Cakes and Puddings Archives - Page 41 of 46

Banana Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

10|04|2014

If this banana cake is looking anything different to you than…well, a banana cake, let me assure you this is the same one, you and me bake in a loaf pan and slice up for breakfast or bake into muffins to put into your lunchboxes. Yeah, the same one that transforms the fate of overripe bananas and they end up with some dessert love (a lot of love in my house) than entering the dustbin.

I started out the usual, predictable way. Ignoring the bananas while they turned black and made the cupboard smell serving as a reminder each time I opened the door that it was time to use them up. I put the batter together intending to bake it in my loaf tin. But the loaf tin was nowhere in sight. And that was because it was sitting in the freezer with a semifreddo I made a few days back. I didn’t want muffins so the batter landed up in a cake pan.

You know I have a weakness for round cakey objects. I feel the urge to spice it up or add nuts or anything that would go with the cake.And frost and decorate and just do something to it. So, before it hit the cake pan I added some poppy seeds to the batter. I frosted it with a quick cream cheese frosting which I’ve been meaning to try out in a while. This one uses whipped cream instead of butter along with the cream cheese so it is lighter and naturally uses far less sugar to get a piping consistency. The frosting can be easily spread on top of the cake if you are not comfortable with piping bags. A drizzle of caramel sauce (store bought) finished the cake. Both the recipe for the cake and the frosting have been separately adapted with some variation from Joy Of Baking

The flavours are lovely together. I was amazed how good the poppy seeds tasted in a banana cake. I think this is by the far the easiest cakes I have made despite having a dressed up look.

Banana Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Serves 6-8

For the Banana Poppy Seed Cake
13/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1 tsp vanilla essence
Cream Cheese Frosting, to frost
3-4 tbsp. thick caramel sauce, to drizzle (I used store bought)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
125g cream cheese, room temparature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup cold whipping cream or heavy cream.

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Grease and line the base of a 19 cm round cake tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and poppy seeds.
In a medium sized bowl combine the mashed banana, eggs, melted butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon. Lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. Take care not to over mix the batter or it might result in a rubbery cake. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre come out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and keep aside for 5 minutes. Carefully turn the cake onto a wire rack and cool till room temperature. Once cooled, pipe or dollop cream cheese frosting onto the cake. Drizzle with caramel sauce.

To make the cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency. In case you are using a brand of heavy cream that does not whip easily, then whip the cream separately to stiff peaks and fold it gradually into the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate till needed.

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Red Berry Ganache

5|04|2014

I experience a unique thrill when I am posting a cake. More than satisfaction…more than excitement. Some kind of inexplicable joy. Right from the planning…the cake pans…dressing the cake, the props that will go alongside…the mood…the post processing to actually eating the cake. It’s almost like painting a picture. I finish with one and before that I am thinking about the next one.

When I made the Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Cake, I remember telling myself that there wasn’t going to be a red-brown combo my blog for a while. I was worried I was giving you an overdose of chocolate and raspberries in my posts. I even resisted the urge of pouring luscious chocolate ganache over the brownie cake. And maybe that’s why I had good reason to post a sauce dripping chocolate cake this time.

This a fudge cake therefore it is rich. The sweet berry ganache pairs well with the bittersweet fudgy cake. Pink is such a beautiful colour . And the sprinkles make it shine. Overall, this is quite simple to make with a great outcome. The texture is great for a bundt cake pan as it holds shape well.

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Red Berry Ganache
Serves 6-8

Chocolate Fudge Cake (adapted with variation from Taste.com)
250g butter, chopped
200g dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
2 cups, cold water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
Fresh Strawberries and Raspberries, to decorate
Pink Sprinkles, to decorate

Red Berry Ganache
10-12 Strawberries and/or Raspberries (I used a mix), cleaned and hulled (fresh or frozen)
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
1/3 cup thickened or heavy cream
2-3 drops of pink food colouring (optional)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Lightly grease a 20 cm bundt cake pan.

Place butter, chocolate, sugar, cocoa and 2 cups cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes or until melted and smooth (do not boil). Remove from heat. Cool for 20 minutes.

Add eggs. Whisk to combine. Add plain flour and self-raising flour. Whisk until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the ganache: Puree and strain the berry mixture to discard seeds. Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). When chocolate is about halfway melted, remove bowl from pan. Stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Add the strained berry puree and stir till well blended. Add food colouring if using. Cool for 10 minutes and pour over the cake. Ganache will thicken and set on cooling. Top with fresh berries and decorate with sprinkles.

Blueberry Pistachio Crumble Cake

30|03|2014

I’ve been a bit under the weather. I don’t enjoy being tied down to the bed so it was not the best of times for me. I love standing on my two feet even if it means standing long hours without a break so this was a kind of situation-imposed rest from which I was desperate to recover. Not being able to bake or photograph or shop for ingredients can affect me in a big way and I was really looking forward to some baking action.
Finally I did. After a whole week.

