Belated Bridal Shower cake post

Hello all!
This is very belated post on the cake I made for my friend's bridal shower! (Her bridal shower was in April ...oops!) Better late than never :)

This was my first time trying a naked layer cake and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! The cake was nice and moist and not too sweet! It wasn't too difficult or time consuming either! So give it a go :D

Red Velvet Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Recipe adapted from Sweetest Menu

Ingredients

Red Velvet Cake

350g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
20g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
300g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
230g unsalted butter
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla essence
240ml (1 cup) greek yoghurt
2 tsp white vinegar
4 tsp red food colouring
60ml (1/4 cup) milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line two 8 inch round cake tins.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Add sugar and whisk.
3. Melt the butter in the microwave.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, vanilla and butter and whisk together until smooth. Add the greek yoghurt and stir.
5. In a small bowl mix together the red food colouring and vinegar.
6. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture along with the food colouring and start to gently fold. Add milk and stir until just combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Place cakes on wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Frosting

230g unsalted butter, softened at room temp
150g (1 cup) dark chocolate
625g (5 cups) icing sugar
60ml (1/4 cup) milk

8. Place butter in large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until pale and creamy.
9. Melt the chocolate in a microwave and set aside to cool.
10. Once butter is pale and creamy, add one cup of icing sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat on low until icing sugar is incorporated. Add the rest of the icing sugar, one cup at a time, and the milk, one tablespoon at a time, until thick and creamy.
11. Add melted and cooled chocolate to the buttercream until chocolate is completely mixed through. 
12. Level the cakes using serrated knife and set the leftover cake aside for decoration.
13. Place one of the cakes onto a turntable then gently frost the top. Add second cake layer on top and frost the sides and top of the cake. Scrape the buttercream from the side of the cake to get the "naked" cake look. Place cake in the fridge while you make the ganache. Set aside the remainder buttercream for decoration.

Chocolate ganache

150g (1 cup) dark chocolate melts
180ml (3/4 cup) thickened cream
Chocolate malt balls to decorate

14. Place chocolate melts in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, add cream and heat on medium heat until just before cream boils. Immediately pour cream over chocolate, cover the bowl with a plate and leave for 3-5 minutes. Whisk mixture until smooth and creamy. Place in fridge for 5-10 minutes to thicken.
15. To decorate cake, gently pour chocolate ganache over the top and gently push drips over the sides of the cake. Leave to set. Before serving, pipe buttercream to the top of the cake. Add chocolate malt balls and sprinkle remaining cake crumb.

Nice even layers yay!

Hope I can continue blogging regularly ^^" till next post~~

Birthday Bake: Oreo Cheesecake Cake!

Another birthday bake!! :) I really enjoy these bakes! Baking for an occasion.. and this time it was for a friends' 25th birthday! She was having a birthday BBQ out in the open so couldn't really make anything frozen. I saw a post for this cake a while back and thought it looked pretty awesome, plus I had heaps of Oreo's at home XD

There may seem like a lot of steps for this cake but it's really not too bad. I would set aside 2 days to complete. One day for the cheesecake and the other day for the cake and frosting. Ultimately, 3 day is perfect.. one more day for the decoration =p

Oreo Cheesecake Cake
Recipe adapted from Family, food and fun

Cheesecake
500g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 sour cream
7 coarsely crushed Oreos

Cake
2 cups caster sugar
1 3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp instant coffee granules

Frosting
85g white chocolate
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups soft icing sugar
1/4 cup thickened cream or milk

extra Oreos for decoration

CHEESECAKE
1. Preheat oven to 160oC. Grease and line 23cm spring form pan.
2. Beat cream cheese with electric beater until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and salt.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time and then the sour cream. Fold in crushed Oreos.
4. Pour batter into pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 45 minutes for until just set in center. Let cool completely before removing from pan. Wrap in cling wrap and place in fridge overnight (or freezer if you wish to make this cake in one day).

CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line 2 23cm round cake tins.
2. Stir sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt together in large bowl.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed with electric beater for around 2 minutes or until well combined.
4. Dissolve coffee granules in boiling water. Stir coffee into batter (Batter will be thin but don't worry about it!). Pour batter into prepared pans.
5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans and place on wire racks to cool completely. You can also wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for easier assembly.

FROSTING
1. Place white chocolate bowl over pot of simmering water. Stir until melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. 
2. Cream butter with electric beater. Once chocolate has cooled, beat in with butter. Add vanilla and beat.
3. Gradually add in cream/milk and icing sugar, alternating until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Ready for the assembly~~

ASSEMBLY
1. Place one layer of cake onto board. Frost with a thin layer of frosting and a sprinkle of crushed Oreos.

2. Remove cheesecake from freezer/fridge and place cheesecake layer on top of cake. If cheesecake is wider than the cake, it may be necessary to trip it. Frost with a thin layer of frosting and a sprinkle of crushed Oreos. 

3. Play top layer of cake on top of cheesecake. Coat entire cake with a layer of frosting. Top with mini Oreos and decorate as you like.

