Blues begone ...

I loved that huge chocolate screen sitting on her cake. It was like a canvas... an installation ... and Joy went gaga decorating it. Clearly we were going Salvador Dali on her cake.


This cross section was taken the day after and this baby remained intact. This cake is sassy, yet sturdy, even with the humongous Dali-esque chocolate on it. This recipe is a keeper! Just look at those pretty little layers ;)


Espresso Cake

Ingredients:
Scant 2 cups (225g) cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups (150 ml) milk
1-1/2 cups (150 ml) vegetable oil
12 large (375 ml) egg whites
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
12 large egg yolks
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp (75 g) sugar

Directions:
1. Prepare 2 9-inch pans by greasing, flouring, and then lining it with parchment paper on the bottom.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the milk and the vegetable oil. Set this aside.
3. In another small bowl, whisk together the cake flour and baking powder. Set aside as well.

4. Preheat your oven to 325F.
5. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until it all turns frothy.
6. Add the sugar, cream of tartar and the salt and keep on whisking until soft peaks form. Remove from the stand mixer and set this aside.

7. With a fresh bowl and the paddle attachment, beat egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.
8. To this, alternate adding the flour and milk mixture.
9. Gently fold in the egg whites, taking care not to overmix and deflate it. God forbid!
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
12. Optional: Brush a little coffee liqueur on the surface for an even more intense coffee aroma.


Coffee Walnut Cake
... a recipe adapted from Nigella's to make 2 9-inch layers.

Ingredients:
75 grams walnut pieces
1-1/2 cups (340 g) caster sugar, separated
2-1/2 cups (340 g) softened butter
2-1/2 cups (300 g) flour
6 tsp instant espresso powder
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt
6 large eggs (or 4 eggs and 5 yolks)
2- 3 tbsp milk

Directions:
1. Prepare 2 9-inch pans by greasing, flouring, and then lining it with parchment paper on the bottom.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a food processor, blitz the walnut with 1/2 cup of the sugar until it resembles coarse crumbs.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter with 1 cup of the sugar.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time.

6. Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 350F.

7. Reduce the speed to the lowest, then fold in the flour mix, then the crushed walnuts, adding that bit of milk to thin it out as needed.

8. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until the cake has risen and turned golden. It also needs to pass the skewer test.
9. Cool in the rack for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan to cool completely.
10. Again optional: Coffee liqueur on the cake tops makes it more decadent.

Frost with Italian meringue buttercream and decorate to your inner Gaudi ...

Monique is not a big fan of coffee, but surprisingly loves all things mocha. And in all seriousness, this caffeinated cake packs quite a punch. Loved how the espresso shines through. For an extra dose of coffee aroma, Kahlua was called to the occassion. Monique loved the cake. I slept well ;)

Ingredients:
1 cup hot brewed coffee
3 tbsp instant espresso
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups superfine sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature, separated

Cake syrup:
1 shot of Kahlua
1/4 cup simple syrup

1 recipe creme patissiere
1 recipe Swiss vanilla buttercream

Directions
1. Butter and flour the cake pans.
2. In a glass measuring cup, stir the brewed coffee and espresso powder together and set aside to cool.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a stand mixer, beat the butter on high until smooth.
5. Slowly, beat in the sugar and vanilla, scraping the sides of the bowl. Continue beating until pale and light.
6. Add in the yolks one at a time.
7. Reduce speed to low and add in the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the coffee mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture, beating until smooth with each addition.

6. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
7. With a spatula, stir a quarter of the egg whites into the batter.
8. Fold in the remaining egg whites.

9. Divide the batter into the cake pans, smooth the top with a spatula.
10. Bake for about one hour in an oven preheated to 350ºF until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
11. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to let them cool completely.

12. Brush cake syrup on the top and sides of each layer.

13. Add Creme Patissiere between the layers, chill to set.
14. Crumb-coat with buttercream frosting, chill to set.
15. Frost and decorate as desired.

David Lebovitz' Devil's Food Cake
Allrecipes' White Chocolate Cake
Smitten Kitchen's Best Birthday Cake
Smitten Kitchen's Espresso Chiffon Cake
each with its own frosting. And all in 2 days.
So for this week, I was contemplating a Walnut Coffee Cake, a Hazelnut Chocolate Torte or something quite decadent and adult-like, maybe bordering on the boozy kind. But upon closer review, I noticed those cakes are ... ahem ... short and besides, I would have made them on another regular occasion anyway. Not something worthy of XX.




