Victoria Sandwich Cake

It's back to the basics for this cake. This must be the first cake I've ever made. I got to learn this cake during Home Economics lesson. I forgot what was taught but remembered this as a very basic, failproof recipe. However, that was the only time I baked it and never re-visited. Not sure why but I think I got grossly distracted but so many other cake recipes.

So when Sweet & Simple Bakes suggested baking this cake, I tried to find time for it. To be honest,I have had quite enough of cakes in the month of August. There is a cake almost every week. I had a hard time searching whatever is left of my waistline. *sob sob~* I procrastinated till the last minute. Also for this bake-out, I reduced the recipe to fit a 3 inch pan. As usual, I reduced the amount of sugar and butter. Here's what I did.

Victoria Sandwich Cake
Ingredients
40g Butter
30g Fine Sugar
1 Egg, lightly beaten

2 Oz Self Raising Flour
*Sifted

For The Filling
1-1/2 Tbsp Apricot Jam
1 Tsp caster sugar
Some Whipped Cream

Method
1) Grease a 3 inch pan and preheat the oven to 180°C.

2) In a bowl, using a whisk to cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg, a teaspoon at a time, whisk till incorporated.

3) Fold in flour with a spatula. Pour batter into pan and bake for 15 minutes or till skewer comes clean. Remove to cool on cooling grid.

4) When cooled, slice the cake into half horizontally. Spread jam and whipped cream and sandwich the cakes together. Dust icing sugar on top.

Because of its simplicity and ease of preparation, I came to understand why it is being taught at Home Economics class now. As more and more cake recipes are being created, some came to stay, some gone and forgotten. Some may not impress you, some you'd love to death. However, timeless and classic recipes will always have a place in your heart. In this case, your tummy.

それじゃ～～

*Update : Please see here for more fabulous bakes!

Castle Cake For My Girl

I am so, so behind my posts. And I identify this as the culprit. I want to publish this post first among those backlogs as it is Ah Girl's 5th birthday today. She had requested for a castle cake earlier (initial choice was Ben 10, *faints*). Before this, I was clueless about fondant, royal icing and let alone decorating a cake. All my past bakes have been 'naked'. But to make Ah Girl's wish come true and a cake for her to remember, I decided to try make it for her instead of ordering.

Having accomplised this cake marks a milestone for me. So now is the time for me to give a 'thank-you' speech. Please bear with me. A couple of months back, I wrote to KWF and Edith for their advice. They responded and that gave me an idea how to proceed. Gina not only gave me tips but also gave me some colour gels. My sis, J lent me her silicone mat and Moss Green colour gel. The green colour would be impossible without it. And there is Yuri who cheered me on. The credit is not solely mine. Most importantly, I would like to thank the blog owner of Cake Journal. I followed her tutorials on Royal Icing and Marshmallow Fondant.























So this is supposed to be a 'Sleeping Beauty' castle. I left the space on top for the Princess Aurora figurine. But I forgot to put it there when I took these pictures. Tsk. Can't blame myself too much, I took these pictures at 3 in the morning! Prior to this, I made alot of planning and even wanted to do a trial run on this but couldn't find time. I made the fondant last Sunday at my mom's. I used my Chocolate Pound Cake recipe to bake an 8 inch and a 5 inch cake in the morning. This part was the easiest. After cooling, I crumb coat them with chocolate ganache. Most of the time spent was cutting out the flowers. I discovered that 1 of the plungers broke but still usable. Kinda slowed me further. By about 8p.m., it was time to cover the cake. I got abit worried as I have only 1 shot. Fortunately, all went well. The turrets were made of 'Smarties' Chocolate marbles. I wrapped the fondant around the bottle. I had to saw 1 cm off the ice cream cones as they were slightly too big. The middle piece was made of chocolate wafer, wrapped with fondant. The sides were covered with royal icing and sparkles.























Though tired, I had fun. I am thinking of doing this for a friend already! When Ah Girl woke up and saw the cake, she was elated! I got a hug and she said, 'I love you mommy!'. That was all I need, it made my effort seemed worthwhile. The cake was not perfect, I know because I hid the flaws. But to her, it was something she could show off to her friends and proudly declared it was made by her mommy. Her own special cake. Happy Birthday my dear girl, I love you too!

I didn't have anymore time for another cake for the teachers but am glad that the teachers liked the cake too. Putting the cake together took longer than I expected. They thought it was store-bought. Ahahaha.. I still have Ah Boy's cake done earlier coming up next. Stay tuned.

じゃね～～

Mom's Birthday Cake

Baked this cake for my mom's birthday. Unfortunately, the feedback wasn't that great. Probably because I omitted the egg yolks. The cake is soft but not chiffon kind of soft. But still, it looked pretty, right? In my quest of searching a 'fresh cream' recipe that doesn't include fat for mom, I came across Swiss Meringue. Well, it shouldn't be categorised as cream but it functioned very much like one. It's actually cooked egg whites with sugar, marshmallow tasty. The only thing is that it tastes too sweet. As this is my first trial, I did not reduce sugar. It spreads easily on the cake and sets/holds it shape pretty well. It has a glossy look too.

I used orange and yoghurt in hoping to offset the sweetess of the meringue. I thought I had it covered but I didn't expect the cake's texture and coyly sweet meringue. I still went ahead with it as it was too late to bake another one, even more so to decorate. In the end, my mom scraped away the meringue and ate the cake with lemon curd instead. The swiss meringue method was found on Taste Goblet's blog. Hers was actually a swiss meringue buttercream but I stopped at the meringue part. I actually did the buttercream for my first covered cake. It is light, fluffy and hold its shape quite well too but not under hot sun and definitely no place at a BBQ (that's where the first cake went to!).

I will not be sharing any recipes this time unfortunately as the experiments are incomplete. Till then!

じゃね～