Chocolate layer cake with white chocolate cream filling

Shared this cake at MPC today.  My lovely sister who works there brought it over as I have to begin to give my baking endeavours away or I will turn into a plump sponge myself (yes clothes are already beginning to feel tighter)…  It’s a great feeling to have others eat my creations that make them happy!  It makes the process of making the cake even more worthwhile.  I have to say I was quite nervous to bring that cake to the MPC office because I could not taste the cake myself.  I did give my sister specific instructions for honest feedback as I am still learning – so am happy the result went down so well.

I am still exploring various sponge options (a post will be coming soon regarding various “génoises”), but I so wanted to make a layer cake last night that I decided to go with what I knew with a twist.  I essentially made the same cake as my previous post “White Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Filling” with an inversion: chocolate layer cake (Hummingbird recipe for chocolatecupcakes with white chocolate cream filling (Eric Lanlard recipe with white chocolate instead of dark). 

I used a new stencil of my dog Kaiser for the decoration. I can only confirm the taste of the cream filling (could not damage the cake), which was a really nice subtle white chocolate twinge to a classic whip cream overall flavour.  I suspect the chocolate cake was quite sweet as it was the same recipe as the white one only with added cocoa powder.  Sweet (especially chocolate) with cream is always a winning combination, so I can probably imagine why it went down a treat.

A big thank you to the brave ones who tasted and for the support!

Ingredients used:

Chocolate Cake

300 g Plain Flour

60 g Cocoa Powder

420 g Caster Sugar

4 ½ Teaspoons of Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

120 g Unsalted Butter

360 ml Whole Milk

3 Eggs

¾ Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

White Chocolate Cream

100 ml Single Cream

100 g White Chocolate

600 ml Double Cream

600 ml Double Cream

"Quatre-Quarts"

My mind has gone thinking since making my white layer cake (a Hummingbird vanilla cupcake recipe) with chocolate cream filling (by Eric Lanlard).  I now want to make a similar white cake but with a white chocolate filling.  I was quite tempted to simply throw myself into making the same cake and substitute dark chocolate for white chocolate, but I first wanted to check out other white cake bases. 

Tonight I decided on a classic French Quatre-Quarts (the equivalent to an English pound cake).  The recipe involves weighing a given amount of eggs (cracked) and using the same in weight each of sugar, butter and flour.  It is very close to a sponge in terms of proportions in the ingredients, but the method and chronology of the mixing is different, and this results in quite varying cakes.

The result of tonight’s proceedings came about beating the eggs and sugar together and then beating in the butter melted.  After that the flour was sifted to the mixture and mixed gently.  I have to say it was literally quick and easy.

My cake turned out quite refined but slightly on the heavier side.  It was very satisfying as its own “gâteau.”  If I used it for the base of my layer cake though I am worried it might become a bomb in the stomach.  I am still happy I tried this version out.  It seems to be the base for many loaf cake recipes I realise.  I now have a new approach to mixing ingredients too and outlook.

Onwards next to the classic sponge attempt (and then I shall choose)!

Ingredients used for this cake

3 eggs (weighing 175 g once cracked)

175 g sugar

175 g melted butter

175 g flour

White layer cake with chocolate cream filling

This cake marks a departure for me.  I fancied making a layer cake today.  Following the outcome of my last cake from the Hummingbird recipes (the carrot cake) I decided to trust my creativity today and combine two recipes.  To me, the Hummingbird frosting is simply too sweet and powerful.  I find it takes away from the lovely taste of the cake.  So I chose to replace the frosting with a more traditional French alternative used in a lot of European pastry making: cream. 

I had kept notes of a recipe from French cake maker Eric Lanlard from one of his TV shows where he essentially prepares a chocolate whipped cream that is whipped to the point where it almost becomes butter.  Hard (bar) chocolate is added to the cream by mixing it first with warm cream to make a ganache-like mixture that can then be incorporated to and mixed with whipped cream.  With an electric whisk it takes no time to make.  Mind you, as I learned today, make sure to use double and not single cream (my single cream never whipped … after 45 minutes of trying – the double cream whipped in 5 …).  For my cake I used the basic vanilla cupcake recipe from the Hummingbird and multiplied the quantities by 3 so that I could have 3 layers to my cake. 

 The result is really delicious!  The white cake is moist and creamy (it must be that milk added to the batter).  The chocolate cream has no sugar and cuts through and balances the sweetness of the cake.  The result is truly satisfying.  Would be interesting to see what happens if the vanilla extract for the sponge were to be replaced with actual vanilla beans.

With this new cream mixture in the place of the American frosting I am so much happier with the results.  I definitely think I am going to use it more from now on.  I already have ideas how with a whipped cream base instead of chocolate I could add fruit jams, or pureed chestnuts, to make a range of very different tasting cakes simply by changing the filling.

It is one of my most professional looking cakes I think too.  I made a stencil of my dog to decorate it with and am thinking of using that technique more in the future as it gives the cake a true sense of identity. 

