And here it is, my Halloween Cake! Yummy!
If you want to make your own, the recipe is here
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Halloween Adventures
Halloween Cake? Yes please!
I'm making a two-tier, orange and black Halloween cake. You don't have to, but I'm using a square tin for the bottom tier and a round tin for top tier (totally a pre-planned decision, not because I've left my large round tin that I need for the bottom tier at my mum's house...)
I'm using a pound cake recipe, as it not only tastes really light and moist, but is also really sturdy and great for stacking.
Recipe for the bottom, orange tier:
Ingredients
Method
Looks really cute, and hides any mistakes! You can either use alternating black and orange balls or just one colour for each tier. It's up to you!
To finish, fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe on cobwebs. Perfect!
I'm making a two-tier, orange and black Halloween cake. You don't have to, but I'm using a square tin for the bottom tier and a round tin for top tier (totally a pre-planned decision, not because I've left my large round tin that I need for the bottom tier at my mum's house...)
I'm using a pound cake recipe, as it not only tastes really light and moist, but is also really sturdy and great for stacking.
Recipe for the bottom, orange tier:
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 1/12 tsp vanilla
- 150g cake flour *
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 150g caster sugar
- 185g butter
- Orange paste food colouring **
Method
- Preheat oven to 175c/350f/gas mark 4. Line and grease a square cake tin
- In a bowl beat together the eggs, milk and vanilla
- Using a standing mixer on it's lowest setting or wooden spoon combine together the flour, sugar and baking powder. If using a standing mixer with different attachments, use the paddle attachment for this cake
- Add the butter and half of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed
- Increase the speed to medium and mix for about 1 minute
- Gradually add the rest of the egg mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are mixed
- Using a small, thin knife (I use a grapefruit knife) add some of the orange colour and mix. If you want to make the colour stronger just add more of the paste until you are happy with the colour.
- Pour the mix into the cake tin and cook for 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the cake tin, then transfer to a wire rack. Make sure the cake is cooled completely before decorating.
Recipe for the top, black tier:
Ingredients
- 25g cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp boiling water
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 125g cake flour *
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 175g caster sugar
- 185g butter
- Black paste food colouring **
Method
- Preheat oven to 175c/350f/gas mark 4. Line and grease 2 small round cake tins
- In a bowl mix the cocoa powder and boiling water until a smooth paste is formed. Leave to cool to room temperature
- Whisk the eggs and vanilla with the chocolate mixture
- Using a standing mixer on it's lowest setting or wooden spoon combine together the flour, sugar and baking powder. If using a standing mixer with different attachments, use the paddle attachment for this cake
- Add the butter and half of the chocolate/egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed
- Increase the speed to medium and mix for about 1 minute
- Gradually add the rest of the chocolate/egg mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are mixed
- Using a small, thin knife (I use a grapefruit knife) add some of the black colour and mix. If you want to make the colour stronger just add more of the paste until you are happy with the colour.
- Pour the mix into the cake tin and cook for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the cake tin, then transfer to a wire rack. Make sure the cake is cooled completely before decorating.
* A word about cake flour
Cake flour is different to self raising flour and plain flour. I haven't seen it available in supermarkets, although some people have said that Tesco and Sainsbury's sell it. Don't panic if you can't get it, as it is very easy to make your own. Recipe
** A word about paste food colours
Paste food colours are my favourite food colours, they don't affect the consistency of your cake mix and a small amount can give a very strong colour. I haven't seen them for sale in supermarkets, so you will have to go to a specialist cake decorating shop or look online for them. I buy mine here: Cake Craft World
Decorating Your Cake
You will need black ready roll icing, orange ready roll icing, buttercream (you can make it or buy it, doesn't matter!), a palette knife, a rolling pin, a pizza wheel, a piping bag with a very small nozzle and icing sugar or corn flour.
First, make sure your cakes are completely cooled. Then cover the orange bottom tier in a thin layer of buttercream, using the palette knife to smooth and even it out. Once this is applied, cover the cake with another layer of buttercream.
Then roll out your black icing onto a surface dusted with icing sugar or corn flour (to stop the icing sticking). When it is big enough to cover the top and sides of your cake fold it over the rolling pin and place it carefully on top of the cake. Cut off the excess icing at the bottom (a pizza wheel does a great job!) and smooth down the top and sides of the cake.
Now repeat the buttercream process for the top black tier. If you used two cake tins remember to sandwich the two cakes together with a thing layer of buttercream.
Roll out the orange icing as above and cover the cake. Remove the excess icing and smooth down.
Now we need to place the two cakes together - put a dollop of buttercream on the middle of the bottom tier and smooth down. Place the top tier onto this and press down gently. The buttercream will act as a glue to keep the tiers together.
