Another Rainbow Cake... Steamed!

Rainbow cakes are such fun to eat... and these are much easier to make than the baked version.

Call me a lemming, but when I saw this recipe being circulated on my Facebook, I just couldn't resist trying it out. :)

The original recipe can be found here.

Steam Rainbow Cake

Ingredients:

6 Eggs

200g Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Extract (or almond extract or lemon juice or whatever flavour you prefer or have on hand)

280g Cake Flour, sifted, and add in ¼ tsp salt

200ml Coconut Cream/Milk (from packet.  I used Kara brand.)

Liquid food colouring

Method:

1. Prepare wok steamer. Line an 8" round tin. 
2. Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla until the mixture increases in volume and is pale in colour.  I beat the mixture with the Kitchenaid from medium to high speed for about 10 minutes.
3. LIGHTLY fold in a third of the flour, then half the coconut cream, another third of the flour, the last of the coconut cream and finally the last of the flour.
4. Ladle the batter into 7 bowls and colour with the liquid food colouring.  I found that gel food colouring doesn't work well because to incorporate the gel into the batter required a lot of stirring, and that resulted in the batter losing all those precious air bubbles which makes the difference between a light cake and a denser cake.
5. Pour the bottom-most colour (Reddish-Purple) into the cake tin, and then give it a light bang on the counter.  This is to allow the batter to flatten evenly as well as to remove the larger (and uglier) airpockets.
6. Put the cake tin in the wok steamer and steam for 5 minutes on medium heat.
7. Remove cake tin from wok steamer and pour in the second layer (Bluish-Purple), and spread the batter evenly with the back of a spoon.  Then bang the cake tin lightly on the counter and put the cake tin back into the wok steamer.  Steam for 4 minutes on medium heat.  Repeat until all layers are done.  For the final layer (Red), steam for 15 minutes before removing from the wok.
8. Remove cake from the cake tin unto a wire rack and leave to cool. 

My preference is still the baked Rainbow Cake.  Slicing into the white frosting, revealing the hues of the rainbow is a lovely surprise, and any cake with frosting is a lovely treat. :)

Nonetheless, this is a quick and easy version - no messy frosting, and a quick and clean snack that will appeal to both young and old.  Best of all is that more people have the means to steam a cake than to bake one - especially families without an oven. ;)

Ice... Cream Cake?

It being Children's Day, it would be the perfect time for cupcakes and ice-cream... only in this heat, how could an ice-cream retain its shape?  Ah-ha!  The perfect solution then: an "Ice" Cream Cupcake! ;)

This is really an easy and fun project for the kids to do too.  I started out with a flat bottom ice-cream cone wafer.  Flat bottom, because I wanted to end up with a cake that looked like McDonald's Vanilla Cone, and also because it would be less of a hassle to bake.

I used my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe and poured it into the cups.  I used the muffin tray to help hold the cones evenly separated.  With the recipe, I was able to make 18 cones.

Next, I made a perfect buttercream for this weather: Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

I discovered this recipe while looking for a better buttercream recipe, and this was the result.  Swiss Meringue, because of the way it cooks the egg whites, creates a buttercream that holds well in our hot and humid weather, and yet has a silky, creamy texture - much like a soft, creamy marshmallow. *dreamy sigh*

Instead of posting up the how-to, here's a video of how simple it is to make:

Although the ratio for the eggwhite:sugar:butter is 1:2:3, I actually used 70g egg white (from 2 eggs), 125g sugar and 200g butter.

After the cake was cooled, I covered the top with the cream and then piped the soft-swirl look on the cones...

And ta-da!

Happy Children's Day, young and young-at-heart! =)

ETA (2 March 2012):

I made this again, on my Girl's request that I make it for her Birthday.

Instead of using the SMBC, I just used a plain meringue frosting.  The frosting held up better and was much easier to pipe.  I used about 1:1 amount of eggwhite to sugar, and added vanilla for the white cones and added strawberry emluco for the pink ones. :)

The Meringue frosting kept better and was better received by the kids.  It tasted like marshmallow. ;)

I used these baskets, and sewed fishing lines across to hold the cones apart.  It also stabilised the cones so that I could carry it to school.

I used another basket to cover the bottom basket, and taped the sides to secure.  The blue baskets were later used to elevate the cones for display.

