Fudgy Chocolate Layer Cake

This recipe is from F&W magazine. But of course with a little bit adjustments, I only make 2 layers instead of 3. I also sandwiched the cake layers with whipped cream. I whipped 1/2 cup whipping cream and a tablespoon of sugar until firm peaks form. Other than that, just follow the recipe.

Theme: Chocolate
Title: Fudgy Chocolate Layer Cake
Inspiration: F&W Magazine

Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup hot coffee

Filling and Frosting

Ingredients:
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon water 
 

 Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C(fan forced). Line the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with rounds of parchment paper. Spray the pans and the parchment paper with vegetable cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar with the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the eggs and vanilla. In another small bowl, melt the butter in the hot coffee. Using an electric mixer, beat half of the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients at low speed. Beat in half of the coffee mixture, then scrape down the bowl. Beat in the remaining buttermilk and coffee mixtures.
3. Pour the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are springy to the touch. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a rack to cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper.
4. Put the chocolate in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream and corn syrup to a boil. Immediately pour over the chocolate and let stand in a warm place for 5 minutes. Gently whisk the ganache until smooth. Whisk in the butter until incorporated. Refrigerate, stirring frequently, until the ganache is thick enough to spread, about 30 minutes.
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the sugar with the water and heat for 30 seconds. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set a cake layer on a cake plate or cake cardboard and brush lightly with the sugar syrup. Spread about 3/4 cup of the frosting onto the cake in an even 1/4-inch layer. Repeat with the remaining cake layers, sugar syrup and frosting. Spread the remaining frosting around the sides of the cake. Let the cake stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Coconut Layer Cake with Swiss Meringue Frosting

I'm in the mood of making layer cakes. Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake that I baked last week was excellent. There's always a reason why we need to chill certain kind of cakes before cutting and serve it. After an overnight chilling, the flavor of the lemon curd has intensely blended with the sponge cakes and it tasted great. I definitely will bake that again.

A few days ago, my girlfriends and I went to Ben's at BSC for lunch and we also ordered some desserts. One of them was Coconut Cakes and I thought of baking a coconut cake for the weekend. No....I'm not trying to replicate Ben's Coconut Cake, instead I'm doing my Williams Sonoma book's Coconut Layer Cake.

Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup coconut extract /coconut milk

1 cup loosely packed sweetened coconut

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 160C(fan forced). Grease two 9-inch cake pan and line with a parchment round.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a bowl of a stand mixer or you can also use a handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Remove the bowl from the mixer. 
4. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture until almost incorporated. Fold in half of the coconut milk, and then fold in another third of the flour, followed by the other half of the coconut milk. Add the remaining flour and fold the ingredients until fully incorporated, and try not to overwork the batter or else the cake will be tough.
5. In a clean mixing bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the egg whites into the batter, and then fold in the coconut.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake for 25 minutes. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool in the pans for 3 minutes. Invert the pans onto the wire rack and lift of the pans. Peel of the parchment paper. Let cool completely.

Swiss Meringue Frosting

2 large egg whites, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup
1/8 cream of tartar
2 tbsp water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups loosely packed sweetened coconut
Lemon Curd

Instructions:

1. Set a saucepan filled with 1 inch water over a medium heat and bring to a simmer.
2. Off the heat, combine egg, sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar, water and lemon juice into a large heat resistant mixing bowl and whisk until blended. 
3. Set the mixing bowl over the saucepan and whisk constantly while frequently scraping the edges until the mixture begin to thicken, about 10 minutes (an instant thermometer will register 75C). 
4. Remove from heat, using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with whip attachment, beat the mixture at high speed until stiff and glossy, about 7 minutes. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the vanilla and half of the coconut.

Assemble the cake:

1. Lay one cake layer cut side-up on a cake stand. Tuck in strips of baking paper under the cake edges to keep the plate clean.
2. With a metal frosting spatula, evenly spread some lemon curd on top of the cake. Place a second cake layer on top of the curd.
3. Using a frosting spatula, frost the sides and top of the cake with the frosting. Sprinkle the remaining coconut all over the cake.

Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake

Theme: LEMON
Title: LEMON MASCARPONE LAYER CAKE

Cast:
Lemon Curd
Sponge Cakes
Lemon Syrup
Mascarpone Filling

Lemon Curd

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 cup minus 1tbsp sugar
3/4 cup strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Instruction:

1. Set aside a large bowl filled with 2 inches cold water and some ice.
2. Set a saucepan filled with 1 inch water over a medium heat.
3. Off the heat, combine egg, yolks and sugar into a large heat resistant mixing bowl and whisk until blended. Add the lemon juice and and mix well.
4. Reduce the heat to low, once the water comes to a gentle boil, set the mixing bowl over it and whisk constantly while frequently scraping the edges until the mixture begin to thicken, about 7-10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the yolks. 
5. A finished curd is done when it hold its shape, when the whisk is lifted and a bit of curd falls back into the bowl, it should remain distinct on the surface rather than blending back into the mixture. It should register 180F or about 80C on the thermometer. Remove from the heat.
6. Using a spatula immediately push the curd through a fine strainer into a medium glass bowl. Add the cold butter into the curd, burying them so they could melt quickly. Whisk until smooth and all the butter bits blended with the curd. Press a plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd.
7. Set the bowl in the large bowl of ice water. Once the curd is cooled, store in the refrigerator until needed.

Sponge Cakes

Ingredients:

6 large eggs, separated
7 tbsp plus another 7 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 175C(fan forced). Have ready 2 9-inch cake pan fitted with a parchment round. Do not grease the pan.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer or you can also use a handheld mixer, beat the yolks and 7 tbsp sugar until thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Transfer into a large bowl and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed to soft peaks, With the mixer still running, gradually add the remaining 7 tbsp sugar and beat until firm peaks form. Using a silicone spatula, fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the beaten yolks, sift half of the flour over the top and gently fold it in. Repeat. Fold in the last egg whites until smooth and fully blended.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake for 18 minutes. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Syrup

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved and the liquid is clear. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Stir in the lemon juice.

Mascarpone Filling

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
7 tbsp sugar
1 pound or half a kilo mascarpone cheese

Instructions:

1. Combine the cream and sugar into a mixing bowl. Refrigerate the bowl together with the whisk attachment for 10 minutes. Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip until soft peaks form.
2. In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone and 1 cup of the lemon curd and stir until blended. 
3. Gently fold in the whipped cream until the mixture is fully blended and thick.
4. Divide the filling into 3 portions for filing the layers, frosting and piping. You may want to set aside more for piping decorations.

Assemble the cake:

1. Run a metal spatula around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake and transfer them onto a flat surface. Using a serrated knife, slice each cake horizontally into 2 layers. Set aside one of the bottom layers to use last.Take off the parchment paper.
2. Lay one cake layer cut side-up on a cake stand. Tuck in strips of baking paper under the cake edges to keep the plate clean.
3. Brush the cake with 1/4 of the lemon syrup. With a metal frosting spatula, spread 1/3 of of the mascarpone filling on top. Place 3 tbsp of remaining lemon curd on top of the filling and spread evenly to the edge. Place a second cake layer on top, cut side up and repeat with syrup, filling and curd. Repeat with the third layer.
4. Top with the last layer, cut side down. Moisten with remaining lemon syrup. Frost the whole cake with the reserved mascarpone for frosting.
5. Transfer the reserved mascarpone for piping into the pastry bag and pipe your choice of decorations over the entire top or the whole cake, it can be rosettes, stars or hydrangeas. Put a few tbsp of the lemon curd into a plastic disposable piping bag, make a small tiny cut at the edge and pipe it onto the top of the rosettes or stars. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Chilli beef queso dip

It's a public holiday here in Malaysia...50th anniversary of the country's formation. It's a Monday and...it's an NFL regular season now...and...it's a Sunday night in the US...so my husband's goodmates are coming here for breakfast while watching the 49ers vs Seahawks. So here's the chilli beef queso dip that I prepared for them.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 large yellow onion - diced

1 pound/ half a kilo topside beef - minced

2 medium tomatoes - diced

1 package of chili con carne spice mix (a combination of chilli, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt & pepper) - I used Mexican Discovery

chilli, paprika, cumin and oregano

chilli, paprika, cumin and oregano

2 tbsp additional chili powder - just because we can take spicier food! :)

