Christmas Log Cake

I usually do 1 log cake a year and this year is no exception. I made my first and only log cake order for X'mas and maaan, I intend to keep it that way. It's way too stressful trying to roll up the cake carefully and without cracking. My first cake broke totally into pieces as I was rolling it up, together with my heart! Rolled up my sleeves abit further, wiped my cold sweat and started all over again, with a different recipe though. This time I used a japanese recipe and I was a little hesitant at its call for baking at 200C. Phew, thankfully it turned out smooth, spongy and soft. After a short cool down period, I was able to roll up the cake slowly, steadily and with just 1 teeny weeny small crack that was easily sealed up by the ganache. Since it was for an order I didn't get to try the cake with the whole bananas wrapped in it but I did try the cut-away corners of the roll which I dipped generously in the chocolate ganache. I must say it's pretty good, soft and bouncy, with a hint of honey fragrance. Yum!

Swiss Roll Recipe:
Ingredients:
50g AP Flour
15g Cocoa Powder (I used Hershey's)
6 eggs, separated
100g sugar
30ml honey (I used Australia honey)
20g Unsalted butter
30ml milk (I used Meiji Skimmed Milk)

Oven temp 200C.

1. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together 3 times and set aside
2. Place the egg yolks, 40g sugar and honey into a mixer bowl and over a bain-marie, stirring constantly until the mixture is warm to the touch.
3. Immediately beat the yolk mixture until it turns creamy and pale. (Ribbon stage)
4. Set the yolk mixture aside and beat the egg white until frothy.
5. Add 60g sugar to the egg white and beat until stiff peaks.
6. Fold in half of the stiff egg white into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in all the sifted flour mix.
7. Add the remaining egg white and fold in lightly.
8. Warm the butter and milk in the microwave for 20seconds, add into the mixture and fold in completely, scooping from the bottom of the bowl to ensure a thorough mix. Be careful not to deflate the mixture.
9. Pour mixture into a rectangular pan lined with baking paper. (I used the pan that comes with the oven) Smooth the top and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. (mine took 11minutes) The top of the roll should not have a crust and feels bouncy to the touch.
10. Remove from oven and taking the roll from the pan, drop it onto the tabletop to release the steam and prevent a wet cake. Let the cake cool to almost room temperature.

Filling - I used a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, refer here for the recipe, and 2 big ripe bananas.

Frosting - Chocolate Ganache
Bring 200ml thickened cream to almost a boil, where there are little bubbles but it has not reached a boiling state. Immediately pour this over 200g chopped dark chocolate pieces and stir until it has become a thick chocolate liquid mix. Let it cool until it's just warm, stir occasionally so that the surface would not harden.

Assembly:
1. Flip the cake so that its facing top-down on a new piece of parchment paper. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake and gently roll the cake up without squeezing it too tight.
2. Unroll the cake and spread the chocolate swiss meringue buttercream evenly across the cake (the bottom side which is now the side facing up). Place the whole bananas across the length of the cake and roll up the cake again, making it tight this time. Ensure that the cake sits on the sealed part.
3. Place the cake into the fridge to set for an hour.
4. Remove from the fridge, and place parchment paper around the exposed cake board to collect spillover frosting. Cut away a small section from the 2 ends of the cake to make it even at the sides.
5. Pour the ganache generously across the whole roll, covering every part of the cake. Cut out 1 section from one of the ends to create the broken log effect and place this side-ways up on top of the cake. Cover this section and the 2 ends of the roll with more ganache. Place X'mas decor as desired and place it back in the fridge to chill.
6. Once the ganache has set on the cake and is pretty stiff, use a fork to draw little lines across the whole log to create the bark look.
7. Serve slightly chilled but not straight cold from the fridge. (This is to ensure the cake has soften slightly)

Submitting this to:
"Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013", hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out
and 
"Bake Along", hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Cheese - finally a pipe-able batch!