Happy 6th Birthday, Beautiful Girl! :)
I used 6 'Happy Birthday' tags to jazz up the cakes.  With cones, displaying them is a bit difficult.  I had a '6' candle that's at the table, which you can't see in this pic.  The pink and purple cloth are recycled from last year's display, and they are hiding the blue baskets. ;)

Orange Cake in a Blender

When I first saw this cake baked by a lovely lady, I was intrigued - a cake that was made in a blender!  Jam's photography made the cake look so drooling-good that I knew I had to try my hands at making this cake... and what an utterly quick and easy cake to make it turned out to be!  If you can measure out the ingredients, mix in the flour, and pop it into the oven, you're well on your way to savouring this cake! ;P


Orange Cake in a Blender
Ingredients:
1 large Orange (cut into quarters, and half it again.  Remove seeds and the white plith where possible.  No need to remove the skin - easy right?)
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Oil (I used Canola oil)
3 Eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and baking powder together.
2. Using a blender, blend the orange, sugar, oil and eggs until smooth.
3. Add the blended mixture to the flour, and mix them well together.
4. Pour the mixture into greased pan.
5. Bake in a preheated oven, 150 deg C for 40 minutes.

The cake has a very light orangey fragrance and is a perfect quick afternoon tea-cake.  It's absolutely beautiful with tea. :)

Absolutely yummy and did I mention how easy it is to bake? ;)

ETA:

I just melted some choc and poured over this cake... and the effect is oh WOW!  The choc just adds a whole different dimension to the fragrance of the orange cake... mmmm perfect!

ETA (14 June 2012):
I've tried another recipe of this cake, and it yielded a very good texture too.  It uses butter instead of oil, and self-raising flour instead of the plain flour+baking powder.  I used this recipe to help a friend bake a cake for her 12-month old daughter, so that the Birthday girl could cut and eat the cake with her family for her 1st Birthday. :)


Ingredients:
1 orange, chopped roughly into small pieces (cut into quarters, and half it again.  Remove seeds and the white plith where possible.  No need to remove the skin.)
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
180g butter, melted
Icing sugar for dusting
**If baking for older kids, add about a teaspoon or two of Cointreau for a brighter fragrance)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a round cake tin with baking paper and set aside.
2. Place the orange into the blender and blend until it's mushy.
3. Add the flour, sugar, eggs and butter and blend until just combined.
4. Pour into the baking tin and smooth surface. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.

Made in a 9-inch springform pan.

Frosted with Orange Icing.  Basically,  250g icing sugar mixed with 50ml orange juice.  We covered the cake, and then when the icing dried, it had a very nice glossy finish.

Because the recipe was so simple, I tried it out making cupcakes!  I frosted with melted chocolates...

...and the left over orange icing!  I added the Cointreau for these cuppies and my kids really loved it!

The texture is so fine and fluffy.  I didn't store them in the fridge, just in an air-tight container on the kitchen counter.

For a larger cake, you might consider using a simple choc ganache, but jazzing it up with Cointreau:

Ingredients:
170g Dark Chocolate (I used the Cadbury Old Gold 70% Cocoa)
1 teaspoon Cointreau
1 can Nestle Cream Pure Dairy Sterlised Cream

Method:
1. Heat the choc in a microwave oven at short bursts of 20 sec at med heat until all the choc is melted. Be careful not to burn the choc.
2. Pour the can of cream into the melted choc and mix well until the two ingredients are incorporated.
3. Add in the Cointreau and blend well.

Done!

The choc ganache is pliable and holds itself well in our warm weather. Excess ganache can be stored in the fridge and warmed in the microwave before use.

When Life Gives You Lemons

A warm-hearted lady sent me a recipe yesterday, for a "Luscious Belgian Lemon Teacake".  The recipe was so simple and didn't involve the use of a mixer that immediately I was intrigued at how it would turn out.

The method to this cake involves cooking a custard filling for the centre of the cake, which I suppose is what gives it its 'lusciousness'. ;)


Ingredients for Cake
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
60g butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

1. Line a 17-cm round cake tin. (I used my 8-in round cake tin, which is about 20-cm).
2. Sift the flour and add the sugar.  Rub in the butter until breadcrumb-like, then add the egg.  You'll get a sticky dough.
3. Divide the dough into 3 parts, and put 2 parts into the bottom of the tin, and spread it out with your fingers.

