Sugar et al

Because Life is a blend of flavours...

Rosewater And Poppy Seed Cake

2|05|2016

You guys! I never thought you would love my experiments so much. When I make something I picture how much me, my family and friends would love to eat it. There are no other benchmarks for me. I barely look at trends, I don’t care a hoot for what my traffic stats should look like or what makes a post do well. I read about these things everywhere but honestly, I don’t understand much. It’s just me and my craft. And on the other side it is you, my dear readers. I like to do things that make you happy or things that will enable you to make someone else happy. So many of you have asked for the recipe of this rosewater and poppy seed cake. It came as a surprise to me. So I’ll keep it short and sweet and jump straight to the cake.

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The cake has a great texture just as you would expect from a poppy seed cake. The rosewater is what you taste. I’ve used a little syrup to moisten the cake and make the cake more fragrant.In between the layers and outside is a lemon infused buttercream. Lastly, on the top is a white chocolate ganache in that shocking pink colour. So much happening in the cake but it tastes beautiful.

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It’s meant to be a Mother’s day cake so please go ahead and decorate it with the prettiest roses you can find. Try and use flowers that have not been sprayed with insecticides or fungicides. If you can’t find any, make sure to read this post on decorating with flowers.

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Rosewater And Poppy Seed Cake
Makes a 3-layered 6 inch round cake

4 tbsp poppy seed
200 g unsalted butter, melted, plus a little extra for greasing
225 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, at room temperature
225 g castor sugar
1 tbsp rosewater

For the rosewater syrup
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp castor sugar
1 tbsp rosewater

For the Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-2 drops, pink food coloring (optional)

For the white chocolate ganache
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 tbsp heavy cream
3-4 drops pink food colour

To make the cake layers: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C ( 160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Roast the poppy seed on a pan over low heat for 2 mins. Grease and line the base of 3 round (6 inch) pans with baking paper.

Mix together the flour and baking powder, then set aside. Put the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Using electric beaters, whisk until thick, pale and foamy. Pour in the cooled butter and rosewater and briefly whisk again. Sift in the flour mix, add poppy seeds then, using a large metal spoon, carefully fold into the cake mixture until even. Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 15 mins or until golden and springy to the touch. Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack.

To make the rose syrup : Add sugar to a small saucepan. Pour in water and stir.
With the heat on medium, bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. The sugar will dissolve while the water boils.
Turn off the heat and let cool. When sugar syrup has cooled, add the rosewater.

To make the Lemon 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 lemon zest and juice and whip gently again to blend.

To make the pink white chocolate ganache: Heat the white chocolate and heavy cream over 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 slightly cool, brush each layer generously with rosewater syrup.
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 lemon swiss meringue buttercream. 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 crushed meringues, silver cashous and flowers.

 

Layered Chocolate Mud Cake for Mother’s Day

30|04|2016

Layered chocolate mud cake

I started April with a bang but somehow things turned out otherwise. I had many plans for the school holidays mostly being able to balance out family time and blogging and not compromising on either. This is something I have been striving to achieve in the last 3 years and have still not perfected. The first week went great! Pies, picnics and play dates. Come second week and I was nursing a sore tooth that went from bad to worse. It became so painful that I couldn’t sleep at night, my face swelled up on the right side and I couldn’t even open my mouth to eat. I have never felt so frustrated. With two young hyper active kids at home and impending deadlines, the least you want to do is become immobile. Mother’s day is my favourite holiday and I had a list of recipes to test out. This year I haven’t made many layer cakes so I had reserved them for April to post before Mother’s day. To make things worse, my laptop started warning me every now and them of low disc space. I rearranged files with no avail. In my crazy state of mind, I must have done something and the next day I was unable to locate hundreds of files. So much chaos! Though I did manage to get back many of them, the rest had just vanished into thin air. Those of you who follow me on Instagram would have seen the Rosewater and Poppy Seed Cake. I couldn’t find the edited images so I’ll have to work on them again. Meanwhile I thought I’ll share this Chocolate Mud Layer Cake with you.

