It's been a long time since either Aamena or I posted. She has a good excuse... no oven in her new digs. I don't, since I have been baking and cooking, and even taking photos... but have just been too *busy* to post. Now I hope to make up that shortfall.
Let's begin with my first try at red velvet cake, inspired by Shirley's luscious cupcakes. I should have known better than to try a different recipe, but I didn't, and went with this one from Bon Apetit, sans the berries. It tasted great, but the red velvet cake was more a ruddy brown.
Red Velvet Cake
For the cake
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon red food coloring (i used 1 tsp gel coloring, which is more concentrated)
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
Frosting
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. I used a 9x15 cake pan, but the recipe calls for 2 9-inch round pans. Butter and flour pan(s). Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Beat buttermilk, coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well blended. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.
Divide batter between prepared pans, or pour into single sheet pan. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 27 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; cool completely.
For frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over top of cake. Top with second layer, flat side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. (Can be made a day ahead; cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature for an hour before serving.)
Showing posts with label cake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cake. Show all posts
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Catching up
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Mango chiffon cake
So I recently made this yummy Mango chiffon cake. For a few weeks now, what with California flooded with mangoes, I'd been day-dreaming about mango cake, one that incorporates mangoes in the batter, not just as garnish or mousse, which I'd already tried. At last I put thought to action and using my Google muscles, found that those clever folks in Southeast Asia had already been there, done that. So I used this apparently tried and tested recipe that I found at Cook Bake Legacy.
I liked the result, though I think my oven was acting up and it didn't rise as well or cook through as much as it should have. But I will be making this again. I also plan to try using mango puree in place of buttermilk in a regular cake. I think the mango should provide enough acidity to replace the buttermilk and should be about the same consistency. Watch this space for updates!
Recipe and more photos after the jump.
Mango Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
1 tsp Mango essence
1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil
1/3 cup (80 ml) Whole milk
1/2 cup mango puree
1 cup sifted cake flour (110 g)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (100 gm) sugar
1/2 tsp Cream of tartar
Method: Set oven at 350 degrees F (180 degree C)
Separate egg yolks from whites. In a bowl, beat yolks with the mango essence (I didn't have any and used vanilla)
In another bowl, mix the oil, milk and mango puree. Sift the flour and baking powder together.
In the bowl of a mixer, whip the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peak forms. Now add the yolk mixture and beat well, then add in the oil/ puree blend and and also stir well. Fold in the flour mix gently till well blended. Pour batter into a 20 cm. chiffon cake pan. Bang the pan on a hard surface to release the bubbles. ( a step I forgot, which may have contributed to the results)
Bake for 35-40 mins. When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and give it a bang on a hard surface.Then invert the pan and cool the cake.When the cake is completely cool, remove cake from the pan.
Well here are a few pictures of how I cut the mangoes.
The cake after taking it out. It seemed kind of OK to me, then I realized it was underdone and put it back in the oven, but evidently not long enough.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Bet it's a record!
So how much time did you take to make your Filbert Gateau?
I made it in a record time of four hours! (Confession: I ignored the sugar syrup and the apricot glaze).
Soon after Chris of Mele Cotte announced the challenge, I, like hundreds of other Daring Bakers took a print out. I had been planning to try the recipe for my sister's birthday, which is in mid-July. But that day we went shopping, came back after 5 p.m. and I was too tired, so I asked my brother to buy a cake. But my sis' long face at this made me change my mind, and I rolled up my sleeves.
So sometime after 6 (after having tea, I have a mental thing about tea) I started. Of course the b'day girl helped me a lot, and we somehow managed this feat!
And you can understand why I skipped the sugar syrup and glaze... I was too tired! Well, what after the praline, swiss buttercream, whipped cream, ganache, and of course the cake!
But the cake was amazing, it was air! And the whole combo, though very rich, was well worth the crazy four hours! One other change I made was that I used almonds; for two reasons: first, that's what I had at home, and second, buying hazelnuts, if available, would have meant a huge hole in my pocket.
And though I love decorating, I was running out of time, so I just spread some of the praline buttercream and sprinkled some nougat on top! I think it looked pretty.
And another thing, I just LOVE swiss meringue buttercream, it was amazing the way it incorporated the praline paste!
