cake Archives - Page 4 of 30

Eggless Pink KitKat Cake

23|05|2019

I was going to share this cake two weeks ago, just before Mother’s Day but my website was giving me a lot of trouble so I had to wait. Though I did make it with Mother’s Day in mind, this cake would honestly be perfect for any kind of occasion. Birthdays, baby shower, valentine’s day, you name it!

The best part is that I used my moist, fluffy eggless vanilla cake recipe so it’s even suited for people who do not like or avoid eggs for any reason. This is also probably the easiest way to decorate a cake and make it look impressive without piping work or fancy garnishes.

If you can’t find KitKat Ruby where you are, feel free to use any variety of Kikat chocolates.
I hope you enjoy making this cake. Don’t forget to tag me if you do. I love seeing your creations.

Eggless Pink Kitkat Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup greek yoghurt
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Buttercream
125 g unsalted butter
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp milk (or more if required)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 drops pink food colour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of a 6 inch round cake pan and line the base with baking paper.

In a large bowl place the flour, sugar and baking soda and stir together to mix. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients, yoghurt, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold in gently (do not over-mix).
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through (a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean). Remove from oven. Leave aside for 5 minutes. Gently loosen the sides with a blunt knife by running it around the sides. Turn the cake over onto a cooling rack.
When cool. slice horizontally into two layers.

To make the vanilla buttercream: Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a bowl until pale. Gradually add icing sugar mixture and milk, beating constantly until combined.
Add vanilla extract and pink food colour and beat till well blended.

To assemble : Place the first layer onto a cake plate. Spread with approx 1/2 cup of buttercream. Top with the next layer. Frost the sides and top with buttercream. Arrange pink Kitkat chocolates around the sides to cover the entire cake (the buttercream makes sticking it easier). Tie a ribbon around the cake to ensure they attach firmly. Fill up the top with fresh raspberries and decorate with flowers.

Blackberry and Cardamom Sour Cream Cake

4|03|2019

It’s officially Autumn but I’m still not ready to let go of summer. I’ve spent the most part of summer overseas so I feel that I haven’t made enough treats with berries. Raspberries, being red somehow make way into a lot of my Christmas recipes and I use strawberries and blueberries round the year. Blackberries tend to be ignored! It’s sort of unfair as they impart the most beautiful and varying shades of pink/purple when cooked and used in different intensities. Ranging from light pink in a frosting to a deeper purple in cocktails, I am forever mesmerized by their addition. And how good do they look just as they are!

This cake is again a simple one layer cake but one that is very flavorful. A subtle flavour from the cardamom and a creamy sourness from the sour cream. Texture wise it is slightly denser than a regular cake but it melts in your mouth while the blackberries within the batter add a tangy burst to every bite. You could skip the buttercream and serve it like a tea-cake. It’s quite good on it’s own. Or if you’d like to experience some blackberry magic, go ahead with the frosting.

Blackberry and Cardamom Sour Cream Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

125 g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
300 g sour cream
1/4 cup milk (optional, if batter is too thick)
1/2 cup blackberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (140 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of a 6 inch cake pan and line the base with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer or by hand, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flours and cardamom together. Fold in the dry ingredients, sour cream and milk (if using) to the butter mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Push the blackberries into the batter with your fingers. Bake in the oven for 60 – 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, leave aside for 5 mins, then turn onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Once cool, pipe or spread blackberry buttercream (recipe below). Decorate with fresh blackberries.

Blackberry Buttercream

125 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp fresh blackberry puree, strained
1 tsp vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar, little at a time beating continuously until incorporated.
Add the blackberry puree and vanilla extract and beat until buttercream is smooth and well blended.

Fudgy Brownie Cake

20|11|2018

My husband and I have very different tastes when it comes to desserts. I’m a rich, creamy and cold mousse kind of person while he loves a gooey, warm dessert. ‘Warm’ is the keyword! If he’s ordering a carrot cake, he wants it warmed up. Which to me does not make sense because there is a cream cheese frosting with it. If he’s having a berry muffin, it needs to come warm and that will most often require it to be removed from the liner which aesthetically doesn’t appeal to me. So we usually order our own things at a restaurant or a cafe. But if it ever happens that we decide to share a dessert (you know, it happens! Too full but not going to leave without dessert) the only thing we can ever agree to is a brownie. A warmed up fudgy brownie served with a side of vanilla ice cream. Dessert is sorted!
As for the boys, one is a dessert lover, the other is not. But brownies win there too.