We prepped and baked 1 recipe of the cake which yielded 2 layers, it would have made a large though short-ish cake. And we both decided it was just not enough to go around. So we made another cake with 1-1/2 times the recipe, thereby creating 5 cake layers, which when cut, and stacked, would make 10 layers, which when filled with alternate layers of coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache, would equal 20 layers.

Perfect for the XX. Now THIS would be that show stopping cake that we wanted.


This recipe is adapted from Dalloyau by Dorie Greenspan from her book: Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City's Best Pastry Shops

The cake: (I multiplied this 2-1/2 times to make 5 layers)
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched almonds
2-1/4 cups (225 grams) confectioners sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
1/2 cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp (45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

The coffee syrup: (made 3 times this amount)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons (7 grams) instant espresso or coffee
1/2 cup Kahlua (my own take on this)

The coffee buttercream: (tripled this and found it was just right)
2 tbsp (10 grams) instant espresso or coffee
2 tbsp (15 grams) boiling water
1 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/4 cup (30 grams) water
Pulp of 1 vanilla bean
1 large whole egg
1 large egg yolk
1-3/4 sticks (200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

The chocolate ganache: (doubled this and spread it thin and ended up with 1 thick layer on top coz we didn't want to keep it aside. Ha.. Ha..)
8 ounces (240 grams) Valrhona 61% chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup (125 grams) whole milk
1/4 cup (30 grams) heavy cream
4 tbsp (60 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

The chocolate glaze: (kept this the same coz it goes on top)
5 ounces (150 grams) Valrhona 61% chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick (115 grams) unsalted butter


The tedious process:

A. Making the cake: (can be made up to 1 day ahead, wrapped and kept at room temperature.)
1. Position 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat to 425 F or 220 C.
2. Line two (31 x 39 cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.

3. In a bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
4. Add the sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy.

5. In another bowl with the paddle attachment, beat the almonds, confectioners sugar and whole eggs on medium speed until light and doubled in volume.
6. Add the flour and beat on low speed only until it disappears.
7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture. Now fold in the melted butter.
8. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.

9. Bake the cakes for 5 to 7 minutes, or until they are lightly browned and springs to touch.
10. Remove from the oven, cover each with a sheet of parchment, then turn the cakes over.
11. Carefully peel away the (what used to be the bottom) parchment, turn this parchment over and use it to cover the top (exposed) sides of the cakes.
12. Let the cakes come to room temperature between the parchment or wax paper sheets.


B. Making the syrup: (can be made up to a week ahead and refrigerated)
13. Stir everything together in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
14. Cool.


C. Making the buttercream: (can be packed airtight and refrigerated for 4 days or frozen for 1 month; before using, bring it to room temperature, then beat to smooth it.)
15. Make a coffee extract by dissolving the instant espresso in the boiling water, then set aside.
16.. Bring the sugar, water and vanilla bean to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
17. Continue to cook without stirring until the syrup reaches 255 F or 124 C, as measured on a thermometer.
18. Remove the pan from the heat.

19. While cooking the sugar, place the egg and the yolk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until the eggs are pale and foamy.
20. When the sugar reaches 124F, reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly pour in the syrup.

If the syrup spins onto the sides of the bowl, do not mix this into the eggs.
21. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the eggs are thick, glossy and have come to room temperature, about 5 minutes.

22. With a rubber spatula, smooth out the butter until it is soft and creamy.
23. With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter in 2 tbsp chunks. When all the butter has been added, increase the speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thickened and satiny.
24. Add in the coffee extract, beating to incorporate.

25. Chill the buttercream, stirring frequently, until it is firm enough to be spread and will stay and hold up a layer of cake, about 20 minutes in the fridge should do it.


D. Making the ganache: (can be packed airtight and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 1 month; bring to room temperature before using.)
26. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside.
27. Bring the milk and cream to a boil, then carefully pour it over the chocolate, wait 1 minute, then stir gently until the ganache is smooth and glossy.
28. In another bowl, beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy, then stir it into the ganache in 2 to 3 additions.
29. Refrigerate the ganache, stirring every 5 minutes, until it thickens and is spreadable, about 20 minutes.


E. Assembling the cake:
Decide if you'd like a 10x10" square or a 10x5" rectangle.
30. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
31. Working with one sheet of cake at a time, trim the cake so that you have:
a) two pieces: one 10x10 inches square and one 10x5 inches rectangle.
Or b) three pieces of 10x5 inches.
32. Place one layer of cake on the parchment and moisten the layer with coffee syrup.
33. Spread the coffee buttercream evenly over the cake. 

