edible flowers Archives

The best part about winter for a person like me who does not really enjoy the cold is definitely the food. I like a bit of spice in everything, sweet or savory! I noticed that I’ve been using nutmeg a lot this winter as compared to the rest of the year when the spice is lying quietly in one corner of my cupboard. What is a Winter without Carrot Cake? The Internet is flooded with Carrot cake recipes and there is no point in me adding just another one. So I’ve combined the flavours of a classic carrot cake with zesty oranges and the marriage is nothing short of a flavour explosion! Think of warm spices, soft caramel kissed Carrot Cake, the bitterness of orange marmalade and just a touch of sweet white chocolate. I’ll let the pictures do the talking for you.

Cakes like these don’t need tonnes of buttercream. It is there in the cake to cement the flavours and the layers together. So I have applied a thin coat of swiss meringue buttercream and a generous amount of orange marmalade to complement the cake. One important factor that I always stress on is that making a cake should not mean toiling away in the kitchen or an elaborate prep. I did not even grate the carrots at home this time. The supermarkets sell shredded carrots that obviously differ in thickness. I’ve been meaning to try them out as I was pretty sure they would add a bit more texture to the soft cake. I was right! So I easily skipped the longest step in making a carrot cake. The top as quite a few of you asked me on Instagram is entirely edible. There are meringues, edible flowers and little candy discs that I created in a two-tone effect using candy melts. I sprinkled a bit of gold dust on them. They are are my favourite new experiment and they just take your desserts to a whole new level. You know what, I can’t wait till Christmas. I am all about sprinkles, chocolate and candy already.

Orange And Carrot Cake (carrot cake adapted with variation from Epicurious)
Makes a 6 inch, 3 layered round cake

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
|1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup castor sugar
4 large eggs
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup citrus peel (or 1 tbsp freshly grated orange peel)
2 cups self-raising flour
11/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely grated peeled carrot
1/2 cup raisins
Cinnamon swiss meringue buttercream (recipe below)
1/2 cup Orange Marmalade
Decorations- meringue kisses, edible flowers, candy discs, grated chocolate

Cinnamon Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
1 tsp powdered cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
2-3 drops of orange food colouring (I used a mix of red and yellow coloring)

For the orange colored, white chocolate ganache
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 tbsp heavy cream
3-4 drops of a mix of red and yellow food colour

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Lightly grease the sides and bottom and line the bottoms of 3, 6-inch pans with non-stick baking paper.

Using an electric mixer (or by hand), beat oil and both sugars in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in orange juice and peel. Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt into large bowl; add to sugar mixture and beat to blend. Stir in carrots and raisins.

Pour batter into the prepared pans. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool cake for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a wire rack. Remove baking paper and cool. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.)

To make the cinnamon swiss meringue buttercream
Place the egg whites and sugar in a large bowl that is placed over a saucepan of simmering water (over low heat), and whisk continuously, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the bottom of the bowl is warm to touch

Remove the bowl from the heat and whip on high speed until meringue holds stiff peaks and looks glossy. The bowl should have completely cooled by now.
Add the butter, 2 tablespoon at a time, until thick and fluffy. If it begins to look curdled, continue to whip until it comes back together, before adding in remaining butter.
When the buttercream is smooth and has come together, add the cinnamon, vanilla and food color and whip gently again to blend.

To make the orange colored, white chocolate ganache: Heat the white chocolate and heavy cream over very low heat in a small saucepan. When cream just reaches boiling point, remove from heat and leave aside. Stir with a spoon to make a smooth mix. Add the food colour and stir to blend.

To assemble
Once the cake layers are completely cool, start assembling..
On a cake plate or stand, spread a little buttercream in the centre and place one layer of the cake (so that the cake does not move about while frosting). Spread about 1/2 a cup of cinnamon swiss meringue buttercream. Spread half the quantity of orange marmalade. Place the second layer. Repeat. Place the last layer upside down (so you get a flat top). Spread buttercream on the top and sides. If you want to make it look like a naked cake, a thin layer of frosting is good enough.
Stick the cake into the refrigerator for 15-20 mins.
Make the white chocolate ganache 5 minutes before you take the cake out from the fridge.Once the ganche is cool, but still flowing freely when you lift it with a spoon, spoon it onto the cake slowly. Be gentle on the edges to create the drippy effect.
Decorate with meringues, candy and edible flowers.

Many times when I go to a gathering, I’m introduced to people who are new to me as the ‘one who makes cakes!’. I am pretty sure, if you are a blogger, you can relate. You’ll probably be the one ‘ with a food blog’ or the ‘great cook’ or one who ‘knows everything about food’. After that there are so many questions. I’ll share the ones I get asked the most. Who eats your creations? Do you sell your cakes? Why don’t you? Do you make gluten free, fat free, sugar free, eggless cakes? Well honestly the first few cannot be answered in a word or two. Sometimes I explain, sometimes I just give them a smile. The last one, I am happy to answer. Gluten free, yes, fat-free, yes, Sugar free, never!, Eggless..?? That gets me thinking. I come from that part of the world where being vegetarian or vegan is not uncommon. Though my immediate family is not, throughout my growing up years I have come across people who don’t eat eggs. Yet, I was always the one to advocate for eggs in cakes. Cakes need eggs, I would tell myself! Then one day I was invited to someone’s house who happened to be a non-egg eater and treated to chocolate cake. ‘Try it’ they said ‘It’s quite nice’. I didn’t want to be rude but I didn’t like it. The hostess sensed my displeasure and said to me’ Why don’t you come up with a good eggless chocolate cake. You are the baker!’ I thought about it and thought of the number of times people have requested me for an eggless cake recipe. It is true! I bake almost everyday, I play with ingredients all the time, If I am not able to crack this, what’s the point in me doing what I do? So I took it upon myself to test out recipes for a good egg-free cake recipe. Not just a recipe that is made without eggs and is edible but a recipe that can measure up to a great chocolate cake. After a few attempts and failures, I found my Eggless Chocolate Cake!

Like most of my recipes, the focus has been to keep it simple and as easy as possible. The cake is moist, dense and fudgy. This is not a sponge cake but it is not rich either. It is actually like a warm hug of chocolate and incredibly delicious. The core ingredient that gives the cake it’s amazing texture is Ricotta Cheese. The cooking time is a bit long as it is cooked slowly over a low temperature. The Eggless Chocolate Cake is great even with a dusting of icing sugar if you want to skip the ganache. The cake tastes best when served warm or at room temperature.

Eggless Chocolate Cake
Makes an 8 inch round cake

200 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
100 g unsalted butter
1 tub (375 g) ricotta cheese
2 cups self-raising flour
1 1/4 cup castor sugar
1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (140 degrees C for fan-forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of an 8 inch round cake pan and line the base with baking paper.

In a large saucepan that is placed over a pot of boiling water melt the butter and chocolate together. Alternatively this can be done in short bursts in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl. Mix to blend well, remove from heat and leave aside to cool slightly (about 10 minutes). Add the sugar, ricotta cheese, water and self raising flour and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, serve with a dusting of icing sugar or top with chocolate ganache (recipe below).

Drizzle or slowly spoon ganache over the cake. Decorate with shaved chocolate, chocolate chips, berries, edible flowers or nuts.

Chocolate Ganache

150 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/4 cup heavy/thickened cream

Microwave method : Place chocolate and cream in a glass or ceramic microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium (50%) for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds with a metal spoon, or until smooth. Stand at room temperature until thickened.

If cooking on the gas, heat the cream over low heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat, add the chopped dark chocolate and leave aside. After 10 minutes, mix to blend. Stand at room temperature until thickened.