Cream Cheese Frosting! How many of you are like me? I surfed countless recipes, tried many times and tasted plenty, in the search for a tasty one that can hold swirls. The cream-cheese-butter-icing sugar recipes usually turned out pretty good for frosting and are able to hold with lots of icing sugar incorporated but are way too sweet for my liking. From various feedback, I gathered that Swiss Meringue Buttercream is well-liked for it's lightness and satiny mouth-feel.

I've done it twice before, it's indeed tasty but was a little slippery to work with. I find it easy to frost cakes with it but they are not stiff enough to hold shape. Today, I whipped up yet another batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream Cheese (SMBC), however I made a big booboo. I did not let the cream cheese soften and didn't whip the cheese sufficiently before I added the buttercream. The end result was a frosting that had little icky bits of cream cheese. Eui, not nice on the palate. Darn, I had 300g of cream cheese and 600g of SMB in it! All wasted. So I went to Mr. Google on "how to save a lumpy cream cheese frosting" and that's how I knew I made the 2 big mistakes. Most remedies call for microwaving the SMBC for 10s then rewhipping. I tried, microwaved, whipped, chill, didn't work. I tried again, microwaved longer, whipped, chill, turned into ab absolute goopy mess. Thats when I concluded that I tried but failed. Tough work. 900g of frosting went into the trash.

But, the blessing in disguise came! While waiting for my 2nd batch of cream cheese to soften at room temperature, I left my SMB in the fridge to chill. As I later whipped the cream cheese till the cows came home, scrapping down and whipping repeatedly till it's smooth, I added the cold SMB bit by bit till the CC and SMB are just incorporated together. That's when I realised to my pleasant surprise that the peaks held. Wow, I think the cold SMB could be one of the key factors. The other factor could be that lower proportion of cream cheese to SMB. In my previous attempts, I used 70 to 80% ratio of CC to SMB, this time I used only 50%. The cream cheese taste is still pretty significant, enhanced further by a tablespoon of lemon juice.  So 2 factors that changed my frosting from a creamy but slightly droopy frosting to a light and stiff buttercream that can be piped, were the cold buttercream and the lower proportion of cream cheese. I may try 60% CC to SMB next time, just to see if there's any significant difference in taste and texture.

Meanwhile, go make yourself a cake that needs that Swiss Meringue Buttercream Cheese!

SMBC: (Makes around 750g SMB)

5 large egg whites

250g granulated sugar

340g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or essence

pinch of salt

375g cream cheese, cubed and at room temperature

Steps:

1. Place egg whites and sugar in a clean and dry metal mixer bowl, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2. Using the whisk attachment of mixer, immediately start whipping until the meringue is thick and glossy. The mixture should be at room temperature by now (It may take around 10 minutes)

3. Switch over to paddle attachment and on low speed, start to add butter cubes gradually, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture. Add vanilla and salt.  Continue to beat on low speed until well combined.

4. Move the SMB to another bowl and keep that in the fridge. 

5. In the mixer bowl, paddle-whip the soft cream cheese till it's light and smooth. Took around 15 minutes of high speed paddling and lots of scrapping down the bowl. 

6. Add bits of the cold buttercream to the whipped cream cheese on med-low speed until it's just incorporated. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice, paddle-whip at med-high speed for a short while to let it come together. TaDa! It's now ready to be used. 

Decadent Triple Chocolate - Banana Caramel Fudge Cake

When you combine chocolate and banana, you generally want a sweet and probably dense cake. Something that will melt in your mouth amidst a flurry of flavors, a sweet treat cloaked in decadence, a piece that warrants 20 minutes in the gym. At least, that's what I would love, 2 layers of fat fudgy cake, sandwiched with thick bananas cooked in a caramel sauce, coated with a sinful chocolate buttercream and finally, glazed with coat of dark chocolate sauce. Apparently, my friends love them too!

Chocolate Fudge Cake (2 tall 6 inch layers)
Ingredients:
200ml heavy cream
40ml apple cider vinegar
250g cake flour
120g cocoa powder (I used a mix of Valrhona and Lindt)
1 teaspoon (heaped) salt 
1 teaspoon (flat) baking soda
1 teaspoon (flat) baking powder
250g brown sugar
60g unsalted butter, melted and cool 
60g plain thick yogurt
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Oven Temp: 175C.

