Six-Layer Chocolate Cake with Demystified Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This is a back dated post which I should have done on June. I'm so sorry for the delay. It's the fasting month right now and in betwenn I manage to save some time for this.

I was chosen to bake for a friend's surprise birthday party. A very close friend of ours. They are newly weds and her hubby wanted to throw a private party for her at Marina Bay Sands. It was sweet. I was honoured and was more than happy to bake Ziana her 27th birthday cake. I even decided to make a mini Paris theme party for her since they had their memorable honeymoon in the city of love, Paris.

What could be more awesome than to eat a rich and tall chocolate cake with delicious buttercream for your birthday - I thought. She was a chocolate lover and a red velvet crazy. I decided to do both. A 6 layer chocolate cake and Red velvet cupcakes. Apart from that, I also did Rose Meringue cookies and Fruit Loops Mallow Pops to go with the Sweet Paris Theme . Anything for this couple who had wen through so much thick and thins. I will share the recipe for 1 cake today. Red Velvet- another day please.

Back to the cake - I was a huge fan of Sweetapolita Rich and Dark Chocolate Cake paired with her Swiss Meringue Buttercream Demystified. She always have great tips and techniques for you to never go wrong.

Rich Chocolate Cake ( since I do not have dark chocolate cocoa )

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup  Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder–Extra Dark - I used Valhorna Cocoa Powder - bought at Ghim Hin

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup strong black coffee (can be hot)

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 3 x 8″ cake pans with butter and flour or parchment paper.

In bowl of electric mixer, sift all dry ingredients. Add all remaning ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and with paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splashguard that comes with mixer) and pour into prepared pans. Batter will be liquidy.

Bake for 20 minutes and rotate pans in oven ( My oven was big enough for me to fit all 3 round pans in ). Cakes are done when toothpick or skewer comes clean–approximately 35 minutes. Try not to overbake.

Cool on wire racks for 20 minutes then gently invert onto racks until completely cool.

I had totally forgotten to take pics of the cake unfrosted. But here is the frosted cake.

I love the taste of the swiss meringue buttercream with this cake. Creamy and not too sweet. Here is the recipe. For a more detailed tutorial, please click here

Sweetapolita’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream     

Yield: 15 cups (enough to frost and fill approximately three 8″ round cakes) I was left with some left overs

Ingredients

16 large egg whites (30g each–total 450g, or 2 cups)

4 cups granulated sugar (800g)

5 cups (2.5 lbs, 10 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened but cool, cut into cubes

30 ml (2 tablespoons) pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Method

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk attachment, small bowl, and whisk with paper towel and lemon juice (or vinegar), to remove any trace of grease.

Add egg whites and sugar,  and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F ( I used  a candy thermometer ), or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot (you can feel a drop in between your fingers to ensure no granules.).

Take off of stove, and place bowl back on electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and neutral (you can feel outside of the bowl to test temperature).

Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on low speed continously, add butter one cube at a time until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). 

Add vanilla and salt, mix well. 

Mine turned out perfect & satiny. Like this!

Frosting takes patience for me. And it's funny how, I love to just frost & frost. It was "Zen" moment for me.

It was a successful suprise and an awesome party. MBS sucks though and thank god we've got great company!

Now anyone can make a birthday cake. ;-)


Baking a lil' magic,

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Rainbow Butterfly Cupcakes

I was seeing rainbows the whole week cause I am one of Hadya's enthusiast. I am preparing her 1st birthday party already. Not physically preparing but just scouting for lots of ideas online.

I grew more and more fond of the rainbow theme and have decided to make her a Rainbow stacked cake for her birthday. Yes, I have even decided on the cake already!

So before I go on making the real stuff, I wanted to make sure the taste is perfect and I have to practice on the coloring of the batter(s).

And so , I half-ed the recipe and tried to create a fairy cake with the rainbow version. My mind is getting more complicated now a days..

BUTTERFLY RAINBOW CUPCAKES

Recipe Adapted by Whisk Kid
Designed directed by Azlita Masam Manis

Ingredients:
1 ½  cup plain flour / cake flour / all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

1/2  cup butter ~ room temperature

3/4 cup caster sugar

3 egg white ~ room temperature ( size B)

1tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cup fresh milk ~ room temperature

Red, yellow, green, blue GEL food coloring or you may use color paste, it works well for me.

I used Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the topping. Please click here for recipe.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line 12 white paper cups in your muffin tray.  Standard cupcake size.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter, then add the egg whites (I cracked them all into one bowl) and add them a little at a time, mix till thick and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Then, alternating between wet and dry, add the milk and flour mixture in two parts, mixer has to be in slow mode.

e.g: flour and milk and flour and milk and flour and milk and flour. (Must end with flour)

Divide the batter amongst 4 bowls

 (Add about 1 c each first, Ensuring you weigh all bowls equally.