As it turns out, this is my 100th post. I’ve been slow that way. Taking a little over a year to reach here while also enjoying every bit of this journey. So it goes without saying that this had to be a cake post. I would have loved to do a fancy one with a few candles but honestly I didn’t have the stamina to do so. This crumble cake has been on my mind since months…I wanted to use pistachios in a crumble cake and I had pictured this rustic blue-green pairing so clearly in my mind that I could hardly wait for the cake to finish baking. I was almost certain the cake would look the way it did.

This is the kind of cake I enjoy baking and eating. Simple yet satisfying. There’s something so gorgeous about a crumble cake. Especially if the base is as moist and soft as this one. So many textures with each mouthful…almost like eating a cake and cookie together. And juicy blueberries tying the two layers together.
I blitzed the pistachios in the food processor in a way so as to keep a mix of finely ground as well as coarser crumbs in the crumble. They taste and look better. Any other nut would work just as well. Or any other berry in the cake.

Blueberry Pistachio Crumble Cake
Serves 10-12

Melted butter, to grease
200g butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup milk
200g blueberries fresh or frozen (I used fresh)

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup plain flour
50 g butter, chilled and chopped into cubes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup pistachios, skinned and ground to a coarse powder in the food processor

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Brush a round 20 cm spring form pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base with non-stick baking paper. Place the prepared pan on a baking tray.

Using an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Use a large metal spoon to fold in the combined flour and the milk until well combined.

Spoon into the prepared pan. Use the back of the spoon to smooth the surface. Arrange the blueberries on the top.

To make the crumble topping, place all the ingredients in a bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the mixture until the mixture contains large and small crumbs.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the blueberry layer. Bake in oven for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve cake warm or at room temperature

Ferrero Rocher Mousse Cake

23|03|2014

Ferrero Rocher cake with a biscuit base, a chocolate mousse filling, chopped ferrero rocher chocolates and chocolate ganache to finish.

Talking about blogger perspective, do you know what I love about Chocolate? That it is not seasonal. When you are a blogger you tend to keep track of what is seasonal, what your readers come to you for, what is trending on Pinterest and so on. Basically the bottom line is that I am completely in denial of the fact that we have left summer behind.

When I walk into the fruit market I am not too happy with the sight of berries, plums, peaches and nectarines being replaced with Persimmons, Guavas and Pomegranates. I like them too but nothing like berries and stone fruits. In fact the last of the summer fruits are still available but naturally at a higher price. So till I begin to take interest in autumnal produce I am finding comfort in the safe and faithful hands of chocolate. If you are on the other side of the world, I know you are smiling as you read this…in anticipation of what lies ahead of you (the glory of spring and summer) in the forthcoming months. Lucky you! But you are certainly not deserting me because I have a few summery recipes reserved for you in my folders. See what I mean by blogger perspective!

Back to the cake, it is an easy eggless cake to put together. Chocolate, cream and the star in the recipe. The base is a plain chocolate cookie crust. The swirls as you can see are dark chocolate ganache topped with a Ferrero Rocher. There are crushed Ferrero Rocher chocolates inside the mousse which is the only difficulty I had to deal with. I filled up a plastic bag with the chocolates and smashed them with a rolling-pin. The teeny bit of liquid chocolate inside the candies made it sticky inside the plastic bag and I had to do a few folds with the mouse mixture to distribute them. Which spoiled the textural element I was after (look wise). But the taste is yet amazing with crunchy bits of Ferrero Rocher hiding within creamy chocolate mousse. It is a rich cake so small portions are good enough.

I wanted a taller cake so I used a 19 cm springform pan. A larger pan can be used but the resulting cake will be lower in height.

Ferrero Rocher Mousse Cake
Serves 10-12

For the Mousse Cake
220g plain chocolate cookies
75g butter, melted
3 teaspoons gelatine powder
600 ml thickened or heavy cream
300 g dark chocolate
100 g milk chocolate
10 Ferrero Rocher chocolates, crushed in a plastic bag with a rolling-pin
6 Ferrero Rocher chocolates, to decorate
cocoa, to dust

For the whipped chocolate Ganache
150 g dark chocolate
1/2 cup thickened or heavy cream

Grease a 19 cm round Springform pan. Line the base and sides with baking paper. Place the cookies in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix to combine. Using your fingertips, press biscuit mixture over base of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Place both the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir until melted then cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, bring 1/4 cup cream to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Soak gelatine in 2 tbsp. cold water for 3-4 minutes or until soft. Add to hot cream and stir until dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Using an electric mixer, whisk remaining cream to stiff peaks. Working quickly, add chocolate and gelatine mixture to cream and whisk for 1-2 seconds or until chocolate is 1/2 incorporated. Using a spatula, gently finish folding in. Add the crushed Ferrero Rocher chocolates and gradually fold into the mousse.

Spoon over the base of the cookie mixture. Smooth out the surface with a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Cover. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Lightly dust with cocoa powder. Fill up a piping bag with a large star nozzle and pipe ganache around the cake. Top with Ferrero Rocher Chocolates.

To make the whipped ganache: Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow the ganache to cool completely and whip to a stiff consistency.