Noah's Ark .... a Cake or an Ark?

I have not made a fondant cake for a long, long time and decided it was time to put in some practice.  I decided to try out this particular design from "Cake Shaping" by Helen Penman which I had borrowed from the local library.

The fondant is home-made and the cake itself is a chocolate sheet cake.  The original design had a pair of hippos but somehow I could not manage to get the hippo's face.  After several attempts I gave up and went with little piggies instead







Chocolate Sheet Cake
Recipe Adapted from Joy of Baking

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup (25 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed), sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (75 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or vinegar)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Grese a 8 inch (20 cm) square cake pan,

2)  In a bowl stir together the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the melted butter, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.

3) With a fork, mix all the ingredients together until well blended. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Marble Molasses Pound Cake and a Little Nap Time ....

This fondant cake design comes from my limited collection of children's fondant books, one of which is by Debbie Brown's "50 Easy Party Cakes". I have not done fondant cakes for a long while now and decided that I had better get at it before I loose my touch. It also gave me a chance to use my bowl shape cake pan which I had bought more than a year ago. I guess I'm the type who buys things and uses only half of them.

I wasn't sure what type of cake to make as its base but something simple would do most nicely. I had struggled between a chocolate cake or a marble cake and finally decided on trying out a new recipe which was a molasses marble cake. It's pretty close to a marble cake except it uses molasses and has the hint of spices, like a Christmas fruit cake. I must say that it is a really, really delicious cake and moist as well, especially since it's a pound cake. Definitely a recipe to used again in the future! As I could not cut the cake to show a cross section of it, I decided to take a picture of it directly from "Southern Cakes" book.





Marble Molasses Pound Cake
Recipe Adapted from "Southern Cakes"

Ingredients:

2 cups shifted plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
113g unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar (reduced from original recipe)
2 eggs
2/3 low fat milk (you can use regular milk)
3 Tbsp molasses or pure cane syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 9" by 5" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. The lightly flour the pan, shaking off the excess.

2) Combine flour, baking powder and salt into a flour. Use a whisk or fork to mix well.

3) in a large bowl, beat butter on high until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat for a minute. Then add both eggs into the mixture and continue beating for another 1 or 2 minutes. In-between scrap down the bowl.

4) Add about a 1/3 of flour mixture and beat on low. Stop mixer and add in half the milk and beat to mix. Alternate with the rest of the flour and milk.

5) Scoop out 1/3 of the cake batter into a clean bowl and add in the molasses and spices. Stir to mix well.

6) Spoon each batter into the pan, alternating between the plain and spiced batters. Run a table knife through the batter in a figure eight pattern to swirl the batters together.

7) Bake for about an hour, until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly in the center, and until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes in its pan before unmoulding. To loosen cake from pan, run a table knife along the sides. Cool completely, top side up before serving.

Garden Fondant Cake

I was recently asked by a close girlfriend of mine to make an 8" fondant cake and a larger sponge cake for her daughter's 9th birthday as well as her first holy communion. The event was last Sunday and would be held at the church premise after Sunday mass. After thinking about of a design that would be nice for a little girl, I settled on a garden theme. And for the larger cake it was a vanilla sponge cake with sliced fresh strawberries in between the layers covered with fresh whipped cream. The strawberry cake had great reviews because it was extremely soft and light. I had to run to a couple of supermarkets just looking for strawberries … luckily I managed to get some as they are currently off season. I had even thought about using frozen ones but it would likely have compromised the texture of the cake.

The fondant cake was a banana chocolate fudge cake which I had made on several other occasions. I added another half of the recipe to enable me to bake a two layer 8” cake which suited this order nicely. This particular recipe is absolutely easy to put together. You just need to weigh out all the ingredients and then incorporate them together in one large bowl. I didn’t even have to take out my cake mixer for this job – a wooden spoon or a whisk (which was what I used) will do the job. Don’t get thrown off if the batter looks watery .. it’s suppose to be like this. This will result in a very moist fudgy cake.





Chocolate Banana Cake
Recipe Adapted from Rodmell, Jane. Best Summer Weekends Cookbook. Cottage Life Books. Toronto: 2004
(Serves 16)

Ingredients:

2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar (I reduced this to 1 1/2 cups)
1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (75 grams) cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 - 3 medium sized bananas)
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1/2 cup (120 ml) corn, safflower or canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache Frosting:

8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon (14 gram) unsalted butter

Method for the Cake:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) pan. Set aside. (My recipe was 1.5 times of original and I could manage 2 layers of 8" cake)

2) In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3) In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. You will notice that the batter is quite thin. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

4) Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cooled, frost with the Ganache.