Given that we are united as a family when it comes to brownies, it is good to have a brownie cake in my repertoire for special occasions and weekend indulgences. This cake always does it. The perfect way to enjoy it is warming it up in the microwave before serving and topping it up with fresh berries or your favourite ice cream. The recipe cannot be simpler. Over the years, I’ve simplified it by mixing the entire thing in one saucepan, the same one I use to warm my butter and chocolate in. So this recipe is not only delicious but very convenient as well.

Gingerbread cake is no doubt the choice for the season but a brownie cake is a hit anytime. Look how festive it looks without effort!

Fudgy Brownie Cake
makes a 6 inch round cake

125 g unsalted butter
300 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup plain flour
fresh cherries, to serve

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C for fan forced ovens) Grease the base and sides of a 6 inch round pan and line the base with baking paper.

In a heavy bottom saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly (about 15 minutes). Add the sugar and stir to mix. Add the eggs, a little at a time and continue to stir.
Add the cocoa powder and flour and mix till well blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until the cake is almost cooked through and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs clinging. Loosen the sides with a butter knife and allow the brownie cake to cool in the pan.

Turn onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature with berries and ice cream on the side.

Rosewater Poached Pears with Cardamom Coconut Cake

27|09|2018

If I was ever told that I could choose just one fruit to cook/bake for a whole week among the plethora of options we have in Australia, it would have to be pears (yes, over my favourite berries). They are not only great in sweet dishes but equally delicious with savoury. A few days ago, I shared a recipe of Chocolate, Hazelnut and Pear friands where I just added the pears sliced up in the batter and they baked up beautifully. Ever since, I’ve been meaning to post a recipe with poached pears.

If you follow me for a while you’ve surely come across my Caramel poached pears with Ginger Cake which is my my most popular recipe till date. It was shortlisted in the Food Portraiture category for the Pink Lady Food Photography awards and is also the cover photo for the latest Sweet Dreams Magazine. Basically, it is a personal favorite of mine and the pears do all the magic. But this time around, I wanted to make something delicate and a bit Spring-ish to go with the season. And pears being so versatile, the first thing that came to my mind was Rosewater poached pears. . Rosewater is like my secret weapon, time and again in elevating the simple to something fancy without doing anything extra. These gorgeous Beurre Bosc pears have been poached in a fragrant rosewater liquid and the resulting pears were soft. melt-in-your mouth while beautifully smelling of roses. Sitting atop a cardamom infused crunchy coconut cake, these flavors work together like magic.

I seldom make a cake which is complicated or hard to replicate and the same goes with this one. This is truly a delight for the senses.
Powdered Cardamom is available in almost all Australian supermarkets these days. You could also check in Indian stores. Rosewater/edible rose petals can be ordered online and also found in Indian and Middle Eastern stores.

Rosewater Poached Pears with Cardamom, Coconut Cake
Serves 6-8

Rosewater Poached Pears

1 cup castor sugar
2 tsp rosewater
6 cups water (1.5 l)
4 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, cored

Place the water, sugar and rosewater in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the pears. Place a baking paper over the pears to cover them and cook for 15-20 minutes or until pears are cooked through and tender. Remove from heat. Leave the pears in the saucepan to cool. Once cooled, remove the pears and bring the liquid to a boil to reduce it to a thick syrup (about 10 minutes). Serve drizzled on the pears and cake.

Cardamom Coconut Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

125 g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp powdered cardamom
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees c for fan-forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of an 6 inch round cake pan and line the base with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer or by hand, beat the butter till soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat till blended. Add the eggs, one at a time along with the powdered cardamom and beat till well combined. Fold in the flour and coconut alternating with milk to combine.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out free of crumbs. Serve with poached pears, coconut flakes/shaved coconut and edible, dried rose petals.