A Black Forest Cake and a Surprise!!!

It was the birthday of my younger daughter and I wanted to make it special. I rarely get birthday cakes from outside - for every birthday in my family, I make sure to bake a cake. The first time, I started this, was the 5th birthday for my younger daughter. But that was a steamed cake, made in pressure cooker. At that time, I did not have a microwave, so I found a ready-made cake mix, which can be made using a pressure cooker. The process was not at all proper baking, and how come you can call it a cake, which is not baked? So I was not satisfied!

From that day onward, for every birthday, I made the cake of my own. Many times, it was just a simple chocolate cake, as I did not have any idea of icing a cake during those days. But, still it made my daughters very happy. Many people asked me, why don't you get colorful iced cakes for your daughters! Yes, I could have went to a bakery shop and get the best cake from there; but to me, it was very much superficial. Baking a cake - is a project and it not only involves the basic ingredients, but also requires a lot of sincerity, dedication and passion. By baking the birthday cakes every year, I wanted to satisfy my desire of being more sincere and dedicated for my family-members. However, this is extremely personal view, and friends, no offence... please!!

This year, I planned to make a properly iced cake for her and I really made a plan much ahead of the day. Although it was a black forest cake, but I made it little bit unique, by drawing mehendi designs on top, using melted chocolate. In fact, the main reason behind this planning was that my daughter loves to wear mehendi on her hands. Her school does not permit to have mehendi-dyed hands, so many times, she does temporary mehendi drawings on her palms, using brown colored sketch pens. And I knew that she is going to love this cake, even before baking it!!

I baked the chocolate sponge cake, a day before the birthday. Because, you have to give some time to cool the cake in room temperature. You also need the other ingredients ready by your side. One of the most important ingredients is fresh cream icing. 

To prepare the fresh cream icing, I used -

BlueBird whipping powder - 2 packs

The whipping method is clearly mentioned at the back of the pack. Follow that carefully, to prepare a stiff peak whipping cream. Keep it inside refrigerator, until you are using it for icing. 

Other than the whipping cream, you will also need whole de-seeded cherries. Tinned cherries will also do. My luck was not that good, I could manage some dried cherries from the dry fruit section of the grocery store. But that's fine, I took 1 cup of dried cherries and let them soak into 1/2 cup of warm water. Cherries became fresh and I got the cherry syrup, as well. 

A black forest, is not a black forest, unless you use rum to soak the cake. But I did not have rum, instead I used 2 tablespoons of red wine, and it was quite good. I added that red wine to the cherry syrup.

Finally I had to prepare the melted chocolate for piping the mehendi design. I used the normal double-boiler method to melt 2 dark milk chocolates (medium sized). Once the chocolate started melting, I removed the glass bowl from the double boiler and kept it aside to cool down at room temperature.

Everything was ready, and it was the time to assemble. 

Step 1:

Cut the cake horizontally in 2 parts. If you want, you can make 3 layers of cake, too.

Step 2:

Place one layer on top of a board, and soak with the cherry syrup. Add cream icing and spread nicely on top. Sprinkle cherries all over.

Step 3:

Cover the icing with the other half of the cake. Complete icing on top and sides. Place the iced cake inside the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes, before you start the chocolate design.

Step 4:

Use a piping bag to fill with melted chocolate. Make a small hole in the corner. Be careful, a little larger hole will make the design a mess. Also you will have better control over the chocolate flow, when you have a small hole. You can do your choice of design.

Here is a simple video of making the design on top of the cake. My younger daughter has recorded it in a mobile phone camera and then she has edited it. The editing software was a downloaded version, so the promo text is showing up in between. But this is her genuine effort to make me happy and so I am putting it in my blog.

I wanted to make her happy and she wanted to make me - it was a sincere emotion from both the sides. As a result, the cake came out so nice and the video, came out to be a surprise for all of us!

Enjoy!!!

A Chocolate Sponge Cake and More!

It was the birthday of my younger daughter and this time, I made a Black Forest cake for her. A Black Forest cake is a common favorite for many - the soft and smooth texture, a tinge of rum taste mixed with cherry sweetness, along with the blend of chocolate flavor - makes it truly irresistible. I wanted to make it little unique, with some Mehendi design on it and at the end, it came out to be the show-stopper for the evening!

Making a Black Forest is little-bit lengthy process. Till now I have posted only the basic cake recipes. Now to make something exclusive and different, you have to spend some more time on these basic cakes. There is no way to shorten this procedure, dear! Basically you can divide the process in two parts. First you prepare the cake in the first half, allow it to cool and then in the second half, you do the assembling and decoration. The second half takes more time than the first half, so you should plan accordingly. I've planned ahead and so baked the cake in previous evening and then next day, I did the remaining part. 

Since the texture of a Black Forest cake is more  soft and spongy, you have to use a chocolate sponge cake for that. So, I'll tell you the first part of the process - which is baking the chocolate sponge cake; the assembling, will be described in my next blog.

The chocolate sponge cake I baked this time, is a oil-free one. Since I had to use lot of cream to decorate the cake, I wanted to be on the healthier side, as much as possible.

The dry ingredients, I used -

Flour or maida - 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon

Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup

Powdered sugar - 1 cup - 1 tablespoon

Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Soda-bi-carbonate - a pinch

Note - You've to be very particular about the measurement. The spongy effect will not come properly, if you don't measure the ingredients carefully. For example, 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon means take 1 tablespoon more flour on top of 1/2 cup flour; similarly 1 cup - 1 tablespoon means measure 1 cup sugar and remove 1 tablespoon sugar from that 1 cup and then use it.

The liquid ingredients are -

Eggs - 4 large-sized

Hot water - 1 1/2 tablespoon

Vanilla essence - 1 1/2 teaspoon

Take a big bowl, to sieve in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda-bi-carbonate. Blend the ingredients together using a dry wooden spatula and keep it aside.

In another big bowl, crack the eggs and add sugar. You should sieve in the sugar, if lumpy. Use the electric beater and beat the mixture for 4-5 minutes. The color of the mixture will change from yellow to off-white, as you beat. 

Meanwhile, boil some water in a saucepan. Gradually add 1 1/2 tablespoons of hot water in the mixture, while you continue the beating. The water should be added in drops, when the electric beater is on. The addition on hot water will make the batter light and fluffy. Finally add the vanilla essence and give a final beating.

Set the oven in preheat mode at 180C temperature. Also grease and dust your cake pan and keep it aside.

Remove the electric beater from the egg mixture and use the wooden spatula to fold in the flour. Take 2 tablespoons of flour at a time, sprinkle on the egg mixture and fold in. The folding in process should be done in such a way that more air is sealed within the batter. This trapped air will make the cake spongy and soft. So this part is extremely important.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and place inside the oven for baking. The baking should be done for 25-30 minutes at 180C temperature.

When the cake is ready, it will shrink a little bit from the sides of the cake pan. Also if you touch the top, you will be able to feel the sponge effect. Now, you should do the knife test to check the doneness. 

Remove the cake from oven and let it rest in the pan for sometime (5-10 minutes). Once it reaches room temperature, wrap it with a cling wrap and place it inside the refrigerator. 

You can also use this recipe to prepare a simple chocolate sponge cake. Add icing on top as per your choice, serve as a dessert or serve as it is, without any icing, as an afternoon snacks.

The assembling part of black forest... to be continued...