Method for the Ganache:

1) Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel, or heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil.

2) Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. When Ganache has completely cooled, beat until soft and fluffy. Then spread the frosting on top of the cake.

iPhone Cake

I think I really stretched myself this time round when I agreed to do a farewell cake for a colleague of mine who was moving back to the UK. He said the order was for Monday and would be for the office. When I asked him what he wanted, he immediately zoomed in on either a Blackberry or iPhone cake! I guess it must be the "in-thing" to have cakes replicated into IT gadgets. I had to give it some serious thought first before giving him a confirmation. I didn't want to make a promise and then not deliver. That night I did a bit of research on Flickr and found pictures of similar fondant cakes made in such shapes. I must say that one particular Blackberry fondant cake was really, really good!

I finally decided an iPhone would be much simplier and omit out on the wording bits .... my writing skills using royal icing simply suck .. in fact suck big time! I really need to practise on this more often. Over the next few days, I drew up my game plan on how to approach the cake. The cake size would be about 12" by 9.5". Should not be too fat as iPhones are pretty slim. It would be 2 layers of Chocolate Fudge Cake frosted with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting between the layers and around the cake as well, before being completely wrapped in fondant.



I worked my time-table a week backwards from actual delivery date. The early part of the week was to do a "mock-up" drawing of the actual size of the cake with the applets to be used. I found out that there could be a few designs for a particular applet. Take for example "Messaging" (this is the 1st green applet on the left). The one I have made here is with a plain bubble. There is one which actually has the word SMS inside the bubble. I guess I learnt a bit more about the iPhone whilst doing this cake.

The very next evening I whipped up several batches of home-made fondant. By Wednesday evening I was blending the colours into little balls of fondant which would be used for the applets. On Thursday evening, I worked on the applets, which are all handmade and left them aside to dry out completely. On Friday night, I baked the layers of chocolate cake and frosting. Once cooled the layers were wrapped in foil, placed into the refrigerator for it's final assembly on Sunday. The assembly itself took a lot longer than I had anticipated, 6 hours in all and by the time I finished it was just past 6.00 pm. I was truly and totaly tired out by then. The photos don't really look that good as natural light was unable by then and I had to use the camera flash to do the job.

Would you Call this a Messy Pig Pen?

There is something about making a fondant cake with a character theme. I find it so much more fun than a proper "adult fondant cake". There is so much possibilities where characters in play are concerned. I had recently added another fondant cake book for children's party to my collection of ever growing library. This character cake comes from Debbie Brown's "50 Easy Party Cakes". I find that she is particularly good with such fondant cakes and her instructions are easy to follow. This particular design took me about 5 hours to complete, excluding baking the actual cake. The only gripe that I have with working with fondant (in Singapore climate) is that I have to have the air-conditioner on the entire day. But I had a blast with this anyway. I took it to office the next day and my colleagues were reserving the piggy fondant figurines to take home for their little girls.





Mocha Cake with Espresso Drizzle
Recipe from "Sky High Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes" by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne
Makes an 8" Triple-Layer Cake (Serves 12 to 16)

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly brewed espresso
or double-strength coffee
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)- see Bakers Note
4 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups cake flour
2-2/3 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
226g (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Espresso Drizzle (recipe below)

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans or coat with vegetable cooking spray. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and grease the paper.

2) In a medium bowl, combine the hot espresso and cocoa powder, stirring to dissolve the cocoa. Let this mocha mixture stand until cooled to body temperature. Meanwhile, in another bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until well mixed.

3) Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. With the mixer on low, evenly blend the dry ingredients. Add the butter and the mocha mixture, beating until well blended. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, then add the buttermilk-egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping well and blending only to incorporate. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

4) Bake the cake layers for 35 to 38 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean but still moist. Let cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then invert onto wire racks. Carefully peel off the paper liners and let the layers cool completely.

5) To assemble the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Pour 1/2 cup of the Espresso Drizzle onto the center of the layer and spread all the way to the edge, allowing it to drip slightly over the sides. Repeat with the second layer. Set the third layer in place, then pour the remaining drizzle on top and spread to the edges, making sure the glaze drips down the sides, covering all the edges.