I suppose you want to see the inside of the cake =p It was a little crumbly to cut.. also because I forgot to bring a cake knife >__<" But we got there in the end!

I hope you all enjoyed the cake =) It was really fun making it! and I hope I will have many more opportunities in the future to bake birthday cakes!!! =D

Happy birthday Amy ^___^

Death by Salted Caramel!!!

As soon as I saw this cake recipe, I knew I HAD to bake it! Just had to find some time because it would take a little while. So when ANZAC day came around.. it was time to bake!!! =D =D

This was my first time making salted caramel - it's always been on my to do list but I had a fear of burning it >_< Surprisingly, this recipe was simple and straightforward so I didn't end up having burnt caramel ^^"

There were about 2 tablespoons of the salted caramel leftover so I thought to myself, 'I'll just finish it off with some icecream'... BAD IDEA! It was SICKENLY SWEET!!!! >_______<" but I finished it off, to my regret! Never doing that again!
So lesson learnt - Just take one piece of cake! It will be enough :)

Chocolate Salted Caramel Layer Cake

Recipe adaped from Baker's Corner 

Ingredients

1½ cups (225g) plain flour, sifted
1½ cups (330g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups (180g) Cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
¾ cup (190mL) buttermilk or milk
¾ cup (190mL) warm water
¼ cup (60mL) vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla essence

Salted Caramel
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1 tbsp glucose
½ cup (125mL) thickened cream
2 tsp salt
70g cold butter, chopped

Chocolate Ganache
100g dark chocolate melts
80ml thickened cream

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan forced. Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper.
2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarb soda and baking powder in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, warm water, oil and vanilla essence. Beat on low speed with electric mixer until well combined.
3. Divide batter between pans. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool (~20 mintues) before turning out onto wire rack.
4. For caramel, combine sugar, glucose and 1/2 cup (125ml) water in medium saucepan over high heat. Cook, without stirring, for 15 minutes or until sugar is golden.
5. Remove from heat and carefully pour in cream, whisk until smooth. Return to heat and cook for further 2 minutes.
6. Pour caramel in medium bowl, whisk in salt, cool for 15 minutes. Slowly whisk in butter and cool completely.

Salted caramel!!!! =D

7. Make ganache by placing chocolate and cream in heat proof bowl over pot of simmering water. Stir until smooth and allow to cool.
8. To assemble, cut each cake in half horizontally to form 2 layers. Transfer 1 layer to serving platter, spread 1/3 of caramel on top. Top with another cake layer and repeat with remaining cake layers, leaving top uncovered. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Frost tops and side of cake with chocolate ganache.

2 layers of chocolate cake~

Assembling the cake! The caramel drips into all the small crevices for a deliciously moist cake

Completed cake!!!

DIG IN!!!!!! =D =D

I also made a mini version for my supervisor who was going away on maternity leave ^^

Mini chocolate and salted carmel layer cake

Green tea layered cake

So this month's Aspiring Baker's theme is "layered cakes", hosted by Sam of Sweet Sensations, something I don't often bake so thought that this would be a good challenge! I think the last layered cake I made was a Victorian sponge cake.. and before that an Opera Gateau. So, to try something different I started looking up recipes for Green tea layered cake. The recipe I chose looked quite simple (haha! yes I go for easy and simple recipes =p) and in the end tasted pretty good. It didn't turn out as "green" as I would like and an aunty even commented "Is it green tea flavour? Why is it brown?" >_< but I think maybe I didn't add enough green tea or maybe other's put green tea colouring.

Well the icing was green =p and the cake was nice and moist as well :) It was lots of fun! Here's the recipe so you can try it out as well! I don't think this is limited to green tea flavour, you can add cocoa powder for chocolate, or vanilla essence or even do different colours! Have a go!

Green tea layered cake

Recipe adapted from www.greenteatoday.com/recipes/green-tea-cake-recipe

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour

1 cup self-raising flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarb soda

5 tsp green tea powder (add more for a more pronounced flavour!!)

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup yoghurt (I didn't have any so substituted this with 3/4 cup milk)

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

Green tea icing (double or even triple this for thicker layers of frosting)

1 1/4 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons margarine, soft
2 teaspoons green tea powder

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line round cake tin.
2. Sift flours, bicarb soda, salt and green tea powder into large bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat sugar, oil and eggs until smooth. Stir in vanilla essence.
4. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk.
5. Mix well and pour batter into prepared cake tin. Bake ~50-60 minutes or until skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool cake on cake rack for ~30 minutes before slicing.

Looks nice just as it actually =p

7. Meanwhile, make green tea icing by beating icing sugar, margarine and green tea powder together until smooth. Keep in fridge till use.
8. Slice cake into 3 even layers.

3 even layers~ I even used a ruler!! ^^

 9. Spread icing on bottom layer and top with second layer. Ice second layer and sift over green tea powder. Add final layer, spread over icing. Sift over green tea powder and white chocolate ganache (i had some leftover so might as well put it to use =p).

First layer iced~

Second layer iced and sprinked with green tea powder~ just for some extra flavour~

Complete! Drizzle with white chocolate ganache for extra drippy effect :P

Slice for you!!!!