Friday, 11 July 2008
Very berry cake
I made this cake a few weeks ago, but never got around to posting about it. I used a victoria sponge recipe and topped it with a little leftover white chocolate ganache and lots and lots of raspberries and blackberries, to cut the cloying sweetness of the white chocolate. I always get excited when I see blackberries -- partly because the sightings are so rare and I love the fruit. But also it brings back childhood memories of a hardy little blackberry bush we had in a house we stayed in for a few years. I loved eating them half-ripe -- so tart and sweet at the same time. hmm.
My mother used to make victoria sponges every now and then, along with her staple madeiras, when we lived in England. But I hadn't made or had one in years.
Looking around for recipes, I learned that basically a victoria sponge, named for Queen Victoria, consists of equal weights of flour, eggs, sugar and butter, with eggs counting for about 2 oz each and of course baking powder as leavening. I found this recipe on the BBC, but because I was using larger tins, i went up to 6 oz of AP flour, butter and sugar, plus 2 tsp baking powder and 3 eggs. I used the creaming method, and added the eggs one at a time. And I used strawberry jam to sandwich the layers.
I liked the result, but I'm not a fan of white chocolate, and next time I'll make the classic, sandwiched with jam and dusted with confectioner's sugar.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Chiffon cake - two halves make it whole
This is my first attempt at Chiffon cake -- I had shied away from it so far because I hate making things that require separating the egg whites and yolks, and I especially hate it if I have leftover yolks. But I finally bit the bullet, and I must say it was easy-peasy and so delicious! I am mentally kicking myself for not trying it sooner. I divvied up the cake to make two variations -- one the classic strawberries and cream, and the other with mango mousse, using a delicious ataulfo mango a friend at work brought in for me.
Some more photos after the jump.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Thrice as nice!
I missed my niece's first birthday coz of my darn exams... and it's not like I am going to do very well because I was good and studied... I didn't. But I just couldn't bake a cake because that was like admitting that I'm not going to study.. so I just sat and didn't bake a cake and didn't study... But you see I did not want to give myself the opportunity to say that I didn't study because I was baking! But then I scraped thru my exams somehow and I'm enjoying my holidays (:D) now and i felt it was time I put things right.
I was first planning to make a huge four-layer cake, two layers of vanilla cake and two layers of madeira. but then instead of making one huge cake that I wasn't sure what it would taste like, I changed my mind at the last moment and made two two-layer cakes hoping that at least one would taste good.
The reason behind this last-minute decision was that the vanilla cake was pretty flat. I had chosen recipe because How to Eat a Cupcake had paired her Vanilla Cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream and I really wanted to make some swiss meringue buttercream (hehehe) -- because then I get a chance to use homemade white butter, yeah!
The recipe was a bit strange, calling for the dry ingredients and the butter to be mixed and then later incorporating the wet ones. the cake did rise, but it was dense. A lot denser than my madeira. At that time i panicked. looking back now I guess that the madeira batter gains a lot of volume during the creaming stage and also while adding the eggs. The only rise the vanilla cake got was in the oven.
Anyway at that time i was panicking, right? So I split the madeira in half, layered it with the buttercream and topped it with some milk chocolate ganache I had in the fridge (I always have some ganache in the fridge). What you see at the top is what it looked like.
Then I split the vanilla cake in half, layered it with buttercream and covered with the same and then spent sometime making it look horribly pinky and purply... well guess what, it tasted good.
And the cupcakes? I got them from the leftover madeira batter... topped them with leftover buttercream and the leftover ganache...
And the cupcakes? I got them from the leftover madeira batter... topped them with leftover buttercream and the leftover ganache...
Friday, 16 May 2008
Pandan butter cake
I've been wanting to try pandan, sight unseen, ever since I saw this gorgeous jelly dessert a few years ago. All I knew about pandan was that it was related to the delicious kewra essence that is used in north Indian cooking to add a heady, complex aroma to curries or a rose-like flavor to desserts. Kewra is extracted from the flowers of a different screwpine species, whereas pandan uses the leaves.
So I was quite excited to see some pandan extract at a Thai grocery not far from my house, Bangkok Market. I looked for pandan essence too, but unfortunately it was artificial.