If the buttercream is too soft, put the cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes before proceeding.
34. Top with another layer of cake; moisten with syrup.
35. Spread the ganache over the surface.
36. Top with the another cake layer, moisten, then chill the cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
37. Cover the top of the cake with a thin layer of coffee buttercream. 

This is to smooth the top and ready it for the glaze - so go easy.

If you have more layers, it goes the same way:
Moisten, buttercream
Moisten, ganache
Repeat till layers are over. 

However many layers you have, you'd want to finish with a light layer of buttercream on top.

For the top of the cake:
38. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour or for up to 6 hours; it should be cold when you pour over the glaze. Alternatively, place the cake in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

F. Glazing the cake:
39. Bring the butter to a boil in a small saucepan.
40. Remove the pan from the heat and clarify the butter (spoon off the foam and pour the clear butter into a small bowl, discarding the residue)
41. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, then stir in the clarified butter.

42. Lift the chilled cake off the parchment-lined pan and place it on a cooling rack set over a parchment lined pan.
43. Pour over the glaze, using a long offset spatula to help smooth it evenly across the top.

 
44. Place the cake into the refrigerator to set the glaze and chill the cake, which should be served slightly chilled.
45. At serving time, use a long thin knife, dipped in hot water and wiped dry, to carefully trim the sides of the cake so that the drips of glaze are removed and the layers revealed.

Making ahead:
Each part of the cake can be prepared ahead, as can the assembled cake. The cake can be kept in the refrigerator, away from foods with strong odors, for 1 day, or you can freeze the cake, wrap it airtight once it is frozen, and keep it frozen for 1 month; defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

The cake is beautiful as it is, but if you'd like to add a little crunch: press toasted sliced almonds onto both the buttercream and the ganache.


The fact that I broke down the directions to 46 steps would probably intimidate most folks but I assure you it is so worth the effort.
There are a few components which when followed to a T yields fabulous results. And they don't take too long on their own.
Then there's the assembly; which after your 4th layer will be smooth sailing from then on (assuming you have more!).
Yes ... It was not the precisely levelled and layered cake you see in the patisseries, but I am dang sure it tastes better than most I've had.
Valrhona chocolate, fresh vanilla, Papua espresso & Kahlua. Need I say more??

Monique's cake is a light chiffon espresso cake. It has a delicate texture and an absolutely wonderful taste. It's laced with booze and spiked with espresso... what's not to love? Infusing the chiffon with espresso syrup helps to keep the chiffon from being too dry. This recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Espresso Chiffon Cake

Cake:
60 ml vegetable oil (soybean or canola)
6 eggs, separated
90 ml freshly brewed espresso, cooled to room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
170 grams cake flour
200 grams sugar
100 grams sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Espresso Syrup:
1/3 cup hot, freshly brewed espresso
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup dark rum

Frosting:
Makes about 5 cups
170 grams unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4-1/2 cups icing sugar (no need to sift)
335 grams (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp whole milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Line the bottom of your cake pans with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, whisk oil, egg yolks, espresso, and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, sift flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.

4. With a stand mixer, whip egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium-low setting until mixture froths.
5. Increase the setting of the mixer to medium-high and slowly add in 1/2 cup of sugar until soft peaks begin to form. Take care not to over-whip.

6. Into the bowl of dry ingredients fold in the espresso and egg yolk mixture gently.
8. When the mixture has just started to combine, fold in a quarter of the egg whites until smooth.
9. Fold the rest of the egg whites gently until there are no more streaks.

10. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake in an oven preheated to 350ºC for about 17 minutes.
11. Set the cake pans on a cooling rack to cool completely.

12. For the espresso syrup, add the sugar to the hot espresso and stir until the sugar dissolves.
13. Stir in the rum and set aside to cool.

14. For the frosting, pulse all the ingredients together in a food processor until incorporated, then process until smooth.

15. By this time, the cakes should be cool. Run a knife around the edge of the cake pans, then turn them upside down onto the cooling rack. Remove the parchment.
16. When assembling the cake, soak each layer with one third of the espresso syrup mixture before adding an even layer of frosting on top of the layer.
17. Decorate as desired.

For the writing, we used left over frosting mixed with black food-colouring. The ears and spots were simply fondant circles. To get the ears to stay up, Michelle had to make them rather thick. The white bow can be made easily using a long, rectangular strip of fondant folded so that the ends meet in the centre. A smaller, rectangular strip was used to cinch the the centre to form a bow shape.  This cake recipe was adapted from David Lebovitz' Devil’s Food Cake.

Ingredients:

Cake:
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup strong coffee (or water)
1/2 cup milk (whole or low-fat)

Ganache frosting:
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water (or cream)
1-1/2 unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Grease two cake pans and line with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, sift the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

3. In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.
4. One at a time, add the eggs, scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition, beating until mixture is fully incorporated.

5. Mix together the coffee and milk.
6. With a spatula or wooden spoon, stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
7. Add the coffee and milk.
8. Stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

9. Divide the batter into the 3 prepared cake pans, place all 3 in the center rack and bake for 25-30 minutes in an oven preheated to 350ºF, or until it passes the toothpick test.
I usually rotate the pans 3/4 way into total baking time.
10. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
11. Run a knife along the edges to release the cake from the sides of the pan. Invert it gently onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

12. For the frosting, melt the chopped chocolate with the cream in a microwave safe bowl in 15 second spurts, stirring occasionally until melted.
13.  Whisk the butter into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth.
14. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature.

To assemble the cake:
17. Even out the tops of the cakes with a bread knife.
18. Place the tallest layer on a cake platter, making sure to save the smoothest cake bottom (when the parchment is removed) for the top most layer.
19. With a silicone brush, brush the cake top with the syrup. Allow time to soak in, about 2-3 minutes.
20. Place a dollop of icing, about a third obviously, and spread gently over the cake. For a more even distribution and a cleaner finish, pipe the icing. Fancy nozzles? Go for it...
21. Repeat with the middle layer.
22. Last layer goes bottom side up.  Empty rest of ganache frosting on the top and try to make the best of it.

This is a Kahlúa-infused mocha cake with a mocha buttercream made for a school project. Although I'm not particularly fond of coffee on its own, I do enjoy it in cake. The buttercream was not too sweet, and the cake itself was light, fluffy and very aromatic.



While it is quite obvious that my cake-writing skills leave much to be desired—Mother could do a better job, but she unfortunately couldn't quite help me with that. (It would have been considered cheating!)—the flowers managed to turn out rather lovely.



We crumb-coated the cake so we could use fondant to decorate it. To make the flowers, cut differently-coloured fondant with multiple sizes of flower-shaped cookie cutters. Roll a toothpick on the ends of the petals to curl them. Then, place the bigger flowers in a muffin tray to help set them in a 3D shape. Layer the flowers and stick them together using a little bit of water. We bought the makeshift stamens from Michael's, which we stuck into tiny balls of fondant.

Oh ... and the welcome was for our grandmothers who were arriving in town just in time for the cake cutting. Needless to say, they loved it!

Ingredients:
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
3 tsp coffee/espresso granules (Nescafe instant coffee recommended)
1 tbsp water
1 tsp Kahlúa
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup cake flour
6 egg whites, at room temperature
1 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:
1. Grease and line the bottom and sides of two round 9" x 2" cake pans* with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the sugar and egg yolks over a low speed. Gradually increase the speed to medium until the mixture becomes light yellow and creamy.
3. In a small bowl, dissolve the cocoa and coffee in water, Kahlúa, and vanilla. Stir to get rid of lumps.
4. Add the contents of the bowl into the mixture of egg and sugar, pour in the canola oil, and beat until the mixture is incorporated.
5. With a wooden spoon, stir in sifted baking powder and cake flour until well combined.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar into stiff peaks.
7. Fold in a few dollops into the mocha batter, then fold in the rest in thirds.
8. Distribute the batter evenly between two cake pans, each to go on their own baking sheet.
9. Bake them in the upper middle and lower middle racks in a preheated oven of 375º F, making sure to rotate the pans and switch them halfway through. They should be done in 20-25 minutes in total, or until the tops turn out golden-brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Leave the cake layers to cool for 10 minutes. Then turn them over to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

*Alternatively, this can be made as a jelly roll.

Mocha Buttercream

Ingredients:
3/4 cups butter, softened
1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1.5 tbsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1-2 tbsp. of hot water
1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar in a mixer until creamy.
2. Add the cocoa powder, coffee, and vanilla extract, and beat for approximately 1-2 minutes until fluffy.

Assembling the cake ;)
1. Cake
2. Buttercream
3. Cake
4. Buttercream
5. Fondant (lots of recipes online which I didn't cover here)
6. Decorate
7. Done!