Showing posts with label the cake slice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the cake slice. Show all posts
Let us celebrate this occasion with cake and sweet words
Labels:
cakes,
events,
the cake slice,
wedding
·
Just this weekend, I had the honour of attending my cousin's wedding tea ceremony. Held at my Da-yi-ma's place, the theme was a spectacle of gold, silver and the occasional crystal courtesy of the vintage gold guilded cutlery and trays that my aunt had collected over the years. The house was a flurry of activity, days before the event with final polishings being done and large pails of fresh flowers in a spread of adoring colors brought into the space.
The Lemon Blueberry marbled cake which i altered to encompass a layer of homemade lemon curd and another of blueberry conserve was hopefully perfect for the occasion. Fashioned to match the vintage settings, I held my breath as the knife glided thru the top tier. Bursts of claps met my ear and the serenading and relentless chatter continued. My heart broke into song.
From all of us:
May God bless this sacred union.
Chai Cake
The Cake Slice: Chai Cake with Honey Ginger Cream
Chai Cake with Honey Ginger Cream
From Sky High:Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne
Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cups of milk
6 chai tea bags, without added sweetner, such as Tazo
4 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 and 3/4 cups of cake flour*
2 cups of sugar
4 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
3/4 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom**
1/2 teaspoon of salt
8 ounces of unsalted butter at room temp.
[*1 cup of cake flour is equal to 3/4 cup of all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.]
[**Cardamom substitute is an equal amount of brown cardamom OR equal parts ground nutmeg and cinnamon OR equal parts ground cloves and cinnamon]
Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease the bottom ans sides of the pans and line with parchment paper. Grease the paper as well.
2) In a small saucepan bring the milk to a simmer over low med-low heat. Add the tea bags, careful not to let the paper tag fall into the milk. Remove from heat and allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the teabags and squeeze out the milk. Let the chai milk cool completely.
3) In a medium bowl mix the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/3 cup of the chai milk. Whisk together.
4) Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt in the bowl of a mixer. Beat on low for 30 seconds. Add the butter and the remaining chai milk, on med-low speed. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture in three additions scraping the between additions. Divide the batter evenly among the pans.
5) Bake the cakes for 26-28 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes.Remove cakes from pans and peel off parchment paper. Cool completely.
6) To assemble the cake place one layer flat side down a serving plate and top with 2/3 cup of icing. Spread to the edge and repeat with second layer. Place third layer on top and spread the remaining ginger cream on top allowing it to drizzle down the sides of the cake like icicles.
Honey Ginger Cream
Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
6 ounces of cream cheese at room temp.
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temp.
1/2 cup of honey (any kind as long as liquid)
1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger
Method:
Place all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to blend together, then scrape the sides of the bowl and pulse until smooth.
cake slice bakers: triple lemon chiffon cake
Labels:
cakes,
events,
lemon,
the cake slice
·
The Cake Slice: Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake
When life gives you lemons, you give them a lemon chiffon cake.
And that was exactly what we, the cake slice bakers did with this month's entry. The triple lemon chiffon cake, recipe taken from Sky High. The very name of this cake imparts a summery vision, of rolling green pastures and beautiful daises and sunflowers providing a riot of colors to the lush background. And so was the cake, a vision in its own rights... Soft springy lemon chiffon cake, tart lemon curd fillings and a lemon meringue frosting (i replaced this over the original lemon cream frosting as the weather was rather unforgiving that day). So that's a triple flip for all lemon lovers out there! Don't advice anyone to sink their teeth into their glorius confection if you ain't have a penchant for lemon though. Lemon fans, this one is for you!
You Found Me
When no one else was lookin'
How did you know just where I would be?
Yeah, you broke through all of my confusion
The ups and the downs
And you still didn't leave
I guess that you saw what nobody could see
You found me
Southern Coconut Cake
Labels:
cakes,
events,
recipes,
the cake slice
·
The Cake Slice Bakers presents
...
The February Recipe as voted by members of the cake panel was the Southern Coconut Cake. I was delighted to have this to serve as my springboard as my comeback cake ever since my disappearance in the scene for the last two months. (much to the others disgruntle apparently, that I have no comments on; *ouch* though; the sores still hurt just a little). Since I was someone who would chose rustic over fancy-smanshy, this was perfect for me.
The cake came together easily, (i chose to bake a smaller version of 6 inches) and apart from the minor mishap that occured whilst removing the first layer of cake from the pan, all was at ease. The incident which saw the loss of one mishappen layer that tore to shreds in the midst resulted in a less than 'sky-high' cake..
Nibbling bits from the ruined cake, I was delighted by the subtle flavoring of the coconut within. The frosting on the other hand, was a slight hassle since it involved combining italian meringue with cream cheese. I added a tinge of lemon essence for that extra sour refreshing tinge to the otherwise sweet confection.
To sum it all up, the entire dessert was a God sent. A perfect combination of crunchy toasted shredded coconut, refreshing tangy cream cheese frosting and moist coconut white cake. Whats more proving than orders for 3 similar cakes in a week? *smilez*
Southern Coconut Cake
Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake
For the cake:
5 large egg whites
½ cup of milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 cups of cake flour*
2 and 1/3 cup sugar
4 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter (8oz.) at warm room temperature
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 ½ cups of sweetened flaked coconut for garnishing cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Butter the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a parchment circle and butter the circle.