Anyway, in the meanwhile I had seen all kinds of complex Malaysian and Indonesian cakes flavored with pandan at various blogs, especially Aunty Yochana's. So I decided my first foray into pandan territory would be a cake. But I didn't want to make the traditional kind that pairs pandan with coconut milk, because i really wanted to taste the pandan. So after some googling, I decided on this recipe from Angie of My Kitchen: My Laboratory.
Pandan butter cake
Anyway, in the meanwhile I had seen all kinds of complex Malaysian and Indonesian cakes flavored with pandan at various blogs, especially Aunty Yochana's. So I decided my first foray into pandan territory would be a cake. But I didn't want to make the traditional kind that pairs pandan with coconut milk, because i really wanted to taste the pandan. So after some googling, I decided on this recipe from Angie of My Kitchen: My Laboratory.
Pandan Butter Cake
adapted from My Kitchen:My Laboratory
2 scant cups cake flour (8oz or 225g)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, softened (3 oz or 85g)
3/4 cup sugar (180g)
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt ((240ml) (I used regular)
2 tbsp pandan extract (juice)
¼ tsp pandan essence (lacking this, I added an extra 3tbsp of juice)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, softened (3 oz or 85g)
3/4 cup sugar (180g)
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt ((240ml) (I used regular)
2 tbsp pandan extract (juice)
¼ tsp pandan essence (lacking this, I added an extra 3tbsp of juice)
Preheat oven to 350 degree farenheit (180C) and butter a bundt pan or 8”x4” loaf tin. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. I didn't have any cake flour on hand, or regular AP, so I microwaved King Arthur unbleached ala the ingenious Kate of A Merrier World. However, I didn't follow the procedure precisely, just did two batches of flour and then weighed the results and substituted a scant 4 tbsp flour with cornstarch.
Combine the yogurt, pandan juice and pandan essence if you're using.
Cream the butter with the sugar and until light. Add the eggs in a slow stream, beating constantly for about 2 mins. Now fold in one-third of the flour mix, beat in half the yogurt and then repeat, ending with the last third of flour.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 mins. Unmold and cool completely.
Combine the yogurt, pandan juice and pandan essence if you're using.
Cream the butter with the sugar and until light. Add the eggs in a slow stream, beating constantly for about 2 mins. Now fold in one-third of the flour mix, beat in half the yogurt and then repeat, ending with the last third of flour.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 mins. Unmold and cool completely.
Pandan butter cake
So, how did it taste? Well at first when I opened the can, the liquid smelled very grassy and musky and I was shocked that it had barely any resemblance to Kewra. A few tablespoons appeared to do nothing for the batter, and because I didn't have the essence, I added 3 more. The color of the batter barely changed, but I could smell the grassiness and I was getting really nervous!. When it came out, I could barely smell or taste it... I think I was already enveloped in the aroma and unable to distinguish it in the cake. Panicking, I took another 2 tbsp of juice and mixed it with some confectioner's sugar to make about 1/4 cup syrup which I dribbled over the cake, which actually gave it a slightly greener hue.
A few hours later (at work!) I began to feel the flavor coat my mouth and throat, almost as if I'd swallowed a bottle of perfume. It was very unusual, floral, musky, sweet without being heady. When i tried a slice later that night, I was able to appreciate the taste. Though over the next few days I felt that the taste became more muted.
So while it wasn't what I expected, it was delicious, and I plan to try it again soon!
So while it wasn't what I expected, it was delicious, and I plan to try it again soon!
Sunday, 30 March 2008
I Heart Buttercream!
Yeah! That too Swiss Meringue Buttercream!
OK, I'm sure I don't need to make it plainer that I got the coolest, lightest buttercream! It was fab :) When I saw this month's challenge by Morven, I thought "oh wow! the buttercream has come back to haunt me again," which was followed by a frantic mail to the very helpful Helen. Apart from other questions that I bugged her with, I wanted to know if you can make this particular buttercream with churned butter, because that's the only kind of unsalted butter I have access to. Helen had a simple answer, "you will have to try!" And try I did, once again. I have made this one twice earlier, but both the times I had been too nervous, too sure of failure, too sure that churned butter just wasn't the right kind of butter! The moment it started looking curdly or runny I would start trying all sorts of fixes to get it right. But this time I just kept a cool head, didn't even keep looking at the recipe, when I started adding the butter by spoonfuls to the super shiny white marshmallow cream, it did look slightly curdly and runny, but I just kept beating it with the paddle attachment, and suddenly it all came together in the lightest mass possible, I was on cloud nine!