Layered chocolate mud cake

This is a truely impressive cake! It tastes so amazing because it is a dark chocolate mud cake which is dense and rich (not heavy though) and is one of the simplest layer cakes to make. Why? Because mud cakes rise evenly and don’t crumb a lot, they are easy to frost.I frosted the layers in between with a raspberry butercream and the outside with a milk chocolate fudge frosting. The fudge frosting is a big favourite of mine! It never dissapoints. Because the layers are rich, I put a very thin coating of the milk chocolate buttercream, almost like a naked cake. The drippy ganache is white chocolate tinted pink and I’ve decorated it with home grown edible flowers. Oh yes, these flowers have been Autumn’s best gift to me. I bought 15 pots of them in different shades and sizes and they are such a happy sight when I look outside. I did some research before I bought them and travelled 2 hours to get them. But they are a joy to have. especially when you don’t have to depend on the ready punnets at the farmers’ markets.

Layered chocolate mud cake

Let me warn you right away that you will probably be bombarded with cake posts this week. I have so much to share with you!

Layered chocolate mud cake

Layered chocolate mud cake

Layered Chocolate Mud Cake
Makes a 3 layered 6 inch round cake

 

For the raspberry buttercream
120 g unsalted butter, softened
3 cups, icing sugar
1/4 cup raspberry jam
milk (optional)
1-2 drops pink food colouring, if desired

For the milk chocolate fudge frosting
120 gms unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup (150 gms) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
11/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the white chocolate ganache
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 tbsp heavy cream
1-2 drops pink food colour

To make the chocolate Mud Layer cake: Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line 3, 6 inch pans with baking paper.

Place the chocolate, butter, coffee and milk in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water) and stir until smooth and melted. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely.

Sift flour and cocoa powder into a bowl, then add sugar. Fold into the chocolate mixture with eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream.

Divide the batter in between the cake pan and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes 0r until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with some moist crumbs sticking to it but no raw cake batter. Set aside to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled completely, turn them onto a wire rack.

To make the raspberry buttercream: Place butter and jam in a mixing bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream butter and jam until well incorporated, about 2 minutes.
Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time until you reach desired consistency. If frosting gets too thick you can add a little milk to thin it out. Add food colouring if desired.

To make the milk chocolate frosting : Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy(about 1 min). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy(about 2 min). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2-3 min).

To make the white chocolate ganache : Heat the white chocolate and heavy cream over 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: Place a layer of chocolate mud cake on a plate or cake stand. Dollop 1/2 cup of raspberry buttercream and spread out with an offset spatula. Try to stay 1/2 inch away from the edges as the buttercream would spread once covered with another layer. We don’t want it to stick out from the sides.
Place the second layer and repeat the same process.
Cover with the third layer. Frost the outside (top and sides) with milk chocolate buttercream. Stick the cake into the fridge for 15 minutes.
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.
Let the ganache set properly before decorating with flowers.

Easter Egg Cupcakes

25|03|2016

A quick post today to share these Easter egg filled cupcakes. It’s a long weekend as you know and ours is longer because the school gave an extra holiday so I’ve hardly hard time to catch my breath. And of course eggs. Chocolate eggs are in every possible place imaginable in my house. And I am not even having an egg hunt. The perils of being a mum to young twins! I was quite sure I wouldn’t have time to create Easter recipes but since I was making cupcakes, it struck me that I could have a little surprise hiding in the cupcakes.

easter egg cupcakes with chocolate gaanche

I flavored the Easter cupcakes with brown sugar and golden syrup (you could use maple syrup or even honey) for a caramel like taste and stuffed them with Cadbury creme eggs. Whipped chocolate ganache is my quick, easy handy frosting in these occasions so I made one and decorated the frosting with sprinkles. Needless to say, it made my little bunnies as happy as ever. After all who doesn’t like cupcakes! Even if I am not eating them, I find them such a joy to look at when they are sitting on my cake stand.

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easter egg cupcakes with chocolate gaanche

Easter Egg Cupcakes (cupcake batter slightly adapted from here)
Makes 12

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (170 degrees C fan-forced) Grease a 12 hole muffin pan and line with paper liners.

Combine the flour, castor sugar and brown sugar in a bowl. Make a well in center.