Ingredients used (will be doing this from now on):
Cake
360 g Plain Flour
420 g Caster Sugar
4 ½ Teaspoons of Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
120 g Unsalted Butter
360 ml Whole Milk
3 Eggs
¾ Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Cream
100 ml Single Cream
100 g Dark 70% Chocolate
600 ml Double Cream

Carrot Cake

 It’s the cake that sounds healthy but is decadent!  I love layer cakes as they really make you feel like you have made a “real” cake.  There is so much room to experiment with decorating as well.  As I am only just beginning I went the traditional route for this one and added a few silver balls.

I chose carrot cake as it is an American and British classic.  The Hummingbird recipe for the sponge was really good.  I realise I should have chopped my walnuts more for it, but otherwise there is nothing bad for me to say other that the filling/topping. 

 

I used a cream cheese frosting that this recipe required, and it was this component that ruined the cake in my mind.  The frosting was ridiculously sweet.  Alarm bells started ringing when I saw myself (following the recipe) mixing 600g of icing sugar to make this specific icing … It was this sugar that gave a sickening taste.  The problem was aggravated as the carrot cake sponge itself was already quite sweet.  A simple topping to ease that sweetness is all that would be needed in my mind.

My boyfriend and I had very upset stomachs because of the frosting.  It was a real shame as the cake itself was so good.  I would like to find another cream cheese frosting recipe, as the cream cheese gives a great taste with the carrot.  My boyfriend thought of simply mixing the cream cheese with some honey and using that.  Perhaps it could be an option.  I will definitely watch out for that Hummingbird frosting in the future.

In any event, looks-wise I was quite pleased.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

I made this cake for the first time around a year ago.  It is a really interesting cake because it only uses egg whites as opposed to whole eggs.  It has a low butter content (only 85g) and almost 3 times that amount of sugar and flour.  The result is a light sponge that is not dry but super moist.  The lemon flavour is all natural coming from lemon zest in the cake itself, as well as an optional lemon glaze and syrup.

The first time I made this cake I only had the sponge part (the cake really) and very much enjoyed it.  It was not too sweet but still satisfying.  On my second attempt last week I did add the 2 optional components, which were quick and easy to fix up.  They made quite a difference.  For a start my cake ended up looking very posh and dressed up – as if bought from a shop!  The added elegance added a bit of drama.  But looks aside, the glaze and syrup deepened the lemon taste and gave a contrasting texture with the sponge, as the glaze hardened slightly.  This cake, complete with glaze and syrup, was a proper desert, whereas without those 2 added sugary elements it’s more of a tea-time cake.

Banana Loaf

Now this one makes me smile each time I think of it.  It’s a simple loaf, but I obsessed over it and wanted to get it just right on the first day of my first attempt!  I went to see my friend one afternoon last week.  She is a new mother, and as the weather was cold I thought we could have a girly afternoon in and I offered to make a cake for her over at her house.  The recipe was a standard of eggs, flour, butter, baking powder and baking soda with soft brown sugar, some spices (cinnamon and ginger) and of course bananas.  The butter addition was unusual in that it was melted and was the last ingredient added to the batter.  In a classic sponge, the butter would be combined to the sugar first followed by eggs and dry ingredients. 

My friend had very ripe bananas, close to rotten really.  It added a lovely strong deep banana taste to the loaf.  However her oven was very hot and burned the cake a little at the top.  When I got back home I just couldn’t help myself and simply had to try it again (why not?).  On this second attempt my bananas were quite fresh as I had to buy them from the shop.  I also used brown muscovado sugar.  The result was that the banana taste was much subtler and the brown sugar taste came out much more strongly as an after taste (this is the cake pictured).

What can I say, both cakes were really good – just different.  If I were to make this cake again I would add another 150g or so of bananas if they were fresh.  I am now also intrigued to see what would happen were I to use white sugar in place of the brown.

A Hummingbird Start

Baking is an art and skill, and as I feel I am very much an apprentice I thought what better way to start then with easy American baking classics.  I live in London, and the Hummingbird Bakery is a regular haunt of mine, although I must confess I love the Primrose Bakery too.  Both are different and offer equally delicious American pastries alternatives.  But as I received the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book first, it is with the bird that I have begun my practicing.

The recipes are great because in each one you get to exercise what I would call the “art of mixing.”  In baking, as some of you may already know, after accurate measurement of ingredients, mixing is a crucial stage in the baking process and can mean the difference between success and utter disaster.  In the Hummingbird cakes there is only one element to make (counting the frostings and glazes out): the cake!  Perfect – as you can focus on making great sponges, which means only one mixture to make and perfect each time.

This last week I made 3 different cakes from this book: lemon poppy seed cake, banana loaf and carrot cake.  I have individual posts for each!

My very first post

I love cakes.  I can’t stop making them and I love to eat them too.  Being a trained ballet dancer and choreographer by that, my passion for baking may come as a surprise to some. 

I have been making so many cakes and my friends and family love them so much that often only crumbs remain.  Once eaten my pastries vanish and the only traces left are in memory.  That is when the idea of a blog came in.  So see this one as a diary of my baking and pastry-making ventures.  I go through phases and flashes of creativity, starting with wild outbursts of sometimes 2 cakes a day but teetering down at times to only a few a month as I do like to take my time reading hundreds of recipes and authors and finding the ones I feel drawn to explore. 

I hope this will tempt you to eat more cake and bake more too, as I think eating pastries and baking them makes everyone happier and is one of the truly magical pleasures in life!