Birthday | Purple Princess Cake

It's not every day that someone requests a princess cake, or even knows what that is! I love fun opportunities like that. A friend wanted to surprise a birthday girl with a princess cake. The only real guidelines were that she likes purple, and her nickname is "Panda".

A princess cake (prinsesstårta in Swedish) is a traditional Swedish cake made of layers of sponge cake, pastry cream, and jam (I think typically raspberry), and shaped into a dome with whipped cream. The dome is then covered by marzipan, traditionally tinted a light green color and decorated with marzipan flowers. In this case, I tinted the marzipan purple, and topped with purple marzipan flowers.

To assemble this, I first stacked the cake, jam and pastry cream layers. Then I spread whipped cream (stiffened with a little bit of pastry cream) into a bowl. Then I placed the bowl over the cake, inverted, and let it set up in the freezer.

Once frozen, the cake wasn't too difficult to pop out of the bowl mold. I smoothed out the whipped cream dome and then covered with marzipan. Not my smoothest cake covering job, but whipped cream is a little trickier to mold around than say buttercream.

Et voilà!

Birthday | Chocolate & Apples (Unlikely Pairing!)

Happy birthday this week to my friends Patricia and Chengos! I made this cake at the last minute for a potluck. The only guidance I had was "chocolate" and "maybe with fruit". I thought about what I was originally going to make (apple tarts), opened up my favorite cookbook, Extraordinary Cakes, and the first page I turned to was "New York, New York," a chocolate and apple cake. It was meant to be.

I don't often associate apples with chocolate, but add in a little caramelization and rum, and it all comes together.

I used the same sour cream chocolate cake that I used for my previous German Chocolate Cake, since I knew I could count on it for a flavorful and light texture. I brushed the cake with rum simple syrup and then layered it with rum-spiked chocolate ganache, chocolate chantilly (whipped chocolate cream), and caramelized Golden Delicious apples.

The assembled cake was then coated with chocolate ganache, and covered with a chocolate glaze for a smooth finish. Then I placed thinly sliced Golden Delicious apples around the sides and secured with a ribbon. I didn't have time to make additional decorations, so I arranged some fresh flowers on top.

Although you might expect this cake to be incredibly heavy, the lightness of the chocolate cake layers offsets the denseness of the ganache. I might skip the ganache filling layers in the future and save it just for the outer coating, but all in all, this was a unique and flavorful cake! Thin slices recommended for consumption ;)

Pumpkin Chocolate Mendiant - Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to present something along the lines of individual plated desserts versus a single cake. It was a lot more work, but a fun way to make use of my pastry school education. Plus, I needed to make up for the time that my pumpkin chocolate tiramisu failed to make it to the holiday gathering (in retrospect, that recipe I used was all sorts of wrong).

This dessert has a base disc of flourless hazelnut chocolate cake, a layer of pumpkin pastry cream, a layer of pumpkin-chocolate crème légère (basically the pumpkin pastry cream mixed with melted chocolate, frangelico and whipped cream), and a topping of mascarpone whipped cream. On the side is a cranberry compote, made with whole frozen cranberries, sugar, lemon juice, frangelico and a little corn starch to pull it together.

The dark chocolate cage was the most involved step. Fortuitously, my dad had 3" PVC pipe lying around, so we sawed that into short rings for holding the cylindrical shape while the tempered chocolate set. Family teamwork!

I'm only calling this a mendiant because that is the name of a similar dessert we made in pastry school. Obviously it is not the same as the chocolate confection also known as the mendiant, but I have yet to figure out a better name.

Tortamisu and Vallarta Torte - Office Baby Shower

This is a very belated post, but a couple months ago, I made two cakes for an office baby shower! One with espresso for a pick-me-up, and one with tequila for a bit of relaxation. Neither of which were soaked enough to have any of those effects of course, but I was amused when someone pointed this out to me.

The first is a Tortamisu, from Extraordinary Desserts. According to  Extraordinary Desserts' website:

"Our unique version of Tiramisu consists of espresso soaked ricotta cake layers and Italian mascarpone rum cream. This house favorite is finished with whipped cream and dusted with cocoa."

I didn't have chocolate paillettes, so I simply coated the sides with toasted cake crumbs, and then chocolate jimmies. I would have preferred real chocolate, but the jimmies still did the trick, at least as far as texture goes. This cake was delicious and decadent but not too heavy or sweet.

 

The second is the Vallarta Torte, also from Extraordinary Desserts. I don't think this cake is currently available in store, so I don't have an official website description of it, but it is made of sponge cake layers soaked with a tequila simple syrup, and filled with layers of lime curd and lime curd pastry cream.

The outside is coated with lime curd whipped cream and toasted coconut chips. My execution of this cake wasn't stellar, but fortunately the whipped cream and coconut chips covered the imperfections! This cake was light and refreshing, and a great contrast to the Tortamisu.

Each of these cakes was quite an undertaking, and the two of them together resulted in a pretty late night, but I'm happy I was able to pull them off.