Steps:
1. Combine heavy cream and apple cider vinegar and stir together. It will become very creamy. 
2. Combine all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine thoroughly.
3. Add all liquid ingredients except the eggs and beat at medium speed  until just combined. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes. 
4. Pour into 2 lined 6-inch pans (for tall layers) or 2 lined 8-inch pans (for shorter layers). 
5. Bake for 50 minutes until skewer test shows only a few moist crumbs and no batter on the stick. 
Notes: The batter is in liquid form so wrap the lined baking tins with an exterior layer of aluminium foil to prevent leakage.

Additional note:
1.5x the recipe above to make 2 tall 8-inch layers, bake for 55 to 60min. (More suitable as a birthday cake size)

Sauteed Banana in Caramel sauce
Ingredients:
2 large or 3 medium bananas, sliced into thick pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
50g unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Steps:
1. In a large pan, place heavy cream, brown sugar and butter together and melt over medium heat. 
2. Once melted, mix in the vanilla bean paste. 
3. Place sliced bananas into the pan and cook over medium fire. Swirl the pan gently to cook the bananas in the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes, until bananas softened slightly and has absorbed the flavor of the caramel. 
Note: After using the bananas and some of the sauce, there will still be leftover sauce. Cool to room temperature and keep in refrigerator for future use.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

5 large egg whites

250g granulated sugar

340g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or essence

pinch of salt

200g melted and cool dark chocolate

Steps:
1. Place egg whites and sugar in a clean and dry metal mixer bowl, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2. Using the whisk attachment of mixer, immediately start whipping until the meringue is thick and glossy. The mixture should be at room temperature by now (It may take around 10 minutes)

3. Switch over to paddle attachment and on low speed, start to add butter cubes gradually, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture. Add vanilla, salt and melted chocolate. Continue to beat on low speed until well combined.

Chocolate Glaze 
Ingredients:
50g dark chocolate, chopped into pieces (I used 70% cocoa)
100ml heavy cream

Steps:
Simply melt the dark chocolate and cream together in a bowl set over simmering water. Do not let any water or vapor get into this mixture. Cool slightly to a temperature just warm to the touch and use immediately.  

Assembly
1. Slice off the top of the cooled cake layers to create a flat top on each. 
2. Place 1 layer (bottom facing down) on a serving plate, arrange cooked sliced bananas on the top, pour some sauce over the bananas and place the 2nd layer of cake (bottom facing up) on top. 
3. Place cake in the fridge to chill for an hour or when the cake is no longer warm with the banana caramel. 
4. Frost cake with buttercream and chill for another hour or when the buttercream is cold and set. 
5. Pour chocolate glaze over the top and nudge the sides to let some sauce flow over the edges. 
Note: Freeze the cake for 15 minutes before pouring the chocolate glaze over. This will prevent the buttercream from melting from the slightly warm glaze. 
6. Place back in fridge. Remove cake from refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes before serving as cake will be too dense and heavy if eaten chilled from the fridge directly. 

Orange Chocolate Sponge Cake

I've done approximately 3 sponge cakes before and none has so far been very successful, with each in varying stages of dryness and frequently taste very heavily of eggs. I've then bookmarked many sponge cake recipes in search of a soft and moist sponge cake which also rises well. I dare say I seemed to have found it at Daily Delicious! 

This sponge cake recipe uses a little heavy cream in addition to the usual suspects of eggs, flour and sugar. It's a rather easy - to - make cake which takes only about 15 minutes to mix and maximum 30 minutes to bake. The toughest step is lining the pan! I really dislike the cumbersome actions of cutting little rounds and long strips and pasting them into the pans with a little bit of whichever batter or dough of the day. However, I guess that still beats scrubbing, scrubbing and scrubbing of unlined pans with the leftover crumbs. 