Ingredients for Lemon Custard
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup of sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
60g butter

Method

1. Put all your ingredients except the lemon zest into a saucepan and melt on low heat, stirring constantly.
2. Once the sugar has melted, slowly bring the mix to boil and it will thicken.  Once that happens, turn off the heat.

Back to Cake Method

1. Sprinkle half of the lemon zest over the cake batter in the tin.
2. Pour the lemon custard over the cake batter.
3. Cut up the remaining cake batter into teaspoon sizes and drop them onto the custard to cover evenly.
4. 
   
   
   
5. Sprinkle the rest of the lemon zest over the cake and pop it into the oven set at 180 deg C for 30 mins. (I lowered the heat after 15 minutes to 175 dec C because the top of the cake looked very brown. :))
6. Cool in the tin.
7. 
8. Remove from tin, sprinkle icing sugar on top, and then serve with tea.  Yums!

The fragrance of this cake while baking is wow!  The whole house is filled with its scent. :)
The cake is crumbly, sticky and parts of it crunchy... what a mouthful of texture and goodness!

So friends,
When life gives you lemons, don't despair!
Make this luscious lemon cake to share -
Your woes are halved, your blessings doubled,
When friends share your lemons and your trouble.

I Can Eat A Rainbow!

Why are there so many, songs about Rainbows and what's on the other siiiiiiiiiide?

Perhaps it's because rainbows are one of the most uplifting, joyful images we have. =)

When I was volunteering at no. 3's class to teach the pre-nursery kids to play with their food (;P), I promised the class that I would make them a rainbow cake.  The night before, I made friends with a lovely lady, Selphie, who blogged about making a Rainbow Cake.  Instantly, I was inspired to try my hand at this.  After all, the premise was simple - tinting the cake batter and then assembling it - but the effect! Wow!

In the interim period, some of no. 3's friends would remind me of my promise whenever I go to the school to fetch no. 2 & 3.  Since this was the last week of school, I decided to get this done, otherwise they would probably forget about the whole idea of eating a rainbow! ;)

I would have used a cake mix for this in a pinch, but I didn't quite have the time this week to hit the stores.  Therefore, I googled for a simple cake mix, and this one had good reviews.  In addition, what I like about this recipe is that I needn't separate the eggs.  For me, simplicity is key! ;)

I knew that a 7-layer cake would be quite tall if I doubled the basic cake recipe, so I went for 1.5 times the recipe.  In all, the cake was a good size to share with a class of 10 preschoolers and their teachers.

The Vanilla* Cake Recipe
* I use Vanilla extract here, but I suppose you can substitute it for any essence you like.  No. 1 is already thinking of mango or lemon... ;P
Ingredients

300 g white sugar
170 g butter
3 eggs
15 ml vanilla extract
280 g all-purpose flour (sifted together with the baking powder)
10 g baking powder
180 ml milk
Red, Yellow and Blue Wilton Food Colouring Gel

Method

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until the butter lightens.  This would take about 8 minutes.
2. Add in the eggs one at a time, creaming each one well after cracking it in.  Scrape down, mix, and then crack in the next egg.
3. Add in the vanilla extract. (Or any other substitute.)
4. Make 3 batches of the flour mix and 2 batches of the milk.  Add in the flour to the cream mix first, followed by milk, flour, milk and finally flour.  At each addition, make sure to mix it well.
5. Being one of those needing exact measurement, I weighed out the cake batter - 1073g - and divided it up into 7 portions - about 153g each portion.
   
   
   
6. Using the 3 primary colours, add enough gel paste to colour the portions Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet and Indigo (Dark Purple).
7. Line and grease 2 or 3 8-inch cake pans and bake them in a 165 degC oven for 15 minutes.  Once the cake is done, turn it out onto a cake rack, and reline the cake pan for the next layer.
8. Allow all the cake layers to cool before frosting.

Because I baked the night before frosting, I placed each layer of cake on a dinner plate, covered it with a plastic food wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.

Assembling the cake

I used the butter-cream cheese frosting that I've posted before, but used vanilla extract instead of strawberry, in order not to clash with the vanilla cake.

