container. Squirt with syrup then pour on the flavoured cremeux. Top with another layer of cake. Freeze.

Set ganache

Make sure all cakes are the same height. If not make the following and pour on top as needed:
300g (10.58 ounces) or 1 1/2 cups cream
2 tsp gelatine
300g (10.58 ounces) chocolate
Mix the gelatine with some of the cream and stir until moistened. Heat the remaining cream. Add the softened gelatine and stir until dissolve3d. Add the chocolate and leave to sit for a couple of minutes. Stir well.

Glaze

glaze ann reardon

3 cups sugar
435g (15.34 ounces) or 1 1/3 cups sweetened condensed milk
250mL (8.45 fluid ounces) or 1 cup water
12 tsp gelatine
350g (12.35 ounces) white chocolate

gel food colouring

Add some of the water to the gelatine and stir it around.  Place the rest of the water in the bowl with the sugar and the sweetened condensed milk.  Heat in the microwave until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the gelatine and stir until it is melted.  Pout over the white chocolate and leave to sit for a minute or two.  Stir until smooth.  Split into 8 bowls and colour as you like.  Allow to cool to room temperature before pouring on your dessert or it will melt the outside layer and fall off.

Frame

chocolate cylinder

900g (31.75 ounces) chocolate, tempered
Acetate

Make a tube out of the acetate that is 3cm (1.18 inches) in diameter.  Pour chocolate down the centre and leave to set.  Spread the rest of the chocolate onto non-stick baking paper.  Once it is starting to set cut it into three 13cm (5.12 inches) squares.  When it is solid but not yet firm cover with another sheet of baking paper and put a tray or a book on top to make sure it sets flat.

See video at top of this post for Rubik’s assembly demonstration.

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

21 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    Hey Ann!
    I did a vegetarian adaptation of your amazing rubics cube cake 🙂
    I used agar instead of gelatine and compound chocolate instead of real chocolate (I had to look up the equivalent amount of agar for gelatine powder. Also I couldn’t just heat some of the things up in the microwave since agar needs to boil for a good minute in order to set). Since compound chocolate can deal with warm temperatures a little bit better than real does, the warm agar was not as much of a problem.
    Still, I had to change the glaze a lot, because the amount of water somehow didn’t work out for me. So it’s less glossy.
    I might try to make a vegan rubics cube cake in the future (or maybe a vegan praline/ truffle rubics cube stand).
    Thanks for the recipe and greetings from Germany ✨

  2. Rating: 4.5

    How long (time) can the rubik cube cake stay outside of the refrigerator
    Since the cake were prep frozen will they start sweating…

  3. Rating: 5

    Subject: Rubik cube
    How long it takes for the glaze to dry

  4. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, fantastic recipe – please could you tell me how big the trays are you use for this and the square boxes? Thanks. Kate

  5. Rating: 5

    Hey Ann!
    I am loving the energy, creativity, and level of fun you put in each and every one of your videos! I have been a huge fan for a while!
    I am planning on making a similar cake for my brother’s birthday, he will turn 20 in a week and is a huge Rubik’s cube fan.
    I have one question, though. It is summer where I am from and will probably be around 30-35 degrees Celsius next week. I am wondering if there is a threat that the chocolate might melt on me when I take the cake out of the fridge. Is there a way to overall make it less melty? Maybe putting a middle layer of a very flat sugar cookie that is covered in the chocolate?
    Thanks in advance! I hope you never stop with your awesome videos!

  6. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann,
    I’ve noticed that you use gelatin often in your recipes (mousses, glazes etc.) would you be able to recommend a vegetarian alternative? Would agar agar work the same, for example?

    P.S. the rubik’s cube looks fab!

    • Hi Tricia,
      Agar is a gel at room temperature, remaining firm at temperature as high as 65°C. Agar melts at approximately 85°C, a different temperature from that at which it solidifies, 32-40°C. Where as gelatine solidifies at 15C.
      So gelatine can be added to room temp ingredients, where as agar can only be folded in to ingredients that are above 40 degrees. The problem with that is if you whip a cream or mouse and then heat it to 40 degrees it doesn’t remain whipped so you’d end up. with a solid mass rather than an aerated one. And if you pour a 40 degree glaze over a dessert it will melt a layer and slide off. There are not really any good vegan alternatives with the same properties as gelatine.

  7. Rating: 5

    Tray size

  8. Rating: 5

    I couldn´t believe how much they charge for the Rubik Cube in the Parisien Patisserie. I had read about the patissier and endore his creations, but 170 Euros is too much, even if it is being presented under a glas dome.
    I will use your glaze for a different cake and am wondering if the gel food colour needs to be chocolate proven?

  9. Rating: 5

    That looks great!
    Will the glaze get hard or is it sticky?
    Thanks for the recipe! 🙂

    • It’s pretty sticky. I had a little trouble picking them up to put them on the platform. It might be easier if you have some time to freeze the cubes overnight before you put them on the platform. When they get to room temperature the glaze will be soft.

    • Hi viv, the glaze does not set hard, think of it more like a thick creamy jelly layer. If you wet your fingers before trying to pick them up it stops them sticking to them.

  10. Rating: 5

    I made this dessert for my mother’s 88th birthday party. It was a huge hit and the flavors were wonderful. Infusing the cream and using the flavored syrups made all the difference
    I also used the citrus syrups and citrus infused cream to make a citrus tiramisu. It was fantastic!

    • Looks fantastic pam well done ?

  11. Thank you so much. Just wondering how much white chocolate did you use for Glaze????

    • Thanks for letting me know I missed that when typing it in. I just went and checked my notebook – it was 350g white chocolate ?

  12. Just wondering how much white chocolate for the glaze, thank you

    • hi Lydia, 350g of white chocolate

  13. Looks delicious! I don’t know if I missed this, but how much white chocolate goes in the glaze recipe?

    • Hi Zehra 350g white chocolate in the glaze

  14. Rating: 5

    I wish i had the resources and time to make this!

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