Sunday 21 August 2016

Recipe Post 2016 No.25- Bunting Cake

Hey guys!

Firstly, thanks so much for your comments from my previous post. Secondly, I had chosen to bake a recipe which seemed fun, easy with an element of difficulty and suited a very.... mixed-weathered August. 

Warning: By all mean, please do not try this recipe without assistance OR experience.

To make this adorable Bunting Cake,you'll need:

• 375g/13oz of butter or margarine, softened to room temp
• 375g/13oz of unrefined caster sugar (if you really cannot find this specified sugar anywhere, just use caster sugar)
• 6 large FREE-RANGE eggs
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 375g/13oz of self-raising flour
• 2-3 tbsp of milk
• Few drops of blue food colouring
• Few drops of red food colouring

For the Italian Meringue Buttercream, you'll need:

• 300g of caster
• 5 large free-range egg whites

• 500g/1lb of unsalted butter, softened and cut into squares
• pinch of salt
• Few drops of vanilla of vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp of raspberry jam

Method:

Note: To really test whether the recipe's word is one to believe, I had timed the preparation time it had actually taken for me.




πŸ’— To prepare for the sponge layers, preheat the oven to 180°C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of three 18cm/7in cake tins with baking paper.

πŸ’— Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little extra milk if necessary- don't worry if your mixture looks the same as picture 7. By adding the milk, it will look more normal.

πŸ’— Divide the mixture equally into three mixing bowls. Add a few drops of blue colouring (I used yellow instead) into one bowl and mix gently to get an even colour. Add red food colouring to the other bowl and again mix for an even colour. Leave the third mix plain.


πŸ’— Spoon the cake mixtures into the three cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes , or until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

πŸ’— Remove from the oven and set aside for five minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the paper. Place onto a wire rack to cool completely.

πŸ’— For the icing on the cake, fill a large bowl with cold water. Pour 100ml/3 1/2fl oz of water into a pan and add 250g/9oz of caster sugar. Heat gently and stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring the mixture to the boil. Warning: Be very, very careful with attempting this step otherwise there shall be a risk of serious accidents. 

πŸ’— Use a damp pastry brush to wash down any sugar crystals on the side of the pan. Boil the mixture rapidly, without stirring it, until it reaches 121°C/250F (I'd advise you to use a kitchen thermometer for this).

πŸ’— Preferably using a free-standing (though a hand held one is fine), whisk the egg whites until stiff. Start this when the sugar temperature of the syrup get to about 100C. Gradually whisk in the remaining caster sugar.

πŸ’— As soon as the syrup reaches 121C/250F, plunge the base the base of the pan into the bowl of cold water, to prevent the syrup from getting any hotter. Only leave the pan in the water for a few seconds or the syrup will get too thick.

πŸ’— Switch the mixer on full speed and gradually pour in the syrup in a thin stream into the middle of the bowl, trying not to get any syrup onto the sides of the bowl or the whisk, as it will set there and won't get mixed in properly. Continue whisking the mixture for about 8-10 minutes until the bowl feels just lukewarm. If the syrup starts to become too thick to pour,return the pan to the hob very briefly.  

πŸ’— Gradually whisk in the butter then add the salt( I learnt that the salt brings out the flavors more) and the vanilla extract. The meringue will collapse a little, and the mixture may look like it's curdled(for photographs of what curdled looks like, scroll to the bottom of this page), but keep whisking it until it forms a smooth fluffy buttercream.

πŸ’— Spread the jam over two of the cake layers and top with a layer of icing. Sandwich the cakes together. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. Remove from the fridge and gently cover the whole of the cake with the rest of the icing. Sprinkle with decorating sprinkles(optional).

πŸ’— To make the bunting decoration, take two lengths so doweling and cover with a spiral of coloured string. Tie a length of string across both doweling rods. Cut 5cm/2in lengths of ribbon or diamond-shape bits of fabric. Fold the bunting 'flags' over the string and the glue to secure. Gently ease the doweling into the cake and you have  a lovely sweep of bunting. With the prep time going over thirty minutes and ending up being 47:31:07 more.....I came to a time of 77:31 minutes of preparation.

Pictures
 

 

 
 



 Whisking the egg whites 
   
Sugar Syrup

      


Adding caster sugar to the mix
Curdle of the buttercream



 

Ending result!









Before this post ends......