Baker's Note
Dutch process cocoa produces a very attractive dark cake here. However, if all you have is regular cocoa, it will taste fine but look redder and lighter in color.

Because this is such a moist cake, you'll notice the baking time is slightly longer than usual.

Espresso Drizzle
Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Ingredients:

12 ounces good-quality white chocolate
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
6 tablespoons freshly brewed espresso or double-strength coffee

1) Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or in a medium heatproof bowl over a pan of very hot water.

2) Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and espresso and continue whisking until smooth. Use while warm.

Fresh Strawberry Cake

I had the fondant itch again and this time round I wanted to create some mini cakes. I find mini cakes to be particular cute as I could make each one a different design. I decided that I would make a fresh strawberry cake as Korean strawberries are aplenty at the moment. To make sure that the cake would really stand out once cut, I added some Wilton deep pink colour to enhance it's colour. (Unfortunately I do not have any photos to show off the cool pink colour.) The batter was baked it in a 10" by 10" cake pan. Once the cake was completed cooled, I used 3" cake rings to cut out the shapes. I ended up with three mini cakes made up of 3 layers sandwiched with white chocolate buttercream. The decorations which consisted of flowers and butterfly were made a few days earlier, all done in front of the telly whilst watching my favourite programs. I definitely believe in multi-tasking.





Fresh Strawberry Cake
Recipe Adapted from RecipeZaar
Makes 16 servings

Ingredients for the Cake:

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 strawberry essence
3/4 cup fresh crushed strawberry, unsweetened

Ingredients for the Strawberry Glaze:

1/2 to 3/4 cup crushed strawberry
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Cake:

1) Preheat oven to 180C.

2) Sift together: flour, salt, and baking powder.

3) In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for a total of 3 minutes, scrapping the sides of the bowl.

4) Then add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with the strawberry puree. Beat for two minutes.

4) Pour batter into two 8-inch round greased and floured cake pans. Bake in pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Turn out on to wire cooling racks to cool.

5) When cool, top with Strawberry Glaze.

For the Strawberry Glaze:

Mix together all ingredients. Use enough strawberries to thin mixture.

Hippo in a Spa

It has been a while since I have made a fondant cake. I guess it's purely due to lack of time over the weekends. Any way I told myself that over last weekend I would get down to doing one. This particular fondant design comes directly from Fun & Original Character Cakes by Maisie Parrish . I loved the design and thought it was so totally fun to make this cake.

The cake itself which consisted of a three layer 6" fudgy chocolate cake was baked last Thursday night. Also I made some home-made marshmallow fondant on Friday night and stored it in an airtight container. My other half had to work on Saturday (he usually doesn't have to) so it was good that I had the whole apartment to myself to tackle this project. I decided to set up my work-bench in the living cum dining room, putting out my the tools and other items I would have needed - the reason for this is because my kitchen is really small and does not have enough counter-top space. In situations like this I would usually try not to make too much of a mess when working with fondant and icing sugar otherwise the pesky ants will be swarming over everything in the apartment. The weather last Saturday was kinda humid too and I thus ended up turning on the air-conditioner (hmm .... a little bit of luxury once in a while) whilst working. In total this project took me about 5 hours to complete. And this included trimming and crumb coating the cake with white chocolate buttercream. You can image how excited I was when the whole cake came together. I was thoroughly, thoroughly pleased with the end result.

Anyway it's a long weekend here in Singapore and probably in your own country as well. So I wish you and your family a great weekend, Happy Easter and a good week ahead.





Fudgy Chocolate Cake
Recipe Adapted from "Quick Mix Cakes"

Ingredients:

185g unsalted butter, chopped at room temperature
280g castor sugar (reduced from original recipe)
3 eggs
225g self-raising flour
60g cocoa powder
1 Tbsp of instant coffee powder dissolved in 250ml hot water. Leave aside to cool completely

Method:

1) Grease a deep 23cm round cake pan, line base and side with baking paper

2) Combine all ingredients in a mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until ingredients are combined. Then beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and changed in colour (about 3 - 4 minutes).

3) Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake in 180C for about 45 - 50 minutes. Check and if still moist in the center,bake for another 5 - 10 minutes.

4) Stand for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

5) Frost with your favourite frosting once cake is totally cool.