The only change I did was to add the zest of an orange as I think they may help supersede the strong egg-taste of sponge cakes. The resulting bake was a lovely, soft and moist sponge cake with a hint of orange, not egg! Yay, its bouncy and light, I could not stop pinching the cut-away strips as I prepare the cake for the mousse layer. Delightful, and I believe I would be baking this alot for all the durian / yam / mango layered cakes of the future while I start on today's composition of a chocolate orange cake!

Sponge Cake Recipe (Source):

4 Eggs

90g sugar

80g cake flour

pinch of salt

40ml warm whipping cream (microwave high at 20s)

Zest of 1 orange

Oven 180C, 8inch cake pan, lined on bottom. 

Steps:

1. Sift cake flour and salt together

2. Whisk eggs in a mixer on high speed until it lightens in colour.

3. Add the sugar to the egg mixture and mix on high speed until it reaches the thick ribbon stage (Where the batter will flow from the beater in a thick lava layer)

4. Add the flour into the egg-sugar mix and fold in to just combine. 

5. Take 1/4 of this mixture and stir into the warm whipped cream. 

6. Pour the whipped cream mixture and orange zest into the rest of the batter and fold to combine 

7. Pour into pan, tap on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, when the top is slightly browned and spring back to your touch. Cool completely. 

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

5 large egg whites

250g granulated sugar

340g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or essence

pinch of salt

200g melted and cool dark chocolate

Steps:
1. Place egg whites and sugar in a clean and dry metal mixer bowl, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2. Using the whisk attachment of mixer, immediately start whipping until the meringue is thick and glossy. The mixture should be at room temperature by now (It may take around 10 minutes)

3. Switch over to paddle attachment and on low speed, start to add butter cubes gradually, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture. Add vanilla, salt and melted chocolate. Continue to beat on low speed until well combined.

Chocolate Mousse Coating (Source)

170g chocolate

85g unsalted butter

4 egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream

Steps:

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl set over simmering water. (Do not let any water get into this mixture). Remove chocolate from heat. 

2. Combine egg yolks and sugar in another bowl and set over simmering water. Whisk for around 5 minutes until it turns pale. Remove from heat. 

3. Stir the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Add vanilla and mix well. It should be a smooth mixture. If it turns grainy, whisk in a small amount of cream and stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature. 

4. Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Mix 1/4 of the cream into the chocolate-egg mixture. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream. 

Assembly of cake:

1. Cut away a slim perimeter of the cake and slice the cake horizontally in half. 

2. Place 1 layer of the cake back into an 8-inch pan and spread the chocolate buttercream in a thick layer.

3. Cover with the 2nd layer of the cake. 

4. Pour the chocolate mousse over the cake until it completely covers the top. 

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set before serving. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough mousse to cover the cake as I cut away too much of the cake perimeter! With insufficient mousse, I tried to use it as a glaze instead, covering up all the edge however, they are too thin a layer and the jagged edges of the cut cake peeked through, resulting in a really bad looking side of the cake. oh well..lesson learned, and my friends love the cake! 

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting (SMB)

What are cupcakes if they are not frosted right? Much as frosting are dollops of butter (screams F-A-T!), sugar (goes straight to the thighs!) and sometimes flavoring (chemicals!), cupcakes are so much more adorable and eye-pleasing with these colourful and creative little pipings. 

I'm still learning to make frosting look good, check out the leaning tower of buttercream below! Thankfully, managed to pipe a round of my latest to-go chocolate cupcakes from The Pioneer Woman with 2 delightful flavors - chocolate and peanut butter.

I really like the peanut butter frosting as it complements the dark chocolate fudgy cakes in a sweet-salty way, love how the honey-roasted peanut butter makes the SMB even more fragrant. As a person who usually scraps away my buttercream when devouring the cakes, I sinfully, guiltily indulged this time. Some of my friends still vote for the chocolate buttercream as triple whammies of chocolate cupcake, chocolate buttercream & glaze and a chocolate wafer stick totally satiates even the most chocolate-hungry appetite one can have. Go for it!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB) (from Sweetapolita)

5 large egg whites

250g granulated sugar

340g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or essence

pinch of salt

Choose one of below to add to SMB above

200g melted and cool dark chocolate

200g creamy peanut butter

Steps:
1. Place egg whites and sugar in a clean and dry metal mixer bowl, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2. Using the whisk attachment of mixer, immediately start whipping until the meringue is thick and glossy. The mixture should be at room temperature by now (It may take around 10 minutes)

3. Switch over to paddle attachment and on low speed, start to add butter cubes gradually, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture. Add vanilla, salt, and melted chocolate or peanut butter. Continue to beat on low speed until well combined.

