Sunday 26 August 2012
rum & raisin snickers cake
Ever wondered how the idea of a birthday cake came to be? I've celebrated countless birthdays (mine and others) but have never given it much thought until today while writing this post. According to wiki, the idea was conceived by German bakeries all the way back in the 15th century. And what about those candles, huh? Apparently the number of candles decorating these cakes used to be more than the number of years of the individual's life, to indicate 'upcoming years'. Seems like a bad move there. How many extra candles is enough to prevent the individual from thinking you're wishing him/her a short life?
Well, we stuck with 1 candle for my dad's birthday this year. After a certain age, people tend to prefer that their birthday cakes not look like something the fire department wouldn't approve of. Plus the cake I made was a 7" one, way too small to accommodate that many candles anyway. Hehehe.
After much deliberation, I decided on a 3-layered chocolate cake with rum and raisin buttercream. This was only my 2nd layered cake and I had yet to master the art of cake decoration so I kept it simple, using only ganache and chopped peanuts. I know, chopped peanuts doesn't seem to go with rum&raisin but my dad loves nuts so I had to incorporate some kinda nut into the cake.
Surprisingly, the combination wasn't too disastrous and the Rum & Raisin Snickers Cake (as my bro-in-law calls it) was well-received by the birthday
Note: The entire process took me about 1.5 days because I had to soak the raisins overnight so prepare that in advance
Rum & Raisin Buttercream
(adapted from Bobby Flay's recipe on Food Network)
Ingredients
1 ½ cups
dark rum
1 tbsp
sugar
1 cup
golden raisins
113g
unsalted butter, softened
56g
cream cheese, softened
1 cup
confectioner’s sugar
Directions
- Bring the rum and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan
- Add the raisins, remove from heat and let macerate overnight
- Strain the raisins and set aside
- Bring the strained rum to a boil and reduce to ¼ cup
- Remove from heat and allow to cool
- Beat butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy
- Add sugar and whip until well incorporated
- Add in cooled reduced rum
- Add in more sugar if desired
Chocolate Cake
(referred to here)
3/4 cup plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup strong black coffee (steaming hot)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 175 deg Celsius
- In a mixing bowl (pre-weighed), combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt
- Add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and coffee and beat at medium speed for ~ 2 min
- Divide batter into 3 equal portions (Use a weighing scale for this. Subtract the weight of the mixing bowl from the total weight and divide it by 3)
- Line three 7-inch round cake tins with baking paper (I use this method. Alternatively you can use non-stick springform pans. If you don't have enough pans, you can choose to bake the layers one at a time)
- Pour the divided batter into the lined cake tins and bake for ~20min or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean
- Remove from oven and leave to cool on wire rack. It should be easy to remove the cake from the tins. Remove the circumference paper first and then invert the cake onto the rack
Chocolate Ganache recipe here
*Assembling the cake
- Place first cake layer on a cardboard cake base
- Slather buttercream on top and cover with rum-soaked raisins, pressing the raisins into the buttercream
- Place 2nd cake layer over buttercream-coated bottom layer
- Repeat step 2
- Place 3rd cake layer on top
- Using a spatula, coat top and sides with a thin layer of buttercream (this is the crumb coat) and leave aside for 1-2h
- Cover the cake with more buttercream, smoothening the top with an angled spatula, and the sides with a bench scraper.
- Refrigerate for 1h
- You can decorate cake as desired from here on. If you opt to use my amateur method then...
- Place cake on wire rack (with a tray below the rack) and pour cooled ganache over cake, letting it flow down over the sides
- Sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top
- Grab a handful of chopped peanuts and, holding the cake with your other hand, stick them onto the sides of the cake.
- Refrigerate for ~1h or until ready to serve
Sunday 19 August 2012
white chocolate & strawberry cupcakes
Several years ago when I started baking on a more regular basis, my sister got me 500 cupcakes and muffins for my birthday. While I have yet to test out all 500 recipes, the white chocolate & strawberry cupcake recipe is my favourite thus far. The cake is light and fluffy and it smells absolutely delicious fresh out of the oven. My family seemed to agree as the first batch I made got wiped out in record time.
