Total's Big Fat Greek Birthday

For me when I think of Greek cuisine I think about Feta cheese, Olive oil, Aubergine, Olives and of course delicious Greek yoghurt.

Since I began my weight loss journey I have been discovering just how versatile Greek yoghurt is. It can be eaten on its own with a drizzle of honey, used in salad dressings, made into Tzatziki, mixed into cake, or indeed as I have also discovered more recently, used in place of heavy cream in cooking sauces. This is something that I often take advantage of with my home-made chicken tikka. 

I have tried the cheaper Greek style yoghurts, but they just aren't the same as proper Greek (as in actually made in Greece) yoghurt, which is luxuriously thick and creamy and even the 0% fat stuff tastes naughty! Total yoghurt is 100% natural, it has no additives or preservatives and comes in 3 variations 0% fat (the one I always use) 2% and Classic. 

Fage, the makers of Total Greek yoghurt are celebrating 30 years of selling their product in the UK this year and 90 years since Athanassios Filippou the founder opened their first small dairy in Athens. To help celebrate this coming of age Total invited myself along with some other lucky food bloggers to the Ice Tank, London to join in their birthday celebrations. A bit of a double whammy for me as it's also my 30th birthday this month. 

First up for the evening was a baking Master class with spaces allocated just for baking bloggers, so I was doubly lucky to be invited to this part! Presenting the Master class was the very talented Eric Lanlard who talked us through how to make the perfect sponge cake and giving us some very useful tips along the way. Before then demonstrating how to decorate a Show stopper, making it look very easy! 

                                         

Master at work!

It was then our turn to decorate the Show stopper, using cakes pre-made by Eric and all of the ingredients laid out for us.  Luckily we had a cheat sheet provided to prompt us along the way, with Eric moving through the room and helping out a little where required. I even managed to pipe my cream/yoghurt mix onto the layers of my cake without making mess or having any minor disasters! Maybe there is hope for my piping skills yet...

For an extra Greek kick each layer of the cake was brushed with Ouzo syrup, a lovely aniseed-y smell to make the cake even moister. 

Once the layers of the cake were built up, I used white chocolate cigars around the outside before decorating the top with fresh berries and fruit. There were figs, pomegranate, strawberries and raspberries. All of these fruits offer perfect flavours to match the creamy Greek yoghurt and Ouzo in the cake. 

Finally I used some shards of gold leaf caramel to give the cake height and an extra level of luxury. 

               

 What a cake! So much easier to decorate than I'd have thought, and the possibilities for different flavours and designs are limited only to your imagination, I'm already thinking of recreating this for my 30th in a few weeks, maybe in a chocolate version drizzled with Baileys instead of Ouzo. Either way it will almost certainly have an element of some Total Greek yoghurt in the cream frosting and in the cake. 

Eric's birthday cake for Total

Thanks for the inspiration Fage and Total, and a very Happy 30th Birthday to you! 

Pictures courtesy of satureyes photography