1. Starting from the indigo layer, use about 1 heaped tablespoon of the frosting to coat the layer before placing the violet layer on.  Do likewise to the violet layer all the way until you get to the red layer.  While frosting the layers, take care to 'fill-in' the sides, especially if your cake layers are like mine, tapering off at the sides.
   
   

   

   Building upwards...

   
   

   

   Frosting, frosting...

   

   And building upwards...

   

   until the last layer...

   

   Of course, frost the final red layer and sides before putting it in the fridge. =)

   
   
2. Once the cake has a frosted coat, return it into the freezer to harden before frosting the cake proper.

I toyed with the idea of making a fluffy looking frosting that is cloud-like, but because of time (I had to tie no. 2 hair for school!!!) I kept the frosting simple.

My cakeboard was sufficiently 'cloud-like' with the scalloped edge. ;P

At the school, I talked to the preschoolers (3-year-olds) about the colours they see in the sky - blue, pinks and black - and the colours of clouds.  We talked about favourite colours and those that can be found in a rainbow... and then I cut a slice out and their eyes literally widened! =)

We didn't do this, but I suppose we could have sung:

Red and yellow and pink and green

Purple and orange and blue

I can EAT a rainbow, 

EAT a rainbow, 

EAT a rainbow too.

=)

Dinosaur Cakepops

A mini-dino conference!

This is so easy to do! My dinosaur-loving nephew had a party and I made these for him.

Just fashion the cake into a dinosaur shape with a big head and a long tail. Use a skewer to shape arms and legs. Dip the shape into chocolate coating and attach white sprinkles for the eyes. Dot the sprinkle with an edible ink pen.

While the chocolate is still soft, attach jumbo heart sprinkles all the way down the back of the dino. If the choc is already hardened, then dip the heart into a little of the melted choc and attach it to the dino.

I made only 4 Dino cakepops for him, and he was so nice to share it with his cousins. =)

Headless dino!

The Hello Kitty Post (Part 2)

Continuing the theme of Hello Kitty cakes, I had intended to bake and decorate a Hello Kitty cake for the girl's birthday party. Then I stumbled upon this:

The minute I saw this cake set, I realised how simple making the Hello Kitty cake could be. From Edna's party last year, I realised that cutting the cake was usually a messy event. Making cupcakes would be far easier, but the effect isn't as nice as a large whole cake.

Therefore, the puzzle cake set was a perfect in-between - I had a big cake, and it's made up of cupcakes!

All singing "Meow"!

After baking the cake, I levelled the cups and arranged it like this:

I used my cookie sheet and wrapped it in foil as a base. After arranging, I filled in the spaces with frosting:

Then I frosted over the entire cake with white frosting:

After frosting over, I sketched out the pattern of how I'd be frosting the cake. Essential items of Hello Kitty would be the ribbon on her left ear. Also, the cake shape for the ear is curved, but I shaped it into a point. I figured that I'd deal with it when I outlined the cake later.

After frosting the cake, I used 2 chocolate Malteses for Kitty's eyes and yellow Nerd sweets for Kitty's nose. The cake was beginning to look like Kitty.

I outlined Kitty with the chocolate coating I used for Edna's cakepops. It was an inspired move because the chocolate hardened and helped hold the frosting together. I melted the choc in a HD plastic bag, cut a tiny hole at a corner and used it to pipe the outline. As there was already an impression in the frosting, the piping held neatly. I topped off Kitty's whiskers with Pocky sticks.

In case there wasn't enough cupcakes to go along, and in case of the usual "Could I have a smaller piece?" request, I also made mini cupcakes which I decorated like this:

I used the melted choc to pipe the whiskers and eyes. A Nerd sweet made up the nose. Two Jumbo hearts and a red M&M made the ribbon.

In all, we had 36 cupcakes - 12 mini ones and 24 normal size ones... more than enough for Edna's party. And on an environmental note, the cups can be reused because they are made from silicone. Therefore, before handing out the cups, we let our guests know that we were collecting the cups back, and they could help us by putting the cups into the cake box. =)

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe:

2 boxes Cream Cheese

1 block unsalted butter

Icing sugar to taste (about 1.5 cups to 2 cups)

Flavouring of choice

Beat cream cheese and butter together. Gradually add icing sugar until frosting stiffens. Add flavouring of choice.

For this cake, I used a Strawberry essence, which went well with the chocolate cake.