Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Cake

Hello friends!!!

Off late I am getting irregular with my posts and I am extremely sorry for that... Couple of family get-together and then my elder daughters results were out this Monday... so I was quite busy during this time. But that could not stop my weekend baking projects - I made few easier projects of cupcakes in last few weekends. Those will appear in my next posting - images are queuing up to be watermarked... so I am back with a bang, you can say!!

So let me pick up from where I was in my previous blog - A Vanilla Sponge Cake. I used a vanilla sponge cake to prepare this fresh strawberry cake. My baking guru - Lynette, shared few tips and after applying those tips it came out quite well. But, I won't say I was super successful in this project. After assembling the cake, I kept it in refrigerator for over-night and the next day I carried it to my brother-in-law's place, which is in 40-45 mins distance from my house. The car a/c was put on High and my hubby tried his best to give the cake a smooth ride - but still the cake got little soggy and the fresh cream icing was almost going to slide from the cake. The cake was immediately put into refrigerator. but it didn't come back to its previous shape. Here is a lesson learnt for me and for all of you - that don't carry a fresh cream cake for long distance, and even if you do, you should have proper logistics.

Here are the items you will need to prepare this cake -

A vanilla sponge cake

Blueberry whipping powder - 2 packs

Fresh strawberries - 1 cup, vertically sliced

Strawberry crush - 1/2 cup

Light sugar syrup - 1/2 cup (add 2 tablespoon of sugar in 1 cup of water, boil and cool down at room temperature)

Step 1:

Slice the cake horizontally in 2 parts and evenly soak the bottom layer with some amount of sugar syrup. This will make the cake moist.

Step 2:

Spread 1/2 part of whipped cream on top of the bottom layer. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry crush on top of the cream filling. You can also add few strawberry pieces into it.

Step 3:

Place the other half of the cake on top of the filling. Soak the top portion with remaining sugar syrup and then cover the top part with whipped icing.

Step 4:

Place the strawberry pieces on top of the icing in a nice way. If you want you can make designs with it too. Also add few pieces on the sides.

Step 5:

Put little amount of strawberry crush on top of the strawberry pieces to keep the strawberries fresh and moist.

Step 6:

After assembling, refrigerate the cake for over-night, so that everything is nicely set.

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 Basic Vanilla Cake with Choco Cream Frosting

One of my dearest friends, has commented recently in my FB page - "Aren't u being obsessed with cakes..."? She is my long-time school friend, with whom I got re-connected after almost 30 years. Within this 30 years, I have grown through so much of changes, developed new passions and erased few from my memory. So definitely I am not the same person, as I was in my girly days! But one thing I enjoyed in her comment, is that I could make her think that I am obsessed and I could reach to that limit of being passionate about baking. Being a jack-of-all person, this is a real achievement for me. Thank you so much, my dear friend, for your compliment - as it gave a new dimension in me. My philosophy is - life is multi-dimensional and explore as much as you can!! :)

Well, it's not a time to discuss philosophy!! So, let me get back to my main topic...

Usually a vanilla cake is not so adorable for my kids. In my weekend baking time, they will keep on asking - "Mom, what are you baking this weekend?" And when I answer, it's a vanilla cake - they will immediately make unhappy faces... :( :(... No, they are not interested in plain and simple vanilla cake. So very rarely I bake vanilla cakes and even when I do, I have to make an elaborate icing plan for that... so that my princesses are at least not unhappy... :)

This time I wanted to test the basic Vanilla Cake recipe, which I posted here. Since I haven't used this recipe for quite some time, I was kind of unsure - how it will turn out. But, it turned out real good and now I can confirm you that this recipe is tried and tested. It came out perfect, fluffy and soft. 

Even the bottom part of the cake was so nicely done that it just slid easily from the cake pan, without much effort.

The icing part was again simple. This time I used -

BlueBird Whipping Powder - 1 pack (I wanted to keep it simple, you can use 2 packs if you want thick icing on top and in between)
Cocoa Powder - 2 tablespoons

Choco Chips - a handful

The whipping process is mentioned in the back of the packet, follow that. If you want to make the icing little stiff, then you can reduce the water quantity than it is mentioned. This time, I wanted to make the icing little tight, so I used less quantity of chilled water. After whipping through the mixture for 10 minutes (given short intervals) I added the cocoa powder. Using a plastic spatula, I blended the cocoa powder into the whipping cream. After blending, you can do another quick whipping for couple of minutes more.