Add milk, egg, oil and golden syrup (or maple syrup). Mix until just combined. Spoon 2 level tablespoons batter into paper cases. Top with 1 big or 2 small chocolate eggs. Top eggs with 2 level tablespoons of  batter.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden and just firm to touch. Stand in pans for 3 minutes. Carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, frost with whipped chocolate ganache. Decorate with sprinkles.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting

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

Place chocolate pieces in a large heat proof bowl. Place cream in a saucepan over medium heat and bring it to a boil. Remove just before it reaches boiling point and pour over chocolate pieces. Leave aside for 5 minutes, then stir with a spoon to blend until smooth and glossy. Let the ganache cool completely before whipping it by hand or an electric mixer until fluffy. It is ready when it holds shape when lifted up with a spoon.
Fill up a piping bag which is fitted with a star nozzle at the end with the whipped chocolate ganache. Pipe on to cupcakes. Alternatively, spread or spoon the ganache on to the cupcakes.

 

Neapolitan Cake

31|08|2015

I think I am having too much fun with frosting! It is evident from the stains on my favourite pair of jeans. The other day, I wanted to hide somewhere when I saw myself in the large mirror at the shopping centre. The boys were with me so that’s a huge relief. Blame it on motherhood! Busy and tired mums have their fair share of excuses. Though the truth actually is that I am loving this whole idea of messy frosted cakes (even though it finds it’s way on my clothes).

neapolitan cake

I don’t remember making a single batch of buttercream this month. It’s been whipped cream all the way along with cheese based frosting. For this cake I’ve used whipped cream and chocolate ganache.  I’ve made the cake batter in one bowl. That’s right! Unlike many Neapolitan cake recipes that require you to make 3 different batters, this one uses a large bowl for mixing. Then all you do is divide the batter into 3 cake pan. For the first one, you just add a few drops of vanilla extract. The second one, strawberry extract and a few drops of pink food colour. The third one requires cocoa powder and milk. I’ve mixed the colours and flavours gently in the cake pan itself.  Otherwise, you can imagine the amount of dishes one would end up with for this kind of cake. On the texture front, the cake is moist and soft…thanks to the sour cream in the cake.

neapolitan cake

In between the layers there is creamy chocolate ganache. For the two-tone effect, I first applied chocolate ganache to the top and sides of the cake. Then I spread a bit of pink tinted whipped cream unevenly on the sides and top and ran my spatula around the cake to blend the frosting.  Quite easy but very tempting though. It’s hard to resist licking it off the cake straightaway. Chocolate and Cream…is there anything better than that?

neapolitan cake

In other news, today is the last day of winter in Australia. It’s Spring tomorrow and it’s also September, my favourite month. I have many hopes for September because I will be able to see some of my work on print. Call it luck or coincidence, I have worked on different projects with different sets of people but the release dates have somehow been assigned to September. I am also excitedly looking forward to spending time with my Mum and sister who will be in Sydney shortly.
Come on September…faster please..I just can’t wait for you!

neapolitan cake

 

neapolitan cake

Neapolitan Cake 
Makes a 3 layered 7 inch cake

32 

For the frosting
300 g dark chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup + 1/2 cup heavy/thickened cream
2-3 drops of pink food colouring
2-3 drops Strawberry extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced). Grease and line the bases of  3, 7-inch cake pans with non-stick baking paper.

Using an electric mixer (or by hand) beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Add the sour cream and remaining flour, in batches, and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among 3 bowls.

Add a few drops of vanilla essence to the first. Mix gently
Add a few drops pink food colouring and strawberry extract/essence to the 2nd pan portion and mix gently to combine.
Combine the cocoa powder and milk in a small bowl and add to the 3rd portion of batter. Mix gently to combine.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20- 30 minutes (or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean). Remove from the oven. Leave aside in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully tun onto a wire rack. Let cakes cool completely before frosting them.

To make the chocolate ganache frosting, place chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until smooth. Cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until a spreadable consistency. To make the strawberry cream frosting, whip up the heavy cream with an electric mixer till stiff peaks. gently fold in the colouring and extract.

To assemble, place the vanilla cake in the centre of a cake stand or plate. Spread about 1/4 cup of frosting. Top with the strawberry layer cake. Repeat. Place the chocolate cake layer on top. Frost the sides and top with chocolate ganache. Take a small amount of the strawberry whipped cream frosting on your spatula and spread unevenly around the cake in gentle strokes. Smoothen out with a clean spatula. Decorate with chocolate curls, piped ganache or strawberries.