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!