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| (Source: China Daily) |
BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- A buttery birthday cake with deep dark chocolate flavors, a collection of golden cupcakes frosted with snowy icing - if these little pleasures make your day, follow the recipes with Pauline D Loh.
The first birthday cake I baked for my son was a towering contraption designed to look like the space shuttle. It had blue wings and yellow flames made from crepe paper, and was definitely more an exercise in patch-working skills rather than baking prowess.
The next birthday, I attempted a train with a Thomas look-alike engine and wagons loaded with colored marshmallows, candies and jelly beans. The year after that, Luke wanted a teddy bear, which ended the free-form experiments with a store-bought mould and my first attempt at chocolate cake making.
When my son graduated to Ninja Turtles and Transformers, I stopped the annual baking experiments and ordered the cakes from professional bakers.
Some two and a half decades later, I started baking birthday cakes for him again. This time, he was more concerned with how the cake tasted. "I want a Valrhona chocolate cake, Mum."
I guess I should be proud of my second generation gourmand who at least knows his French cocoa from his Dutch-processed.
It's also because the children's birthday parties are now long past, and he has to celebrate his anniversaries in-between shifts as a senior immigration officer. More often than not, the little cake I bake has to wait in the refrigerator until he comes home long after midnight. Sometimes, he eats the cake before I get a chance to light the candle.
His father, too, prefers a miniature version of the candle-topped cake. He does not have much of a sweet tooth and is more resigned to the annual celebration more as a rite of passage. For him, I bake cupcakes, topped with a single candle so there are no embarrassing bright reminders of retreating hairlines and expanding waistlines.
My friends, too, love the fairy cakes from my kitchen. One of them decided an elaborate tower of dainty little cakes was the only way to commemorate her wedding and our sorority of sisters gathered to bake 120 cupcakes in two days, and spent another day icing and decorating the little confections with her choice of flowers.
That's the beauty of the cupcake. You can eat it plain and unadorned or turn it into a symbol of celebration with just a few finishing touches.
Best of all, they are pretty easy to make and are almost fool proof even for the baking novice. All you have to do is follow the recipes to the letter. I reiterate, cooking may be an art but baking is pure science.
Here are a few cake recipes that will stay in your recipe binder as save-the-day classics for that almost forgotten birthday, the ladies who come to tea or simply, an indulgent weekend.
Recipe | Chocolate birthday cake
Ingredients:
For a 20-cm cake:
250 g butter
250 g soft brown sugar
200 g cake flour or all-purpose flour
50 g cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
4 eggs (at least 55g each)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ganache:
200 g dark or milk chocolate (70 percent or more cocoa solids)
200 ml double cream
Decoration:
gold or silver sugar dragees
Chocolate malt balls (Maltesers)
Chocolate buttons
Method:
1. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together. Cream butter and brown sugar with a hand-mixer and add eggs one by one. Beat well after each egg until batter is creamy and light.
2. Fold in sifted flour mixture gradually and finally, add vanilla extract.
3. Spoon batter into a buttered and papered cake pan and smooth the top. Bake in 180 C pre-heated oven for 40-50 minutes until well-risen and cake is pulling away from the sides slightly. Cool and remove to cake rack.
4. Combine dark chocolate pieces and cream in a pan over bubbling water. Stir until melted and cool slightly. Pour ganache over the cake and smooth the sides.
5. Decorate with your choice of chocolate malt balls, buttons or silver or gold dragees.
Chill the cake, but allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
FOOD NOTES:
The beauty of this cake is its ease of handling. It will not break apart in your hands, and if it does, just "paste" it back with a bit of ganache. It is basically a rich chocolate butter cake and the secret is to use the best butter and cocoa powder you can find. I often hunt down Valrhona chocolate. It costs a bit more, but a little goes a long way. You can taste the difference.
For an extra special filling, mix together three tablespoons of chocolate ganache with an equal amount of peanut butter. Chunky peanut butter is nice if you like a bit of texture.
If the cake top is uneven, slice off the bumpy bits as best as you can, then turn the cake over so the perfectly flat bottom faces up. You can disguise the uneven bottom with a thicker layer of ganache.
As far as decoration goes, let your imagination run riot. Have fun and do it with love. That's the most important thing.
Recipe | Frosted cupcakes
Ingredients (makes 12):
250 g butter, softened
200 g soft brown sugar
250 g sifted self-raising flour
4 eggs (55 g each)
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch salt
Method:
1. Cream butter and soft brown sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add the pinch of salt and the vanilla.
2. Sift self-raising flour twice to maximize the volume, and fold into butter mixture, alternating with milk.
3. Spoon into prepared muffin pans lined with paper cases. Keep them half-filled as the cakes must not rise too much.
4. Bake at 180 C oven for 18-20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting with royal icing. Decorate with sugar roses, candy, sugar almonds or silver dragees.
ROYAL ICING
Ingredients (enough for a dozen cupcakes):
500 g icing sugar, sifted
3 egg whites
2 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
1. Place icing sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl. Beat on medium heat to combine, then switch to high speed and beat for 8 to 10 minutes until icing turns fluffy and very glossy.
2. Add lemon juice and continue to beat another 2-3 minutes.
3. Frost cupcakes and cover cake surface completely. This will preserve the cakes a little longer.
4. Top with your choice of decorations.
FOOD NOTES:
If you want to color or flavor the frosting, add them at step 1. But, go very easy on the coloring. Pastel shades still work best, and unless you are having an Austin Powers Shagedelic theme party, hot pink or neon green frosting just does not appeal to most of those aged 3 and above.
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| (Source: China Daily) |
Recipe | Chocolate truffle cupcakes
Ingredients (makes 12):
250 g butter
200 g soft brown sugar
200 g all purpose flour
50 g top quality cocoa powder (Valrhona or Dutch processed)
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs (55 g each)
100 ml milk
200 g dark chocolate (70 percent or more cocoa solids)
200 ml double cream
Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder. Fold into egg and butter mixture alternating with the milk. Spoon mixture into 12 muffin tins lined with cupcake cases.
3. Bake in 180 C pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on rack and start making truffles.
4. Break up dark chocolate pieces and add to double cream. Melt the mixture in a double boiler and quickly remove from heat. Place a dollop of warm ganache on top of each cupcake and spread evenly with a palate knife or back of a spoon.
5. Scrape all remaining ganache into a bowl and chill till firm.
6. Scoop chilled ganache into little balls and place on a cookie tray. Dust liberally with cocoa powder or icing sugar. Place truffles on top of cupcakes, pushing them into the ganache layer.
(Source: China Daily)