Spread this chocolate cream on top of the cake, nicely and evenly. Sprinkle the choco chips on top. Keep the cake inside refrigerator for 30 minutes, before serving. This will help the icing to set nicely.

While serving you can drizzle some chocolate sauce on top, for added flavor.

I'm loving it, now!!!

Fresh Chocolate Cream Icing on Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with a chocolate icing - is a double treat for the chocolate lovers... Ummm - for me too...!!! And obviously for my kids and my hubby!!! Actually they prefer chocolate cream icing more, than the normal vanilla one - so most of the time I end up with a double treat... :)

This one was a basic chocolate cake - a simple one, I baked over the weekend for simple snacks purpose. Initially I did not have plans to ice it, but I had some remaining whipping cream (the Amul one) in my refrigerator. So I thought - why not use it and finish up the stock? However, the quantity was not sufficient to make a layer of cream in between, hence I had to go with only top-part layering.

The ingredients I used -

Fresh Whipping Cream - 1 cup (chilled)

Icing sugar - 7-8 tablespoons

Cocoa Powder - 6-7 tablespoons

Before the whipping procedure, I kept the glass bowl (in which the cream would be whipped) and the whipper sticks inside the refrigerator, to make these items ice-cold. 

In another bigger sized bowl, I poured some ice-cold water along with few ice cubes, so that the chilled temperature is maintained while whipping the cream. 

Then I placed the glass bowl into the bigger bowl, poured the whipping cream and started to whip using the electric whipper. The speed should be highest and you should whip for 15-20 minutes giving few short breaks. During this process you will notice that gradually the peak is forming. Add the sugar by tablespoons and continue to whip. Once the cream starts to form hard peaks, then start adding the cocoa powder. Whip it for some more time until the powder is thoroughly blended into the cream and you can see the peaks are nice and hard. 

The moment your cream is ready, transfer it inside the refrigerator and allow it to chill for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes bring out and spread on top and side of the cake.

I had few silver pearl sprinkles in my stock, so I sprinkled those pearls evenly on the iced top and immediately, the simple cake turned to be a gorgeous one! 

You really don't need to be a master chef to prepare these simple things and to make your family happy and proud of you! Enjoy baking and icing at your own spirit!!

Fresh Cream Icing with Whipping Powder

Fresh cream icing was a challenge to me until I found this miracle product - BlueBird Whipping Cream Powder. Before that I tried with Amul fresh cream and also Amul whipping cream. There are other whipping cream products as well, which are just meant for cream icing. However, till now I didn't have the opportunity to use those products. As I mentioned earlier, that I am a self-taught baker and whatever I know about baking and icing today, I know it from few of my baker friends, baking channels on youtube and finally my experience.

Initially I tried with Amul fresh cream, as it is commonly available in any grocery store. However, this was not at all satisfactory. The maximum you could have is soft peak icing, but that's all. You can never make strong peaks using Amul fresh cream. Actually, this product is not meant for icing purpose also. 

The Amul whipping cream product is very good,though. This is particularly meant for whipping cream. Only once I found this product in my nearby departmental store. I bought a big tetra-pack of 500 ml and that stayed in my fridge for quite some time. I shifted the cream to a plastic container and stored inside the freezer. When in need, I used to bring this out in the lower racks of my fridge and then used to whip up the cream. It gave very good creamy consistency, but definitely you have to whip a lot.

However, the BlueBird whipping cream powder is a quick alternative for your any type of fresh whipped cream requirement. Just mix the powder with little amount of cold water, blend well and then whip for 10 mins. You will end up with a bowl of nice, fluffy, hard-peak icing cream. Keep it inside the refrigerator for 5 mins and then use for icing. You can easily bring a professional touch in your cake using this whipped cream product. For a 9" cake two packs of this powder is sufficient. You can make a layer in between and also can spread allover the body.

This one was the basic chocolate cake and I just covered it with BlueBird whipping cream... made simple designs on the edges to bring this simple but subtle look. How about a bite...!!!

Simplest Chocolate Cake and More!

Chocolate cake is all-time hot favorite for most of us... particularly the kids. Even the adults can turn to be a kid, when you offer a chocolate cake to them. Initially when I started baking, my most important primary intention of home baking was to bake a soft and moist chocolate cake, so that I can slip a piece of home-made chocolate cake into my kids' lunch-box or me and my husband, can enjoy the bite of homemade afternoon snacks while sipping in a cup of evening tea... being too much romantic! Huh!! But, may be this is the dream nurtured in the mind of many women - as they always want to be a good loving wife and a good caring mother...

So the first chocolate cake I tried was not a perfect one, for sure... may be I was too new to baking or the recipe was not a proper one... the outcome was not proper at all. But still we enjoyed the half-done type of chocolate cake, just because we all love chocolates and cannot even dream of wasting any chocolate products in kitchen garbage bins! 

Gradually after few more trial and error processes, I became a master of baking a chocolate cake. Nowadays even my extended family and my neighbors have tasted it and liked, too. Considering all these positive feedback, I can claim at least to be a master of chocolate cake!!

Now, the recipe!

Dry ingredients -

Flour  or maida - 1 cup 

Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup 

Sugar powder - 1 1/4 cup 

Baking powder - 1 3/4 teaspoon and

Soda-bi-carbonate - 1/4 teaspoon

Wet ingredients -

Eggs (medium/large) - 4 

White cooking oil - 3/4 cup 

Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon 

And the process!

In a large bowl sift in all the dry ingredients together and using a wooden spatula, mix well. Done!

Take another large bowl - add eggs and sugar. Use the electric beater to beat this for quite some time, until the volume increases to 3-4 times and the sugar is smoothly blended into the egg.

Slowly pour oil into the mixture and continue beating at low speed. Add the vanilla essence and blend with the mix.

Now is the time to put your oven at preheat mode. For this cake, the required temperature is 180C - so set the preheating temperature as 180C. Also, keep the cake pan (preferably a 9" pan) prepared by oiling and dusting.

Sprinkle the dry mix in smaller quantity on top of the wet mix and slowly fold in, using the wooden spatula. Fold in means top-down movement of mixing. Continue this process of mixing until all dry ingredients is nicely blended and your batter is ready. 

Pour this gradually in your pan and set for baking at 180C for 30 mins. In my oven, this is the perfect setup for this cake. In case, it is not done, then you can bake it for another 5 mins at same temperature. Do the knife-test to check the doneness of the cake and allow to cool down to room temperature within the cake pan.

Remove from pan and serve with a dollop of chocolate or vanilla ice-cream. 

This is how it came out for me -

Last time when I baked this chocolate cake, I did something more to that. And that was a fresh cream icing...

How I did it? Hmmm... I'll share that in my next post... till then, happy baking!

A Simple Chocolate Frosting for Your Basic Vanilla Cake

Now you have the vanilla cake recipe with you... but you are not too happy... it does not look so good, does not have a professional finish... may be your kid already told you - "no mamma, I don't want this!"

Never mind, here is a simple choco-frosting recipe,which anyone can try out... Spread this on your vanilla cake and just see, how the attitude changes towards your cake. :)

To do this simple chocolate frosting, you will need Milk chocolate bar or dark chocolate bar - the ones regularly available in any grocery store. I used the normal Dairy Milk medium-sized bars. You'll need minimum of 3-4 Dairy Milk chocolates.

The process is very simple. Take a sauce pan to half-fill with water and let the water boil on your gas stove. Simmer the heat, when the water starts boiling. Place a medium or large-sized glass bowl on top of the sauce pan and add the chocolate bars. The chocolates will start to melt gradually. When most of the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the pan. With a spatula, mix the liquid chocolate thoroughly so that there is no part of undissolved hard chocolate. Add 1 teaspoon of butter into the hot chocolate and mix well.

Pour the hot melted chocolate on top of the cake and spread it on top and sides using a plastic spatula. Level the top nicely and then place the cake inside your refrigerator. To decorate more you can sprinkle powdered sugar or chocolate shavings on top. You can also use a pack of gems to place on top of the melted chocolate.

Serve this cake chilled and to make it more delicious, add a dollop of chocolate ice-cream on top or spread fresh cream. Now your kid is surely going to love it. Try it today...