Ross’ Birthday Cake

A friend’s birthday this weekend was a perfect occasion for this delish chocolate layer cake with white chocolate cream filling.  Even my little pooch wanted a sniff!  I think it worked a treat.

The recipe is the same as my previous post on 21 February.

Banana Two

I am so excited: this is officially my first very own recipe (I can’t believe it – a penned recipe)!  I had a little craving for banana cake this morning, so ventured on to make the banana loaf from the hummingbird recipe book.  I had loved it when I made it exactly one month ago (see earlier post), but I wanted a slightly stronger banana flavour in the dough, and I also had en “envie” for some walnuts to add some contrast texture and crunch.  For this recipe I also went on to add more spices.  The results are super yummy!  I ABSOLUTELY love this loaf!  A great banana flavor, sublte sweetness and cosy warmth with the spices.  You can see from the photo too how different the loaf looks.  I love the colour combination and the blackness coming out with the bananas and walnuts.  I am a happy baker!

Ingredients used:

270 g Soft Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

300 g Peeled Bananas (mashed)

280 g Plain Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

¼ Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

140 g Unsalted Butter (melted)

100 g Crushed Walnuts

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.