Fondant Handbag Cake

As you may already know, I had recently done a fondant cake for my colleague's two year old son's birthday party. As I had some cake layers left over, I decided to make a mini fondant handbag cake.

This is definitely much easier than the jungle cake that I had made a couple of weeks ago. The fondant handbag is made of one layer 6" chocolate cake. I sliced the cake into half, sandwiched the two pieces with some buttercream and then trimmed off a bit of the rounded edges at both ends. I then crumb-coated the entire cake with a bit of buttercream, not too much, just enough so that the fondant will stick to the sides of the cake.



Instead of using store bought fondant, I made a homemade marshmallow fondant. It is really, really easy. What you need is:

Homemade Marshamallow Fondant:

100g white marshmallows
1 Tbsp water
200 - 250g of icing sugar sifted
Crisco
Flavouring optional (use a no-colour flavouring )

Note: if you are using flavouring, use about 1/2 tsp and reduce the water by the same amount of flavouring used)

Method:

Place the marshmallows and water (flavouring) into a microwavable bowl. Heat the marshmallows on high for about 1 minute (until it melts). Remove and using a spoon, mix the marshmallows until it becomes a gooey mess.

Pour the melted marshmallows into the sifted icing sugar and stir to mix. Once incorporated, this is the time to get messy with the hands. Take some crisco and lather one hand with it.

Then proceed to knead the fondant until it becomes smooth and palleable. Add more icing sugar if required. Store the fondant in a plastic bag and into an air-tight container if not using immediately.

A "Jungle" Birthday Theme

I've now found a new love which is called Fondant. I've just started making fondant flowers as decoration to cupcakes and the most recent venture was decorating the cupcakes for the Burnt Sugar baked by Cake Slice Bakers group a week and half ago. My colleagues in the office found the cupcakes beautifully done. So much so, that a colleague of mine actually asked me to bake some cakes for her son's two year old birthday party which was held yesterday evening.

I said I would and after giving some thought for an idea to the cake and cupcakes, I decided I would do a jungle animal theme. Just right for a two year boy who was fascinated with animals. As the birthday party was on Friday (lucky for me it was a public holiday here in Singapore), I had to plan ahead early in the week. The 6" cake layers were baked on Tuesday night and I managed to come up with 6 layers in total. The cake required the height to make it stand out. And the cupcakes were baked on Wednesday night. I dedicated Thursday evening after dinner to decorate the cake and cupcakes. Initially I had wanted to split the decoration over Thursday night and Friday morning, but once I was into the project on Thursday night, I decided to complete everything in one-go. Would you believe that I finally finished the cake and cupcakes at 2am on Friday morning!

The end result was a fondant 4-layer chocolate cake sandwiched with buttercream and chocolate ganache. The entire cake was covered with a chocolate fondant. Tall trees wrapped the sides of the cake with a snake going around one of the trees. Eyes of animals peered out between the trees and two elephant trucks appear to be coming out from the depth of the forest. Above the tree foliage pops the heads of two giraffes. The giraffes are made of gumpaste and I hand painted the spots and drew out the eyes, mouth and nose.





To complement the cake, the cupcakes were decoated into a variety of jungle animals -tigers, zebras and lions.

I was extremely pleased to hear that the birthday boy enjoyed his birthday cake very much and the rest of the kids loved the cupcakes. This really makes my weekend!







Chocolate Butter Cake
Recipe Adapted from Joy of Baking
(Serves 8 - 10)

Ingredients:

4 ounces (150 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 cup (240 ml) boiling water
2 1/4 cups (315 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
370 grams granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) milk

Frosting:

5 ounces (140 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
4 cups (1 pound) (454 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted to remove lumps
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter, or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, and line with parchment paper, two - 9 x 2 inch deep (23 x 5 cm) round baking pans. Set aside.

2) In a stainless steel or heatproof bowl place the chopped unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and cocoa powder and stir until they have melted. Set aside to cool while you make the batter.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk to combine, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4) In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is fluffy (this will take about 3-5 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture and beat to combine.

5) Add the milk and flour mixtures in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat only until the ingredients are incorporated.

6) Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Butter or lightly spray a wire rack with Pam before inverting the cakes onto the rack to prevent the cakes from sticking. Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Frosting:

Melt the chopped chocolate in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool. Then place the melted chocolate, milk, confectioners sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. (Alternatively, you can use a hand mixer.) Add the pieces of softened butter and beat on low speed for about 2 minutes. When the frosting starts to come together increase the speed to medium and beat for about 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the speed to high and beat the frosting for 1 - 2 minutes more or until it is of spreading consistency. If necessary, add more milk or sugar.