No coconut. :( That's because I had been oh so sure that there was some desicated coconut in the fridge. As you can see, it just wasn't there.
OK, I'm sure I don't need to make it plainer that I got the coolest, lightest buttercream! It was fab :) When I saw this month's challenge by Morven, I thought "oh wow! the buttercream has come back to haunt me again," which was followed by a frantic mail to the very helpful Helen. Apart from other questions that I bugged her with, I wanted to know if you can make this particular buttercream with churned butter, because that's the only kind of unsalted butter I have access to. Helen had a simple answer, "you will have to try!" And try I did, once again. I have made this one twice earlier, but both the times I had been too nervous, too sure of failure, too sure that churned butter just wasn't the right kind of butter! The moment it started looking curdly or runny I would start trying all sorts of fixes to get it right. But this time I just kept a cool head, didn't even keep looking at the recipe, when I started adding the butter by spoonfuls to the super shiny white marshmallow cream, it did look slightly curdly and runny, but I just kept beating it with the paddle attachment, and suddenly it all came together in the lightest mass possible, I was on cloud nine!
This was followed by another quick mail to Helen! This time with the picture of the success, to which she said a very apt thing: 'Recipes are like animals, they know when you are nervous.'
I haven't even talked about the cake! What can I say... My mom said that we'd never need to buy a cake anymore, to which my Dad said, 'Even if we do, where will we get one as good as this!' That about sums it up! Though the cake was slightly on the sweeter side, I guess that was because I didn't have preserves and used some homemade guava jelly. Oh by the way, during the cooling I mishandled it and managed to break one of them, but you cant see it in the finished product!
I haven't even talked about the cake! What can I say... My mom said that we'd never need to buy a cake anymore, to which my Dad said, 'Even if we do, where will we get one as good as this!' That about sums it up! Though the cake was slightly on the sweeter side, I guess that was because I didn't have preserves and used some homemade guava jelly. Oh by the way, during the cooling I mishandled it and managed to break one of them, but you cant see it in the finished product!
The super shiny marshmallow cream.
The super fluffy buttercream! yeah!
The recipe and the yield.
That looks lopsided... (well it was actually) :)
No coconut. :( That's because I had been oh so sure that there was some desicated coconut in the fridge. As you can see, it just wasn't there.
Do check out the host Morven's blog for the recipe (it might not be up yet though) and the other Daring Bakers for more Perfect Party cakes!
Note: Since I didn't have cake flour, I used the microwave plus cornflour technique.
Note: Since I didn't have cake flour, I used the microwave plus cornflour technique.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Chiffon Shortcake with fruits and cream...
We had this for my mother's birthday last month, yeah am very very behind time. Will just make a quick post of it, it was a Chiffon Shortcake, the same recipe which I posted sometime back. This cake is always quite a hit. Its fab with cream and chocolate/fruit. I sliced the cake into three and loaded it with fruits and cream. Yeah I know that looks like a hell lot of cream, but I swear it really wasn't that much, I think while spreading it I pushed it out to the sides. And for the fruits I used whatever I could get my hands on, it had pomegranates, grapes (black and green), kiwis and strawberries. I wanted it to have tonnes of fruits, it gave me a kind of nice feeling :) I added the pomegranates because I love the colour, but they tasted good too. I dunno why I have never seen pomegranates on cakes or even fruit tarts.
Later on I drizzled some blackcurrant syrup on the cake..mmm... :P
See! I told you it didn't have that much cream. And yeah I know all three pictures look so different from one another.. And I swear I took all of them on the same setting.. My skills... argh!
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Daring Bakers December Challenge: Yule Log
This was my first challenge and it was hosted by Lis and Ivonne, the founders, and the recipe chosen by 'em was for a Yule Log, which was basically genoise and swiss meringue buttercream. Anybody who remembers my first attempt at meringue buttercream would understand why I was abit nervous. My genoise was just fine. I spread chocolate ganache over it before rolling it up, and decided to tackle the buttercream the next day. It turned out that I was both, luckier and otherwise in comparison to my last time.
The buttercream was fine till I decided it looked runny and refrigerated it for a while (special thanks to Helene of Tartelette for all the tips for buttercream gone awry). What came out was a deflated curdled mass. Whisking it didn't help. So I tried melting 25% of it and adding it back to the lot and whisking again, it did get slightly better, but only slightly. I was tired and frustrated and was quite sure I didn't want to have another go, starting from the beginning, so I just put the curdled mass in a mixer grinder along with icing sugar and pulsed it. Viola, it got better, I added some more icing sugar and pulsed some more, and the buttercream came together! I thanked my stars! Though it wasn't light and fluffly but it was atleast spreadable!
The buttercream was fine till I decided it looked runny and refrigerated it for a while (special thanks to Helene of Tartelette for all the tips for buttercream gone awry). What came out was a deflated curdled mass. Whisking it didn't help. So I tried melting 25% of it and adding it back to the lot and whisking again, it did get slightly better, but only slightly. I was tired and frustrated and was quite sure I didn't want to have another go, starting from the beginning, so I just put the curdled mass in a mixer grinder along with icing sugar and pulsed it. Viola, it got better, I added some more icing sugar and pulsed some more, and the buttercream came together! I thanked my stars! Though it wasn't light and fluffly but it was atleast spreadable!
Since I didn't get the time to take pictures while making, am posting a few of the finished thing which was liked by all! So here it is, with a few marzipan mushrooms and some cocoa.
Monday, 10 December 2007
Pineapple and cake and cream!
No, I haven't gone nuts over chiffon cakes.. Just that this cute li'l chap
had been lying around the kitchen and I had this funny desire to devour him with some cake and cream, and then I had two reasons, the first one being my kid sis, Aaliya, winning the inter school debate 'Materialism is degrading social values,' and her picture along with her partner's and the judges' appeared in a popular newspapers' student edition and she was rather sad that she looked fat but happy that her watch looked cool. Yes, she spoke for the motion! Well the second reason was that at that time I had only one more exam to go, and that was a really good reason. Oh, there was a third one as well, just came to my mind, and this one was the driving force, that my mother said it wouldn't be good for the poor pineapple if it was made to stand there another day, and as I just said, I had a craving, so I had to act.
As you can see the cream is all runny. I used my 25% cream again, but it appears I was only first time lucky, because I have used it thrice now, and for the past two times, no matter what, it just won't get stiff when I beat it. It does gain alot of volume but that's it. But it turns out I wasn't that unlucky, because I discovered that this runny thing goes very well cakes anyway, you can make the cake soak up some, so that it gets nice and moist, and isn't dry, and you can also then cover it with it, that is its not that runny, which is what I did. The was the same as my first time lucky one, just that this time no ganache, the layers had cream and pineapple between them, I used up the whole for this three layered one.
And another thing, I really don't why, but the cake had a definite sour taste to it. It wasn't pronounced enough to make the cake taste bad, but definitely there. I don't know if it was the cream, or the pineapple juice (which I got from boiling the remains with some water) I made the cake soak, you see I wanted a through and through pineapple cake! But the strange thing about the sour taste was that it got weaker with time. So that the last slice I and Aaliya shared on the third day of making the cake didn't have that sour taste at all!
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
that same day...
The same day, because I knew I always have some leftover cream (and this time ganache as well) I baked a sheet cake merging the regular sponge recipe (30:30:1) and the chiffon shortcake recipe.
The ingredients-
30*6 gm flour
30*6 gm sugar
1*6 eggs
These are the regular sponge ingredients, apart from this I also added ( going the chiffon way),
Half a tablespoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Zest of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Incase you don't have leftovers, for the filling you'll need-
Chocolate Ganache (Bring to the boil half a cup of cream in a saucepan, remove from heat and add around a quarter pound chopped semisweet chocolate to it, swirl the pan so the cream covers the chocolate, let it rest for five minutes, then whisk till smooth. Let cool, it will firm up as it does that.
And around half a cup of whipped cream, whipped with confectioner's sugar added according to your taste (around four tablespoons should be fine)
Then I proceeded as for the chiffon shortcake (check out the post before this one), with the exception that I used all the yolks as well, so that my yolks to whites ratio was 1:1. Also I noticed that using more water yields a softer cake. I cut the cake into two layers, sandwiched the layers with the ganache and then covered them with whipped cream, and it was good!
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, the baking powder, salt and 150gm sugar.
3. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks, vanilla essence, lemon zest, oil and water until smooth. Stir in the flour to form a smooth mass.
4. Beat the egg whites, slowly adding the remaining sugar, until stiff peaks are formed.
5. Fold in a quarter of the egg whites into the flour mixture. Fold in the rest.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
7. Let cool.
Assembling the cake:
Slice the cake into two layers. Sandwitch the layers with ganache. Cover with whipped cream.
Chiffon Shortcake with Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream
A family friend, who is like family only, recently moved to a better job, so had been wanting to make a Congratulations Cake, which I did finally a few days back. Got a bit enthusiastic and tried something new with
hmm... good results.I decided to bake a chiffon shortcake and ice it with whipped cream and to add some flavour I layered it with chocolate ganache. Oh well you could argue that chocolate makes everything good!
Cake layers:
11/8 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 and 1/4 cups superfine or regular sugar, divided
Half a tablespoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Zest of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
5 large egg whites at room temperature
Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
Half a pound semisweet chocolate, chopped.
And a cup of whipping cream for covering the cake ( though I used 25% cream, and was really happy when it stiffened up! It was very light and make the cake taste better, not at all buttery, greasy or heavy. Though am not sure if it will work everytime).
1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Have a 9-inch round cake pan ready, lined with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt twice together into a large bowl.
3. In a another bowl, beat the yolks, water, oil, zest and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Add the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and beat on high speed until the peaks are stiff but not dry.
4. Use a rubber spatula to fold a quarter of the egg whites into the flour mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites, only until the egg whites are no longer visible. Overdoing it will deflate them.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake it until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes.
6. Let the cake cool before taking it out of the pan and peeling off the parchment paper.
7. Make the ganache: Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan, remove from heat and add the chocolate and swirl to cover all the chocolate. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Whisk with a hand whisk until smooth. Let cool. Whisk again.
8. Add some sugar to the whipping cream and whip it with an electric mixer till stiff.
folding in the whites...
cooling and slicing the cake...
icing...
Assembling the cake:
Split the cake into three layers or even two would be fine I don't know how I managed three! I made a ring of whipped cream before pouring in the ganache so that it wouldn't leak later. Spread the ganache and top with the other or another layer, depending upon how many you have. Cover the top and the sides with whipped cream, decorate with chocolate curls if desired, or pipe the leftover ganache.
I adapted the recipe for Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake from the Joy of Cooking (also of course I used no strawberries).
Cake layers:
11/8 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 and 1/4 cups superfine or regular sugar, divided
Half a tablespoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Zest of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
5 large egg whites at room temperature
Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
Half a pound semisweet chocolate, chopped.
And a cup of whipping cream for covering the cake ( though I used 25% cream, and was really happy when it stiffened up! It was very light and make the cake taste better, not at all buttery, greasy or heavy. Though am not sure if it will work everytime).
1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Have a 9-inch round cake pan ready, lined with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt twice together into a large bowl.
3. In a another bowl, beat the yolks, water, oil, zest and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Add the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and beat on high speed until the peaks are stiff but not dry.
4. Use a rubber spatula to fold a quarter of the egg whites into the flour mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites, only until the egg whites are no longer visible. Overdoing it will deflate them.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake it until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes.
7. Make the ganache: Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan, remove from heat and add the chocolate and swirl to cover all the chocolate. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Whisk with a hand whisk until smooth. Let cool. Whisk again.
8. Add some sugar to the whipping cream and whip it with an electric mixer till stiff.
folding in the whites...
cooling and slicing the cake...
icing...
Assembling the cake:
Early on I was planning a white on white cake, but then I felt it looked too plain so I piped on some ganache and added a few chocolate curls (a firm piece of chocolate and a vegetable peeler).
Sunday, 7 October 2007
Lemon Yogurt Cake
I came across this recipe from Orangette at Happy Home Baker's, and since we just got a new oven after days and days of burnt cake :( I was quite excited to try something new. And somehow I decided upon this. And it was well worth the little effort it required. Very simple indeed, the batter is pretty oily and flat but it rose remarkably well for such a batter. I was pleased! Though I didn't know I would have to turn the cake halfway through baking and therefore the huge smile, but I still like it. I love the colour, We had quite forgotten this hue with our old oven, whose temperature regulator had gone bonkers, about time too, after two and a half decades of service!
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