I find that sometimes the icing isn't as neat at the bottom of the tier as I would like, and a great way to cover this up is to use strips or balls of icing - like this
Looks really cute, and hides any mistakes! You can either use alternating black and orange balls or just one colour for each tier. It's up to you!
To finish, fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe on cobwebs. Perfect!
Cake Flour
Some of you may have seen recipes call for 'cake flour' instead of self raising or plain. If you can't find it in a supermarket (I haven't seen it in any) you can make your own very easily!
Cake Flour Recipe:
95g plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
Sift together the plain flour and cornflour several times.
And that's it! Super easy!
Cake Flour Recipe:
95g plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
Sift together the plain flour and cornflour several times.
And that's it! Super easy!
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Red Velvet Adventures
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Red Velvet Cake. In fact, I love it so much that I had it for my wedding cake. I wanted to make some Red Velvet cupcakes to take into work cos everyone goes crazy for them!
The biggest issue I have with making Red Velvet cakes is the colour. I like mine super bright red, but you have to be careful which food colouring you use. Colouring that says "natural" on the bottle does NOT make your cakes red. However, that is all that's available in a lot of supermarkets right now, so if you want the good stuff you have to go to specialist stores or look online. I like using paste colours because they give a really vibrant colour but don't affect the consistency of your batter (but if you use these remember to add a little more liquid ingredients to your mix, as the recipe will be expecting a LOT of liquid colour!)
I love these paste colours: http://www.cakecraftworld.co.uk/products.asp?cc=64&scc=218
Today I had to make do with natural red colouring, and the cupcakes came out dark brown, no red at all. At least they still taste good though! Tomorrow I'm going to cover them with Cream Cheese Frosting, ready to take in to work on Monday.
Recipe, Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 20)
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
50ml red food colouring (if using a paste colour add 50ml of buttermilk instead)
110g butter (I actually use Stork margarine, it makes cakes and cupcakes very light and fluffy)
290g caster sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
240ml buttermilk
1tsp white vinegar
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4, 175 Celsius, 350 Fahrenheit. Line cupcake pans with cases.
Sift together flour and baking powder, and set aside for later.
In a separate bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa together (with 50ml of buttermilk if using a paste colour) to form a thick liquid, without any lumps.
Using hand mixer or standing mixer beat butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla.
Beat in the cocoa powder mix, remembering to scrape the side of the bowl with a spatula to ensure even distribution of colour.
Add one third of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of the flour, followed by the rest of the buttermilk. Add the last of the flour and mix well. Finally, add the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.
Fill the cupcake cases 3/4 full with the mixture then back for 20 minutes, turning halfway.
Once out of the oven, leave to cool inside the baking tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Wait until completely cool before covering with cream cheese frosting, and decorate with red candy hearts.
The biggest issue I have with making Red Velvet cakes is the colour. I like mine super bright red, but you have to be careful which food colouring you use. Colouring that says "natural" on the bottle does NOT make your cakes red. However, that is all that's available in a lot of supermarkets right now, so if you want the good stuff you have to go to specialist stores or look online. I like using paste colours because they give a really vibrant colour but don't affect the consistency of your batter (but if you use these remember to add a little more liquid ingredients to your mix, as the recipe will be expecting a LOT of liquid colour!)
I love these paste colours: http://www.cakecraftworld.co.uk/products.asp?cc=64&scc=218
Today I had to make do with natural red colouring, and the cupcakes came out dark brown, no red at all. At least they still taste good though! Tomorrow I'm going to cover them with Cream Cheese Frosting, ready to take in to work on Monday.
Recipe, Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 20)
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
50ml red food colouring (if using a paste colour add 50ml of buttermilk instead)
110g butter (I actually use Stork margarine, it makes cakes and cupcakes very light and fluffy)
290g caster sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
240ml buttermilk
1tsp white vinegar
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4, 175 Celsius, 350 Fahrenheit. Line cupcake pans with cases.
Sift together flour and baking powder, and set aside for later.
In a separate bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa together (with 50ml of buttermilk if using a paste colour) to form a thick liquid, without any lumps.
Using hand mixer or standing mixer beat butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla.
Beat in the cocoa powder mix, remembering to scrape the side of the bowl with a spatula to ensure even distribution of colour.
Add one third of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of the flour, followed by the rest of the buttermilk. Add the last of the flour and mix well. Finally, add the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.
Fill the cupcake cases 3/4 full with the mixture then back for 20 minutes, turning halfway.
Once out of the oven, leave to cool inside the baking tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Wait until completely cool before covering with cream cheese frosting, and decorate with red candy hearts.
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