Baking central

I thought I’d show you a few of the cakes I have made in recent times.

There was this Chocolate Peppermint Crisp Cake, which I made for a friend’s birthday:

And this carrot cake, for an occasion that I can’t remember right now:

I also made these red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting when we had some visitors coming one afternoon:

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Baking with Tracey

This weekend just passed I decided to make a cake.  Not just for fun; I was having lunch with some friends and it was my job to bring dessert.  So I decided to make this Red Velvet and Raspberry Supreme cake from Sweetapolita.  Rosie’s website is my go-to when I need cake inspiration.

So I baked the cake, aiming for six layers.  I made one small change to the recipe – I used sour cream instead of mayonnaise as that’s what I had in the fridge.  I can only assume it was a suitable substitute as the cake turned out wonderfully.  I also decided not to do the whipped cream layers, mostly because I am not a fan of whipped cream on anything (except maybe hot scones).  So I doubled the marshmallow cream cheese frosting and used that in every layer instead.

I put fresh raspberries on every second layer of marshmallow cream cheese, and they really added to the overall taste.

It turned out pretty well, I think, although I suspect my piping skills leave a bit to be desired…

But who cares when the cake is this tasty?

I think next time I might also increase the cocoa in the recipe, as this wasn’t quite chocolatey enough for my liking. It’s not my favourite red velvet cake recipe, but it’s pretty damn good and the marshmallow cream cheese is spectacular. SPECTACULAR.

Baking with Tracey

Yesterday I decided to bake red velvet cupcakes. I have a new recipe book – Bake, by Alison Thompson – and decided that I should test it out.

Here is what you’ll need for the cake.

Ingredients
250g (9oz) unsalted butter (softened)
600g (1lb 5oz) caster sugar
4 eggs
100g (3 1/2oz) cocoa (unsweetened)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
80ml (3 fl oz) liquid red food colouring
400ml (13 1/2 fl oz) buttermilk
600g (1lb 5 oz) plain (all purpose) flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Preheat oven to 160C or 320F. Line 2 8 inch round cake pans with baking paper.

Using your paddle attachment on the mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high speed for 5 minutes, until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating between additions.

In a small bowl, combine the cocoa, vanilla and red food colouring (I ran out of red so had to substitute 30ml of rose pink, it still turned out fine), then add this to the butter mixture.

Mix on low speed to combine well. Add half the buttermilk and half the flour (sifted), mix on low speed, and the rest of the buttermilk and flour, mix on low speed until all combined. Add the bicarb soda and vinegar, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes (make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl).

Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake tins, and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes to be properly cooked. Cool in tin for 30 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to cool completely.

To make cupcakes, spoon mixture evenly into 24 cupcake papers in a muffin tray. Bake for about 20 minutes.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting, you will need 2 quantities of this:

Ingredients
125g (4 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened
250g (9oz) cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
600g (1lb 5oz) pure icing sugar

Put butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract in a bowl, sift icing sugar in, beat with paddle attachment on low speed until combined, then on high speed for two minutes.

You can either split the whole cakes into layers and fill each layer with cream cheese frosting, then cover the whole cake with it, or ice the cupcakes individually.

My cake is only two layers because I used half the mixture to make the cupcakes.

 

What your dessert says about you…

If all of the eight desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose (sorry, you can only pick one)! Trust me…this is very accurate. Pick your dessert, and then look to see what psychiatrists think about you.

REMEMBER – No Cheating. Make your choice before you check the meaning.

Here are your choices:
1. Angel Food Cake
2. Brownies
3. Lemon Meringue Pie
4. Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Icing
5. Strawberry Short Cake
6. Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Icing
7. Ice Cream
8. Carrot Cake

No, you can’t change your mind once you scroll down, so think carefully about what your choice will be.

OK – Now that you’ve made your choice, this is what the researchers say about you…

1. ANGEL FOOD CAKE — Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzyitems. A little nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.

2. BROWNIES — You are adventurous, love new ideas, and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up you whip out your saber. You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humor and direction. You tend to be very loyal.

3. LEMON MERINGUE — Smooth, sexy, & articulate with your hands, you are an excellent caregiver and a good teacher. But don’t try to walk and chew gum at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, you set your own style because you do your own thing. You shine when it comes to helping others and have many friends.

4. VANILLA CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING — Fun-loving, sassy, humorous, not very grounded in life; very indecisive and lacking motivation. Everyone enjoys being around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.

5. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE — Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people, can be counted on in a pinch and expect the same in return. Intuitively keen. You can be very emotional at times but a true person in every way. You like to do things for yourself and help others learn about themselves.

6. CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING — Sexy; always ready to give and receive. Very creative, adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a cold exterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. Will not settle for anything average in life. Love to laugh.

7. ICE CREAM — You like sports, whether it be baseball, football, basketball, or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy watching sports. You don’t like to give up the remote control. You tend to be self-centered and high maintenance.

8. CARROT CAKE — You are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a very warm hearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyal friends. You were meant to lead and teach others. A wonderful role model.

I chose lemon meringue pie. A fair assumption I think!