Tip:  Weigh your mixing bowl before you begin adding ingredients and then subtract the weight of the bowl from the final measurement after the batter is completed. Divide that number by 4 and add that weight of batter to each bowl),

Then whisk a fair amount of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Keep in mind that the color of the unbaked batter will be the color of the baked batter.

Scoop 1 color at a time into the paper liners. You may repeat the colors. For another easier way, place the batters into a piping bag and pipe them out equally. This will be about ¾ full

Pour into the pans and bake for 25 minutes each.



This is what you will get. Gorgeous Rainbow Cupcakes!

And no, no, no.. It's not done yet. I wanted to make a fairy cake remember. I'm sorry that my hands were to busy to take pictures of me slicing the top of the cake, buttercream it and assemble the wings.

Ways to assemble the butterfly

Slice the top of the cupcake till your knife reach the edge of the cupcake liner

Cut the sliced top to half

Pipe your buttercream with which ever design you like. See my picture below. I was experimenting a few flower designs to be on the butterfly.

Then, place the sliced cupcake tops, ( straight part touching the cream ) to shape it like a butterfly.

Pipe a straight line buttercream in between the slice to secure it.

Decorate with shiny dragees of your choice.

And you will get these!

Happy Trying!

Working a lil magic

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Meringue

Meringue is a type of dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar.

These confections are light, airy, delicious and low-fat! Color them to suit your special occasion--purple, pink, green, and blue for Easter, pink for Valentine's Day, pink and blue for a baby shower--the possibilities are endless!

Few types of meringue.



French Macaroons - Picture from votregrandesoeur.com



French meringue is the method best known to home cooks. Fine white sugar is beaten into egg whites. These ones with fillingd are called macaroons.

Italian Meringue - Picture from madbaker.net

Italian meringue is made with boiling sugar syrup, instead of caster sugar. This leads to a much more stable soft meringue which can be used in various pastries without collapsing. In an Italian meringue, a hot sugar syrup is whipped into softly whipped egg whites till stiff. This type of meringue is safe to use without cooking. It will not deflate for a long while and can be used on pies. 

Swiss Meringue -Picture from martha stewart

Swiss meringue is whisked over a bain-marie ( water bath ) to warm the egg whites, and then whisked steadily until it cools. This forms a dense, glossy marshmallow-like meringue.



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My friends and I were having a pot luck party at her shop and i decided to add this sweet but low fat dessert fro their sweet tooth.

Meringue Cookies ( from McCormick.com )

Ingredients

4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Cream of tartar 

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

25 to 30 drops of food colours of your choice

1 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 225°F.

Beat egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. (If using a freestanding mixer, use wire whisk attachment.) Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Increase speed to medium-high. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Beat in extract and food color until well blended. Gently stir in chips, if desired.

Scrape all the batter in a piping bag and piped out any kind of shapes you want. ( in these case, I made hearts ) and piped out about 1 inch apart onto 2 large foil-lined baking sheets sprayed with non stick cooking spray.

My marbled hearts meringue

Bake both sheets of meringues at the same time 45 minutes. Turn oven off. Let meringues stand in oven 1 hour or until completely cooled.

  

Happy Customers!

Meringues eaten like biscuits are baked at a very low heat for a long time. One name for them is "Forgotten Cookies"as they can be left in a gas oven for long periods of time after the cooking is done. They are not supposed to be "tanned" at all, but they need to be very crisp and dry. They will keep for at least a week if stored in an airtight container.

 Tips For Meringue Success

• When making meringues, always cook egg whites or use purchased pasteurized egg whites to avoid salmonella poisoning.
• Use fresh egg whites. Old egg whites tend to collapse when other ingredients are folded in, and they don't rise well in the oven.
• Use eggs at room temperature if possible. Cold egg whites tend to reduce meringue volume.
• Never let any yolk get into the whites.
• Don't overbeat egg whites. (Overbeaten egg whites will look hard, lumpy or dry). When whipping egg whites, always start your mixer on medium-low to medium speed. Beat them until foamy and increase the speed to medium-high and then to high. If the egg whites are beaten too quickly at the beginning, the structure of the foam will not be as strong, and later the egg whites will not beat as high as they should.
• A small amount of cream of tartar or vinegar can be added to the mixture at the beginning of whipping to help stabilize the foam and make it less likely to collapse.
• Don't use plastic bowls – they can retain a film of fat from previously mixed or stored items that can deflate the meringue.
• Don't make meringues on humid days. Humidity causes meringues to be sticky and chewy.
• Bake meringues at low temperatures because they tend to brown quickly.
• Leave hard meringues in the oven after baking so they will cool slowly and not crack.

try it! You'll love it!

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