Hummingbird Cupcakes - Full of delicious fruits and hearty with whole wheat

Did I already mention I love Bananas? And my all-time favourite cake is the Carrot Cream Cheese Cake from Cedele. Every time I think of the cake, I feel like having 1 huge slice immediately. Carrot cakes don't always taste strongly of carrots. What I love about carrot cakes is generally the crumbly, slightly coarse texture that provides bite, an earthy flavor that goes so well with a tangy sweet cream cheese frosting. Ooh and the generous doses of walnuts! So good.

Then I came across the Hummingbird. It's like my 2 loves in 1. It has the crumb structure of a carrot cake, the ooh la la sweet fragrance of ripened bananas and as an additional bonus - the juiciness of crushed pineapples. Made these 4x so far and it has always received good reviews from my kind audience. I've adjusted the recipes from the original in a few ways and also tweaked it in my first 3 attempts, finally arriving at a recipe that has a crumble that gives bite but wouldn't totally collapsed upon cutting, is not too sweet from being sugar-laden and has defined tastes of both bananas and pineapples.

I forgot to also add that it's very easy to make. ITS A CAKE EVERYONE SHOULD TRY TO MAKE! =)

Source
Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup castor sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3.5 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh crushed pineapple
2 cups mashed roasted banana
1 cup roasted walnut pieces

Steps:
1. Prepare the bananas and pineapples ahead of baking. Roast 6 mid-large ripe bananas at 200C for 8 minutes, flip and roast another 5 minutes. The skin will turn black, the banana will be mushy and your house will smell wonderful. Mash and keep 1 side. Peel and cut a ripe pineapple, chop 1 cup of pineapple into fine pieces and keep both the fruit and juices. Roast the walnuts at 200C for 5 minutes, be careful not to burn them.
Let the bananas and walnuts cool to room temperature.
2. Sift the flours together and add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, soda and salt to it. Mix well.
3. In another bowl, mix the sugars together and add the eggs. Whisk well. Add the oil and vanilla, whisk to emulsify.
4. Add the flours into the sugar/egg mixture and stir lightly to just combine. Do not use electric mixers.
5. Stir in the pineapples, then bananas and walnuts.
6. Pour into 26 cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or 2 8-inch lined round pans for 30 minutes at 170C.
Note: Cakes will dome slightly so use less batter if cupcakes are not meant to be too high or use more to make into muffin style cakelets. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
I used a mixture of cream cheese and swiss meringue buttercream, added a good dose of lemon and vanilla bean paste, mixed well and piped a round dollop then added a dried pineapple flower piece on top. Or, just stick a whole walnut piece atop for simplicity sake.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB) from Sweetapolita.
5 egg whites + 250g fine grained sugar- in a clean mixer bowl over simmering water, whisk constantly until sugar has melted. Using the electric whisk, beat at high speed until mixture is thick, glossy and the bowl has cooled to room temperature. Switch to paddler attachment.
Add 340g unsalted butter (cubed and softened) gradually at low speed until buttercream is silky soft.
Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or up to half a lemon), 2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and a pinch of sea salt. Mix well to combine.

Weigh the above amount of SMB and measure out cream cheese equivalent to 80% weight of the SMB. IE: if the SMB weights 500g, the amount of cream cheese should be 400g. Beat slightly softened cream cheese (removed from fridge for about 3 to 5 minutes only) until light and fluffy, then add the SMB and mix well to incorporate.

Note: The above SMB will yield much more than the amount needed for this batch of cupcakes but I generally make this amount and take the amount needed, then freeze the rest. It can keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

For pineapple flowers, refer to this site for step-by-step instructions.