🌼 My favorite song of the month is: Let Me Love You 

🌼My best friend has created a new blog and would really appreciate it if you took a minute to check it out! The Everything DIY
  🌼 New photos on my Snapchat- check it out and follow me to be the first to see them! Account name: @sweetreats xx





🌼I had attended my cousin's wedding and managed to take a couple sneaky photos of the wedding cake.

 

🌼 The new trend is making waves!
🌼 Don't forget to +1 this week's post and comment!

🌼Favorite book: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

🌼 Mo Farah wins a gold for Team GB once again, with a race which
shall go down through the history of GB athletes.
See you next week!

#sweetreats xxx 

Saturday 6 August 2016

Recipe Post No.24- My take on a Strawberry Sponge Cake!

Hey guys!

This week's post ,as said in the blog title, is MY TAKE on baking a Strawberry Sponge Cake, using a complicated Genose Sponge Recipe. Before I begin with the recipe, please read the following:


MY REVIEW FOR THIS SPECIFIC CAKE:

IT IS AT A HIGHER DIFFICULTY LEVEL. THEREFORE, IF YOU HAVE NOT TESTED THIS RECIPE EVER, I WOULD SENSIBLY ADVISE YOU TO GO OVER THE STEPS SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY, POSSIBLY WITH A LITTLE ASSISTANCE, BEFORE YOU GO ONTO ACTUALLY BAKING THIS PARTICULAR CAKE. HOWEVER, IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE DARING AND LIKE TO TAKE A RISK OF BAKING THE CAKE FIRST TRY(LIKE HOW I DID), GO FOR IT! THERE'S YOUR FIRST AND FINAL WARNING!


To make this "Genoese Sponge", you'll need:

40g of unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

65g of plain flour, plus extra to dust

3 large eggs(4 medium-sized ones)

75g of caster sugar

1tbsp of cornflour

However, to make this a "STRAWBERRY SPONGE CAKE", you'll also need 100g of strawberries, diced without the leaves and 1/2 tsp of strawberry flavoring (optional)

Method:

• Grease two 18cm (7in) sandwich tins or one 18cm (7in) round, deep cake tin, base line with grease-proof paper and dust the sides with a little flour( I had attempted to base line the tin, however it was far too difficult and time-consuming so I skipped the skip).

• Put the butter into a small pan and heat gently to melt, then take off the heat and leave to stand for a few minutes to cool slightly.

• Crack the eggs and pour the sugar into a bowl (preferably a microwavable glass bowl) and, using a hand-held whisker, whisk until well-blended. Place the bowl over a pan of hot water (making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water) and whisk until cool- WARNING: THIS WAS PROBABLY THE HARDEST STEP TO COMPLETE OUT OF ALL OF THEM. THEREFORE, BE SURE TO READ THIS STEP AGAIN CAREFULLY.

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven), Gas Mark 4. Sift the plain flour and cornflour into the egg bowl, then carefully fold in using a large metal spoon (trying to knock as little air as possible).

• Pour the melted and cooled butter around the edges of the mixture, leaving any butter sediment behind in the pan. Very lightly, fold in the butter until it has been incorporated into the mixture. Pour into the tin(s).

• Wish them luck before, baking in the oven for 25-30 minutes for the sandwich tins,or 35-40 minutes for the deep tin,until well risen and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.
Loosen the cake edge and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn  out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

• Once completely cool, peel off the lining paper (halve the single cake) and sandwich together with jam and whipped cream (optional). Dust with icing sugar or glaze runny honey over the top and serve in slices! 

• What the ending result should be are strawberries bits are seen everywhere inside the cake. If all the strawberry bits are at the bottom, this just means that you knocked out too much air when mixing. 

Photographs 
 

 










Hope you liked this week's recipe (if so, +1 this post). 

Before I end this post...

πŸŽ€ All your favorite celebrities are OBSESSED with Pokemon Go- GIRLS' LIFE

πŸŽ€ I had the "Pink Drink" from Starbucks Secret Menu. Tastes SO delicious and sweet!



πŸŽ€Snapchat is my new Google+! Yes

I finally have SnapChat! Although,I have not uploaded any pictures on SnapChat yet, there will be pictures uploaded in due time. Follow : @sweetreats/ BakingBoutique.



πŸŽ€ Check out BBB's end of our picnic collaboration by clicking here!


Stay tune next week (hopefully)!




#sweetreats xxxx