Chocolate Pound Cake

I live with a bunch of chocoholics. If there's even an ounce of chocolate in something it won't last more than a day to two. So, just imagine the bug-eye's I got when they came home to find a chocolate pound cake, with chocolate ganache and fudge buttercream. Yeah, it was like Christmas!

Chocolate Pound Cake

Cake Ingredients:

1 cup Cake & Pastry Flour

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder

2 oz Semi-Sweet Bakers Chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup Boiling Water

1 cup Butter, softened

1 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

5 large Eggs

6 Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 325*F.  Grease and flour a 9 x 5 cake pan.

2. Sift together flour & salt in a separate bowl (not your mixing bowl) and set aside.

3. In another bowl add the chopped chocolate and pour the boiling water over it. Stir until the chocolate is melted, then add the cocoa powder.  Mix well.

4. In your mixing bowl combine the butter and sugar until light & fluffy.  Slowly pour in the chocolate and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between.

5. Slowly add the flour, remembering to periodically scrap down sides of the bowl. Once all the flour is mixed in pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

6. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.  While the cake is cooling prepare the ganache.

Ganache Ingredients:

3 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  Once melted whisk in the heavy cream until silky smooth.

2. Pour over the top of the cake and use a cake spatula to push it over the edges for a nice dripping effect.

3. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set the ganache. Prepare the fudge buttercream.

Chocolate Fudge Buttercream

1 3/4 cups Icing Sugar

1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1/4 cup Butter, softened

3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

1/2 cup Half & Half Cream

2 oz Semi-sweet Baker's Chocolate

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/4 tsp Salt

Directions:

1. Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa powder and set aside.

2. In a small sauce pan heat, over medium-low, 2 tbsp of the butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of the half & half, stirring occasionally, until small bubbles form around the edges. 

3. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer, continue stirring frequently until the mixture thickens slightly and turns a deep gold colour.  

4. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the remaining butter and half & half, mixing well.  Slowly whisk in the icing sugar mixture.  Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.  Cool in the fridge until the desire consistency is reached.

5. Pipe a nice design around the cake and add the chocolate covered coffee beans.

Stay Sweet!

Tammy

The Cake Craze

As promised the cakes that have kept this baking machine working over-time.

The first is a cake that I did for a friend's daughters 9th birthday.  Let me tell you, I had no idea what Minecraft was really until she asked me to create this.  I've heard of it, of course, from friends kids that played but I was completely oblivious as too the look of the characters or even the names.  Let's all hail Google for a moment on this one because it really saved my bacon! A quick search for something called Stampy Cat - Minecraft and boom! There it was in all it's pixalated glory.

Don't the let the seemingly simple design fool you.  This took some serious planning, and the execution & geometry had to be perfect. I learned this first hand because I had to wipe it clean when I was sooooo close to being done.  My grid was off and the bottom portion looked like the vertical hold was going. So what I planned to have done in 3 hrs took me over 6.  However, I think it turned out great! Well worth the sleepless night.

After a complete crash from working on Minecraft, my cousin messaged me.  She was having issues with getting her daughters Frozen cake ready.  I offered to come over and help her out - at midnight.  Girlie had decided to change up what she wanted on her cake.  The original was suppose to be a "Barbie" style dress cake with Anna or Elsa but it turned out she didn't want her doll stuck in a cake, she wanted Olaf. So in the wee hours of morning, and with limited supplies Cousin & I managed to get this done.  Not bad for 5 am and complete design change, I think.

Next came another cousin request.  A Monster High design on a half & half cake.  I probably could have done this one in fondant but let's be honest here - kids don't like fondant, especially 5 year olds.  When I do kids cakes I always try to use buttercream instead of fondant.  I love the rustic look of the white buttercream with the piping of the emblem. I think this is one of my favourite cakes.

And finally, my cutie-pie cupcakes.  These were ordered by a former co-worker, a real estate agent with a million dollar listing, and these babies were going to be offered at the open house.  Let me tell you, I stressed about them for days!  With being mini cupcakes decorating them is somewhat limited and it was made very clear to me that they had to be pretty.  All I could think of was, 'what does she constitute as pretty?'  I finally decided that I needed to keep things simple.  No over decorating or lots of fondant, just a nice dollop of buttercream and little accents of fondant ribbon rosebuds would be perfect.  So away I went.  I even luster dusted the pink roses to add a little shimmer. The agent loved them <3 .