Passion Fruit Cake - New Beginnings

Passion fruit is one of my favorite fruits, and has sentimental meaning to me as well. I made this passion fruit cake to commemorate the closing of one chapter of my life, and to toast new beginnings.

This cake has layers of ricotta pound cake brushed with a passion fruit simple syrup, and a whipped cream / passion fruit curd filling layered with fresh strawberries and kiwi.

I also made a cupcake version using the passion fruit curd as the filling, and the whipped cream / passion fruit curd mix as the topping. If you need to find passion fruit puree or concentrate, your local mercado should carry some.

 As for this following cupcake . . .

This cupcake isn't one of my creations—it's Kara's passion fruit cupcake—but it has special meaning for me. Nearly 4 years ago, a beautiful sparkling ring was given to me on this cupcake. It was a magical, memorable evening, and there have been many magical, memorable moments since.

My dear baking assistant and I now officially part ways after nearly 7 years together, but I have no doubt we'll be sharing laughter and memories in the future, over Milo, cupcakes, and life's many other bonbons.

We began and ended our relationship with a leap of faith, and a deep sense of trust. While I wouldn't wish the heartache we went through upon anyone, I do wish everyone could experience a friendship as meaningful as ours. Love you, always.

Sesame Caramel Rice Fritters & Tres Leches Cupcakes - Belated Cinco de Mayo

I didn't get a chance to make these for Cinco de Mayo like I had planned to, but I made them happen anyway over the past week.

Rice Fritters with Sesame Caramel
(see recipe from Food Network)

If you search for Cinco de Mayo desserts, churros, or variations of fried dough dipped in sugar, are likely to turn up. I thought these rice fritters would be slightly more interesting and challenging, so I decided to give them a try. Delicious, and well-worth the effort! But perhaps no healthier than churros (they are deep-fried afterall) . . .

 

Tres Leches Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche
(adapted from Saveur Magazine, see also theurbanbaker.com)

Ingredients
Makes 24 cupcakes

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 ½ tablespoons dark rum
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 12-oz. can evaported milk
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Heat ¾ cup of the heavy cream in a saucepan until it boils/simmers. Pour over white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit for a couple minutes before stirring with a spatula until the white chocolate is melted and smooth.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
4. Beat the egg whites with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Continue beating while adding the sugar.
5. Separately beat the egg yolks until fluffy. Using the paddle attachment, add the flour mixture and whole milk, alternating between the two and ending with the flour.
6. Add the rum and vanilla and beat briefly until smooth.
7. Folk in the egg whites.
8. Scoop batter into cupcake liners, and bake for 16-18 minutes until slightly golden. Be careful not to overbake. Since the cake will be soaked in tres leches, it will ultimately be "moist" in any event, but the cake texture is spongy and can get stiff.
9. After baking, let cool slightly (~30 minutes), and then poke holes in the top of the cupcakes with a knife, making sure to penetrate to the base.
10. Peel off the paper liners. Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream, and spoon the mixture over the warm cupcakes (3-5 tablespoons should do the trick, with the excess sitting in the cupcake pan to ensure that the bottom of the cupcakes are moistened). I wouldn't worry about oversoaking.
11. Cover the cupcakes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well-chilled and the liquid is absorbed (at least 4 hours).
12. Spread/drizzle dulce de leche on top of the cupcakes, and top with whipped cream.
    

Home-made dulce de leche is quite easy. It is essentially caramelized condensed milk. Some recipes prepare it directly in the can by placing the can in a boiling pot of water. I decided to go with the oven method (see, e.g. David Lebovitz's recipe):

Pour a can of sweetened condensed milk into a shallow pie pan or baking pan. Place that pan in a larger roasting dish / baking pan that has a lid. Fill the outer pan with water until near the top of the inner pan. Cover with lid and baking at 425° F for 75-90 minutes. Check occasionally in case you need to add more water. A darker crust/layer will form on the top of the condensed milk / dulce de leche. Whisk the dulce de leche until it is smooth (you may need to strain out pieces of crust). Voila!

Ivoire Royale - White Chocolate Mousse & Berry Cake

According to Extraordinary Desserts' website:

"Ivoire Royale -- An exquisite torte made of fine layers of vanilla bean soaked pound cakes and creamy white chocolate mousse. Bursting with fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, this delicate mousse torte is hidden by white chocolate shaving dusted with powdered sugar."

This is a 10" cake, with sour cream pound cake layers, brushed with vanilla simple syrup. In between the layers are white chocolate sour cream mousse, fresh whipped cream, and berries. I only used strawberries and blackberries in my cake, but I think any combination would work. The decoration is white chocolate shavings and curls.

I'm not sure the recipe for mousse in the cookbook quite worked. For a better mousse consistency, I suggest the following:

White Chocolate Sour Cream Mousse

• 4 egg yolks
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup sour cream (room temperature)
• 6.5 oz (1 ¼ cup) white chocolate
• 2 cup heavy cream
• ⅓ cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat ¾ cup of the heavy cream in a saucepan until it boils/simmers. Pour over white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit for a couple minutes before stirring with a spatula until the white chocolate is melted and smooth.
2. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a stand mixer until pale yellow and fluffy.
3. Add melted chocolate to the whipped egg yolks.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the remaining heavy cream and powdered sugar together until peaks form.
5. Gently fold in the whipped cream and sour cream into the white chocolate-egg yolk mousse base.