I didn't really like the icing recipe recommended in the book so I swapped it for a strawberry swiss meringue buttercream one. However, if, like most of my family, you do not like frosting, feel free to do without it as the cupcakes taste just as good topless.
White Chocolate & Strawberry Cupcakes (makes 18 cupcakes)
(adapted from 500 Cupcakes & Muffins by Fergal Connolly)
Ingredients
225g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 tsp strawberry essence
100g white chocolate chips
1/4 cup finely chopped strawberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 175 deg Celsius
- Cream together butter and sugar until pale and creamy
- Add flour, baking powder and mix well
- Add eggs, one at a time, and strawberry essence
- Stir in finely chopped strawberries and white chocolate chips
- Spoon the batter into cupcake liners in muffin tins
- Bake in oven for ~20min or until toothpick inserted in centre of cupcake comes out clean
- Leave to cool
Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
(adapted from callmecupcake)
Ingredients
5 large egg whites
150g caster sugar
210g unsalted butter, softened
100g coarsely chopped strawberries
Directions
- Pour egg whites and sugar into a clean, heatproof bowl and heat over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk the egg and sugar constantly so it does not curdle
- Continue heating the mixture until ~60-65 deg Celsius or until sugar has completely dissolved (rub mixture between fingers to check that it is no longer grainy)
- Remove from heat and whisk until soft, glossy peaks form and mixture has cooled to room temperature, ~10min
- Change to paddle attachment, add butter slowly and beat until it reaches frosting consistency--creamy and smooth but stiff enough to pipe. (The mixture will initially appear soupy, then curdled. Just continue beating, it should stiffen up.)
- Add chopped strawberries and mix until combined.
- Frost as desired!
Saturday 11 August 2012
s'mores cupcakes
S'mores are campfire treats consisting of toasted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between 2 graham crackers. I've never actually tried an actual s'more before. The closest I've come to a s'more was probably a tub of Ben&Jerry's Marsha Marsha Marshmallow, which has now been rechristened S'mores. It is one my of favourite B&J flavours. B&J ice cream has a tendency to be overly sweet for me but the slightly salty graham cookie swirl in MMM nicely balances out the sweetness.
I had the privilege of trying a really good S'mores cupcake made by a friend several years back and have been inspired to recreate it ever since.
The components: a digestive biscuit crumb base, chocolate cake, and a marshmallow frosting. I used digestive biscuits as a substitute because where I live, it's almost impossible to get graham crackers.
Digestive Biscuit Crumb Base
Ingredients
15 digestive biscuits
2 tbsps salted butter, melted
Directions
- Crush digestive biscuits until a fine crumb is produced. You can use a food processor if you have one
- Pour melted butter over crumbs and mix well
- Line base of cupcake liners with crumb mixture (about 1.5 tbsps each) and press firmly until tightly packed
Chocolate Cake
(This recipe is widely used and I'm not too sure where it originated. Most have credited it to Hershey's, though, and if you check out the recipe section on their website, you can find the recipe under Black Magic Cake. The one below is my adaptation.)
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup strong black coffee (steaming hot)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 175 deg Celsius
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt
- Add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and coffee and beat at medium speed for ~ 2 min
- Pour batter into cupcake liners with biscuit base
- Bake for ~20min or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean
- Leave to cool
Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
227g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
7oz Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Directions
- Cream butter and sugar together until pale and creamy
- Add in vanilla and salt
- Gently mix in marshmallow creme until well combined
- Frost cupcakes
- Sprinkle remaining biscuit crumb and top off with Maltesers
Friday 3 August 2012
chocolate ganache
Well, technically the term chocolate ganache is redundant since you can't have ganache without chocolate, can you?
This is my go-to recipe when anything needs chocolatising--cookies, cakes, pies...it's easy to make and tastes so good.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
100g dark chocolate
50g milk chocolate
1 cup heavy cream (aka whipping cream)
1.5 tbsp rum
Directions
- Break up chocolate into small chunks and place in heatproof bowl
- Heat cream in a saucepan until simmering or just boiling
- Pour heated cream over chocolate and whisk until well-combined and smooth
- Stir in the rum
Note: You could use 150g of dark chocolate instead of dark and milk chocolate if you prefer. I generally use the Lindt Excellence range for my ganache
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