To Assemble:

Place one layer of cake, top side down, on your serving plate and cover with a layer of frosting. Then place the second layer of cake, top side down, onto the first cake layer and then frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Can garnish with fresh fruit or shaved chocolate.

My First Fondant Cake

I recently attempted my first fondant cake after attending a couple of lessons and was quite pleased with the result. This little project took me over 3 days in total.

Firstly I made the flowers over a mid-week evening after work. The cake which is a 4 layer chocolate butter cake in 6" cake pans was baked on a Friday evening, after work again. The buttercream and layering of the cake was done on a Saturday morning and the final assembly with fondant and decoration was done on Sunday. By the time I finished my "little" project, I was completely knackered and this is only a 6" cake. I can't imagine bakers who actually attempt a 2 tier full size cake! I did tell myself that this is my very first attempt at tackling this on my own and therefore it was somewhat consoling. Unfortunately it was already night time when the photos were taken and coupled with the fact that my white light bulb had fused - it sure didn't help at all!

I carried the cake to work on Monday and my colleagues said that it was a piece of art. Way too pretty to cut up. Anyway the cake was meant to be eaten and enjoyed, and that was exactly what happened!




Chocolate Butter Cake
recipe from Joy of Baking
(serves 8 to 10 persons)

Ingredients:

120g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (28g) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 cup (240 ml) boiling water
2 1/4 cups (315g) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (400 g) granulated white sugar (I used 1 3/4 cups sugar instead)
3 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) milk

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter, or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, and line with parchment paper, two - 9 x 2 inch deep (23 x 5 cm) round baking pans. Set aside

2) In a stainless steel or heatproof bowl place the chopped unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and cocoa powder and stir until they have melted. Set aside to cool while you make the batter.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk to combine, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4) In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is fluffy (this will take about 3-5 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture and beat to combine.

5) Add the milk and flour mixtures in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat only until the ingredients are incorporated.

6) Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Butter or lightly spray a wire rack with Pam before inverting the cakes onto the rack to prevent the cakes from sticking. Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

567g imported white chocolate, chopped
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered (icing) sugar, sifted

Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler over barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove white chocolate from over water. Let stand until cool but not set, about 20 minutes. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in white chocolate and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate until thick enough to spread, about 45 minutes (frosting will be very soft).

To Assemble:

Place one layer of cake, top side down, on your serving plate and cover with a layer of frosting. Then place the second layer of cake, top side down, onto the first cake layer and then frost the top, repeat with the other 2 remaining layers. Finally add frosting to the top and the sides of the cake and smoothen out. Decorate either with more buttercream, shaved chocolate or fresh fruit.

Gum Paste Roses

I'd realise that Singapore weather is really not friendly at all to fondant. The fondant roses that I had made previously started to melt the very next day. I guess it didn't help as well as end April - early May was reported to be the hottest days (33 Celsius) since beginning of the year. Furthermore we're not getting much reprieve until June, which also happens to the the hottest month in the year.

The alternative would be to use gum paste. Although gum paste does have sugar it's really not edible. But it was really easy to work with and mould the roses. Here's some pictures of the end result ... I thought it was so much better than my earlier attempt and will be trying my hand at other creations.

Making Fondant Rose

I'm now trying my hand at making fondant flowers and my first attempt is trying to do a rose. The rose does seem to be one of the most popular of all flowers that grace most cakes and cupcakes. So why not try this!

I went to Phoon Huat, which is not far from my office, during lunch time to buy a pack of Wilton ready made fondant. Unfortunately Phoon Huat didn't have white fondant so I had to settle for another type of fondant which was important from South America, cost was under $7 for 500 gm.

I had previously bought a Wilton rose cutter set which I was planning to use on this project. Unfortunately the cutter did not succeed no matter how hard I tried - even following the instructions did not work. Maybe the fondant was too soft ... but I did add cornstarch! Anyway I came across a video clip from You-Tube on how to make fondant roses. You'll be amazed at the amount of things you can learn from You-Tube ..... a wonderful online library of information .. plus sometimes crap as well !

This is the end result .... still not perfect but it's a start. Just need to put in a bit more practise that's all!

This is the web link if anyone is interested to try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUHRiJGxwNY