My Joy...

That’s right, folks. THE CAKE IS BAKED..I made the 10" round chocolate cake layers on Thursday and the 8" and 6" vanilla cake layers on Friday.. which if you’re keeping track at home is nine round of baking paper, washings of the mixer bowl and beater, nearly one thousand odd grams of butter, three boxes of cake flour, a five bag of sugar -  indeed the Joy of my cooking this weekend. They are each frozen and wrapped in triple layers of plastic wrap and separated by cake boards.

The cakes, by the way is insanely moist and while quite chocolaty, not so much that it is overwhelming... a perfect balance. I also brushed the layers with some simple sugar syrup just to ensure it stays as moist as possible until serving time..

Anyway heres the cake recipe..

Ingredients
Chocolate Butter Cake (Makes one 10" three layer cake)
3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (I used valrhona)
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature (i used espresso hehe)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Greased three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and buttermilk and blend on low until moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Whisk the eggs and coffee together, and add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only until blended after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans; each pan will take about 3 1/4 cups of batter.

4. Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Carefully turn them out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely. Remove the paper liners only when they are cool.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake (9" round cake)
This might be one of the best yellow cakes to come out of my kitchen! I scale it down for my 8 and 6" cake

Ingredients
3 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp plus 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk
5 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Greased three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be 9 cups of batter; our 3 cups batter into each pan.

4. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off the paper liners and let cool completely. When the layers have cooled, place a cardboard cake board on top of a layer, invert again, and lift off the rack. To make the layers easier to handle, wrap them on their boards completely in plastic, so they don’t dry out, and refrigerate them.



Hb bought me lots and lots of Hachez chocolate fm Germany... yipppiiieeee



Which I used it for my ganache.. (I sandwiched my chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.. recipe u can get it fm my previous post)





The colours that i used to colour my fondant and buttercream..

And ohhh did i tell u already that this cake was for little Alysha.. she turned 8 yesterday and this was what I baked for her...






TADAAAAAA

















oh bef I go.. The largest two I covered with white buttercream frosting and the top with pink buttercream.

The balls, stripes, dots were all created out of fondant that has been tinted (the strawberries and flowers were store bought). The white dripping at the top of each cake was also white fondant. The pink swirls on the bottom cake were piped on with a #3 tip.

I used this recipe for my swiss buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
26 tbsp butter, softened (3 sticks plus 2 tbsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract






The birthday girl.. (she lovesssssssss strawberry shortcake)







The party pooper hahhaa.. (she simply cant keep her hands to herself!)


Cake recipe fm Sky High

I also managed to prepare cincau jelly for the birthday cum bbq party..