1 tsp additional cumin

1 tsp additional sweet paprika

Coarse sea salt to taste

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup cream

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Heat a medium skillet or frying pan. Pour in the oil and butter.
2. Once the butter has melted, add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the beef & tomatoes. 
3. Cook until the beef is tender and the juice almost dry. Fold in the all the spices together. Stir until fully blended. Add in the stock and salt. Let it simmer and the stock reduced a bit..around 2 minutes.
4. Add the cream while stirring the gravy. Grate the cheese in and stir until it is smooth and fully combined.
5. Remove from heat and serve with tortilla chips.

Oh-So-Velvety Chocolate Cake

Nobody will get tired of chocolate I reckon...at least I don't. Chocolate sauce, chocolate shake, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate muffin..and of course chocolate cakes! This is a very simple chocolate cake recipe and for me the best chocolate cake is the one that uses buttermilk...it makes a lot of difference particularly in terms of structure and texture. Chocolate cake with buttermilk as one of its main ingredients will be very velvety....the kind of texture that red velvet cake has. The buttermilk reacts with leavening agent, in this case baking soda , to produce carbon dioxide and making the cake so light and fluffy. This could be your basic chocolate cake recipe in making a birthday cake or other iced cake for any occasion.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups of cake flour
2/3 cup good cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
125gm butter, softened
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
250 ml whipping cream, whipped with 1 tablespoon of sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or 160C for fan forced. Brush a 9inch ring tin with melted butter.
2. Sift flour, cocoa and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the center.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk & vanilla and lightly whisk. Add into the center of the flour mixture. Using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, beat for 30 seconds on medium speed. Add the soft butter and beat for another 30 seconds on medium speed. Gradually increase to high speed and beat for about 3 minutes or until the batter becomes very smooth and free of any lumps.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Cool completely on wire rack before spreading the whipped cream.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup dried cranberry
1 egg, lightly whisked

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add the sugar & orange zest. Whisk them to combine. 
3. Grate the cold butter into the flour mixture and mix with your fingertips until it became crumbly.Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture just until it combined and became a soft dough.
4. Transfer the dough into a lightly floured surface, gently knead and roll it into a 1/4 inch thick dough. Dip a scone cutter into flour and stamp the dough into 8-10 scones depending on the size of the cutter.
5. Place the scones into the baking tray 1 inch apart, brush the top with egg and sprinkle some granulated sugar if you like. Bake them in the oven for 12 minutes.
6. Serve it warm with cream and jam

Chicken Fajitas

This week has been filled with a number of Tex-Mex dishes...all of which I had'nt got a chance to snap any proper photos for the blog purposes...they were running out so fast! It started with a chilli beef queso dip with tortilla chip, beef fajitas, buffalo wings, another batch of chilli beef queso with tortilla chips in the middle of the week and today we made a batch of buffalo wings and chicken fajitas in tortilla wraps. Seems that the whole family is into Tex-Mex food! They are so delicious, spicy and full of flavor. The flavor of all this food is based on what I have tasted in Chilli's restaurant.

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinned chicken breasts - sliced
1 yellow onion - thinly sliced
1 small red pepper - thinly sliced
1 small yellow pepper - thinly sliced
1 large portobello mushroom - sliced
1/2 pack of McCormick Fajitas spice
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chilli flakes
1 medium sized tomato 
1 medium sized cucumber 
Green and red coral lettuce
Grated cheddar cheese
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine chicken, onion, peppers and mushroom. Add the fajitas spice, paprika and chilli flakes. Rub all the ingredients evenly and set aside to marinate for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, slice and dice the tomato and cucumber. Mix them together in a small bowl and put them in the refrigerator.
3. Preheat the grill pan on high and sprinkle the olive oil. Put the chicken mixture onto the hot pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Toss and turn the chicken in between to make sure they are all well cooked and the vegetables don't get burnt.

Serve with tortilla wrap with the diced tomato-cucumber mix, lettuce and grate some cheddar cheese on top. Wrap it nicely and enjoy.

Love the microplane...