I played with this while in-process, so the measurements may not be exact, particularly with respect to the whipped cream addition. I think that part can be made to-taste and to-texture, depending on what consistency and level of sweetness you are aiming for. The important addition here to the cookbook is the whipped egg yolk base, which gives the mousse a sturdier structure that won't run.

I had previously attempted this in cupcake form, but because this cake relies on being soaked in vanilla simple syrup, and having almost as much (or perhaps more) mousse and whipped cream than cake, I don't think the cupcake form delivers the same texture and flavor. Not to mention, I also dropped my entire batch of cupcakes before delivering them to a potluck event, so it is not quite a happy memory. One day, I will post a collage of all my disasters (usually in transit), when it doesn't pain me so much to think about it!

Yellow roses for my SYZters:

More Chocolate Cupcakes - Peanut Butter Banana & Hazelnut

Continuing from my last post, I tried two more chocolate cake recipes this week.

1. Chocolate Butter Cupcake (Rose Levy Beranbaum, Rose's Heavenly Cakes)
2. German Chocolate Cake (Rose Levy Beranbaum, Rose's Heavenly Cakes)

The verdict:

1. The Chocolate Butter Cupcake recipe was slightly less dense/dry than the prior All-American butter cake I made, and tasty in small portions. But, I think at this point, I am going to conclude that butter cakes are not ideal for cupcakes, which are ultimately a very thick slab of cake. I think butter cakes are much better for holding up layer cakes, and I will put this to the test at some point. One exception might be a red velvet variation with cream cheese frosting, which I tasted at a recent cocktail event. Perhaps the creamier/richer the frosting, the better the pairing, which would explain why the curry ganache cupcakes I made last week worked. Important to note: These red velvet cupcakes I tried were mini cupcakes; I am not sure I would have enjoyed that much fudginess/density at the full cupcake size. Ultimately, I will admit this could be a taste/texture preference of mine, and others might like butter cakes more.
   
2. The German Chocolate Cake is fantastic, and definitely can serve as an alternative to the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake recipe. It is slightly less rich, but it has a good texture and distinctive chocolate taste which makes it yummy to eat on its own.

Chocolate Butter Cupcake: Hazelnut Ganache Cupcakes

I filled these chocolate butter cupcakes with hazelnut ganache, and topped with whipped cream with a hint of hazelnut. Finally, a piece of sugar cone, because who doesn't like ice cream cones?

German Chocolate Cake: Peanut Butter Caramelized-Banana Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes were filled with a peanut butter cream cheese filling, covered with a peanut butter chocolate whipped ganache, and topped with caramelized bananas. I am not normally a peanut butter fan, but these cupcakes came out pretty delicious, creamy without being heavy, and with the right balance of flavors. I had never caramelized bananas before, and really had no plan for how to pipe the frosting but I pulled it together somehow.

Malted Chocolate Cupcakes - Baked Sundaes!

These malted chocolate cupcakes are topped with fresh whipped cream, sprinkles and a Maraschino cherry.

I also filled the cakes with a "Whoppers" buttercream (using ground Whoppers choclate malted milk balls) to add to the malt flavor (which unfortunately was largely masked in the cake itself). The buttercream filling adds a needed sweetness and moisture so that the cupcake doesn't end up tasting like a black forest cherry cake. Which, would be interesting to try . . . hmmmmm . . .

Oreo Cupcakes - Cookies & Cream

I had been planning this cupcake for a while, thinking about what ways I could make an Oreo cupcake that was something more than just a cake base and buttercream frosting on top. I'm pretty satisfied with the result here, although I think there are many more interesting variations to try. Coincidentally, my sister-in-law baked a version of an Oreo cupcake on the same exact night with a whole Oreo cookie at the bottom, which I definitely want to try next time! I was afraid a whole cookie at the base would burn or disappear somehow, but I hear it stays crunchy and is quite delicious.

Here, I have a chocolate cake with a fudge cookie bar in the middle. The fudge cookie bar is a baked Oreo cookie bar with ganache poured on top. Because the cookie is made from ground Oreos, it is crumbly rather than "crunchy", but I will continue to experiment with that. The ganache adds a smooth creamy moist filling.

For the frosting, I made an Oreo "mousse." I did in fact try a mousse base, but the egg yolks made the frosting too yellow. Then I tried the same mousse with egg whites instead of egg yolks, but that doesn't hold up. Then I tried a meringue buttercream base without the butter, but the texture and taste just weren't quite right. Finally, I ended up with a whipped cream stabilized with some gelatin, with ground Oreos folded in, and I think I achieved the light fluffy consistency I was looking for. The cookie on top is a Nabisco chocolate wafer, like the type I used in my Icebox Cake. I would not recommend grinding up this wafer for the frosting. The wafer has ground coconut in it, which results in an odd crunch/chew that does not blend well with whipped cream.