You will see some of these cakes again because I have tutorials & recipes for them.  Keep checking back and see what's been cooking in my little kitchen.

Stay Sweet!
Tammy

Strawberry Cake

Up until I was asked by my cousin to make her wedding cake, I had never had strawberry cake before! I know shocking!  Growing up any occasion cakes were either chocolate or vanilla. Or if it was a super super special occasion it would be lemon. Colour me surprised when I had my first taste of strawberry. I loved it!  You will too and adding a little colouring to make it ombre just adds to the cuteness.

Strawberry Ombre Cake

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups White Sugar
½ cup Butter, softened
2 Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 cups Cake Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
½ cup Milk
1 cup Strawberry Puree
Red Food Coloring

Directions:

1. Mix strawberry puree, butter, and sugar until well combined.  Add the eggs one at time, combining well in between.  Stir in the vanilla.  If you're not going to do an ombre cake, add the colouring now.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in separate bowl. Then add to the sugar/butter mixture in 3 parts - mix until just combined.
3. Stir the milk in gently
4. For the ombre effect separate the batter equally into 3 bowls.  In the first bowl add a small amount of colouring, then slightly more for the second, and even more for the third.
5. Pour the batters into a greased and floured cake pans.  Bake in a preheated 350*F oven for 20 minutes  or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  If you're doing a regular 2 layer cake bake for 40 minutes.
6. Frost with icing & enjoy!

Stay Sweet!

Tammy

Pictorial 2

I've been laid up on the couch or in bed all day, not feeling well.  At. All.  Stupid cold!

I have an awesome recipe to share but alas it will have to wait until I'm feeling better.  Until then have a look at a couple of cakes I've created.  The first is Daughter B's birthday cake.  We love Doctor Who and my first attempt at a TARDIS cake last year ended up being being a wreck. Thankfully this years attempt was a success!  The second is a cake for a co-worker.  A complete coffee & chocolate overload!  I will post that recipe in the future too.

Stay Sweet!

Tammy

Experimenting

One day when I was in my local dollar store I stumbled upon Wilton's Sugar Sheets.  I had seen them before in my usual cake baking supply store but never had a reason to purchase them.  At those prices, it seemed silly to just buy them to play around but for a dollar it was well within reason.

Today's post is a test of Sugar Sheets and a tutorial on how to work with caramel as a filler instead of the usual butter cream filling.

I just used boxed cake mix & canned frosting for this little gem. But here's what else you're going to need to copy what I've done here.

1 pkg Wilton Sugar Sheets (fyi - there's only 1 roughly 8.5 x 11 sheet per package)
1 container Caramel
Handfull of Chocolate chips







1. Bake your cakes as normal and let completely cool.
2. Level the tops and put the first layer on your cake tray.
3. Make your fav icing or pull out that can!  If using the canned icing I recommend that you give it a whip with the mixer.  You can double the amount and it makes the icing fluffier.
4. Put a small amount of icing in a piping bag with a #12 round tip. Pipe a dam around the edge of the top of the first layer.

5.  Spoon the caramel into the centre of the dam - use as much or as little as you like.

6.  Add the second layer of cake and lightly press down to seal both layers together.

7.  Ice the top and sides of your cake with about half of the remaining icing.  You're definitely going need some for decorative edging.

8.  Measure the height of your cake - I just held up the sheet to the cake and marked with a small slit of both edges, roughly where it needed to be.  For less seams use the sugar sheet length wise.

9.Use a pizza cutter and a straight edge to cut the sheet.  Remove the cut piece from the plastic backing and gently press into the sides of the cake.

NOTE:  Keep the sugar sheet in the packaging & seal it (it does has a zipper seal) when you're not using it or it will dry out and get crumbly.  Once on the cake the icing will keep it moist enough.

10. Repeat step 9 until you have enough to go around your cake.  If needed use a little icing to "glue" the edges down.

11.  Add a decorative edging to cover up the raw edges at the top & bottom.  And finish with some fun curly Q's and the chocolate chips.

I loved using Wilton Sugar Sheets!  It was fun and easy to handle while still making a beautiful cake.  If you're ever in a crunch to make a special cake I highly recommend them.

Stay Sweet!
Tammy