- Put the egg whites in a bowl and whisk slightly. Add the ½ cup of milk and the vanilla and whisk to mix thoroughly; set aside.
- In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, beat dry ingredients well in order to break up any lumps. Add the butter and coconut milk on low speed and beat just to combine. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg white mixture in 2 or 3 additions, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Divide the batter among the pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake taster inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Then turn the cakes out and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- To assemble the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on an 8-inch cake round. Cover this layer with 1 cup of the buttercream frosting. Spread it evenly all the way to edge of the cake. Then sprinkle ½ cup of shredded coconut on top. Add the second layer and repeat the process. Top with the final layer of cake and frost the top and sides of the cake.
Place the remaining 1 ½ cups shredded coconut on a large baking tray. Pick up the cake and hold it on the palm of one hand over the tray. Using the other hand scoop up the coconut and press it to the sides of the cake. Continue with this process until the sides of the cake are covered. Set the cake on a serving plate and sprinkle any remaining coconut on top of cake. Chill cake for at least one hour to allow frosting to firm up a bit.
Cream cheese buttercream frosting
12 ounces of cream cheese* slightly chilled
1 stick of butter plus 6 tablespoons of butter (7 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of confectioners sugar, sifted after measuring
2 teaspoons of granulated sugar
¼ cup of water
3 egg whites
- Place the cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer and beat on medium speed until slightly fluffy and smooth. Add the butter 1-2 tablespoons at a time, mixing until smooth. Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Set aside at room temperature while buttercream is made.
- Combine the granulated sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Continue to cook without stirring until the syrup reaches the softball stage 228 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
- Meanwhile, place the egg whites in mixer bowl and have the mixer ready to go. When the syrup is ready, turn the mixer on med-low and begin mixing the egg whites. Slowly add the hot syrup to the whites taking care not to pour onto the beaters, it may splash. When all the syrup is incorporated, raise the speed on the mixer to med-high and beat the egg whites until mixture has cooled and stiff meringue forms.
- With the mixer on low, begin adding the cream cheese mixture by the spoonful. When all is incorporated, raise the speed to medium and whip until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
sweet potato cake
Labels:
cakes,
desserts,
events,
the cake slice
·
The Cake Slice: Sweet Potato Cake
Served up over a Thanksgiving dinner at my auntie's place. (how apt!), everyone cast one look at the cake and it's rival, the chocolate fudge lana cake and decidingly choose the chocolate one. DUH! ain't such a hard decision of course. Thanks to the few who politely had a slice of the cake despite bursting at the seams from the delightful satisfying dinner.
Really glad that I made this cake, though I probably wouldn't make this again since most people aren't open to the idea of having sweet potato in their cakes. oh well.. still it was a fine choice!
Visit the blogroll for the cake slice bakers to get a look in at the action!
Cake:2 medium or 1 large sweet potato (12 ounces)
3 cups of cake flour**
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
5 eggs, separated
2 and 1/4 cups of sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups of milk
(**The recipe calls for cake flour and if you only have all-purpose flour on hand, you can substitute 3/4 cup (105 grams) all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch.)
(*If fresh sweet potato is not available where you live you may use canned sweet potato, yams, and pumpkin puree)
Makes a 9-inch triple layer cake, serves 16-20 people
1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes in 2-3 places, place on a small baking dish and bake for 1 hour or until the potatoes are very soft. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
2. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F degrees. Butter the bottoms and the sides of the pans and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper also.
3. When the sweet potatoes are cool peel off the skin and remove any dark spots. Cut the potatoes into chunks and puree in a food processors. Puree until smooth. Measure out one cup of potato puree and set aside.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set aside.
5. In the bowl of electric mixer add the egg whites and attach whip attachment. Beat on medium speed until egg whites are frothy. raise the speed to high and gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the egg whites are moderately stiff.
6. In another large bowl with the paddle attachment, combine the sweet potato, butter, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg yolk is added. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk in alternately in 2-3 additions. making sure to begin and end with the dry ingredients.
7. With a large spatula, fold in one fourth of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Then fold in the remaining egg whites until no streaks remain. Making sure to not over mix or this will deflate the batter. Divide the batter among of the three pans.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out the cake layers onto a wire rack and cool completely at least 1 hour.
9. To assemble the cake, place one layer flat side up on to a cake stand. With a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip and filled with chocolate cream cheese icing, pipe border around the edge of the cake. Fill the center with the orange cream filling smoothing it to the edge of the border. Place the second layer on top and repeat the process.Place the third layer on top and use all the chocolate cream cheese frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
Chocolate Cream Frosting:
makes 3 cups
10 ounces cream cheese*** at room temperature
1 stick of butter at room temperature
16 ounces of powdered sugar; sifted
1 and 1/2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and slightly cooled
(***1 cup of cream cheese maybe substituted with 1 cup pureed cottage cheese OR 1 cup plain yogurt, strained overnight in a cheesecloth OR equal amounts of neufatel cheese)
1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar to cream cheese butter mixture. Making sure to scrape down the sides the sides of the bowl. Then beat until light fluffy 2-3 minutes.
2. Measure out 1 cup of frosting and set aside.
3. Add the melted chocolate to the remaining icing in the bowl and beat until well combined.
Orange Cream Filling:
1 cup of reserved cream cheese icing from above.
2 tablespoons of frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed1/4 teaspoon of orange extract
1. Stir together all the ingredients until well mixed.
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