Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bakertan Botches Things Up - Nutella Cream Cake No.2

(pic taken by my friend's iphone)

If you have'nt realised, I am very much a cake person. Give me any cake and I would not say No. No is never an option, at least to me. The cakeboy in me was whining for a cake making session, and so I whipped up a Nutella Cream Cake for a friend's birthday just a couple of days ago. This was my second attempt on it and was eager to improve on it  further this time round. You can take a look at my first attempt over here - nutella cream cake.

Unfortunately at the very critical moment, Bakertan botches it all up. Arghhh!!! How unlucky could it get? Notice in the picture that the cream frosting is grainy? I will explain what happen exactly.

After I frosted the cake for the first time, I chucked it all into the freezer as the nutella cream was melting away fast, just like chocolate ice cream melting away on a hot sunny day. Well, I thought freezing it for 10 minutes or so would'nt hurt, and it would firm up the cream fast enough so that I can do some touchup to it. I probably forgotten all about my frosted nutella cream cake and I recieved a rude shock when I tried to smoothen the frosting when I retrieved my cake about 20 minutes later. The freezing must have 'shocked' the cream such that it went grainy. ( If the temperature in the refrigerator is too cold, plain whipping cream will separate when stored)

For a moment, I was disgusted and felt like dumping the whole mess into the bin. Ok, that is a sillly thought I admit. Anyway, I went ahead and tried to cover up the messy cake a little by coating the perimeter with chocolate rice. The cream was melting furiously as I was doing the coating, so I quickly wrapped up everything and chucked the cake into a cake box and off it went for refrigeration.

  

Despite the imperfection, the taste and texture of the cream was'nt compromised. It was still smooth and creamy. The cake layers were soft, moist and fluffy, all thanks to the recipe. This time round, I doubled the amount of nutella cream, hence the layers were more obvious. I felt sorry for the birthday boy though (being a little perfectionistic in baking, maybe I am a little too harsh on myself). Thankfully, he did not mind a bit and am glad he liked it.


When the cake cutting was over, I sat down to think and review the entire episode. Two ideas struck me. It would be a much better idea doing the frosting in a cake ring, since the cream melts easily. I will probably settle for the second idea which is a safer bet; frost the cake with chocolate buttercream instead and have no worries about it softening or melting at warm room temperature. If things goes well, I can even do practice with my piping. I shall get down to working on the chocolate buttercream cake (using the same chocolate sponge) some time soon. Wish me good luck...


Tips from nice, friendly and helpful fellow baker bloggers:
1) According to NEL from The Batter Baker, the water in the cream frosting frozed into ice crystals, hence separating from the fat/cream. Me and NEL think that gelatin would help stabilize the nutella cream and prevent it from melting as fast.  
2) Jess from Bakericious suggested chilling the cream every now and then when doing the frosting. (I was lazy to do that hence I committed the mistake of freezing the cream)

21 comments:

  1. Hi Bakertan,
    This cake looks so perfect to me! Seriously speaking, your frosting has really improved over the weeks and months! :) Sometimes, it's really through all this mistake that we made, that we really learn (through the hard way). Thanks for sharing that it harden up in the freezer. Don't be too harsh on yourself, it truly looks very good!

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  2. If I were the birthday boy, I wouldn't mind either. It's so nice to be treated and have a good friend baked a birthday treat for me. Glad to hear he liked the cake and appreciated your efforts.

    I don't think you'd botched the cake. YES! You're a perfectionist in baking precisely! HAHA!

    How come the bottommost cream layer is thicker? LOL! =P

    Yea, let's make Nutella buttercream! Superb idea!

    P.S. I think we can improvise the original Nutella cream recipe to get Philly ice cream-like treat, eh? LOL! Oh, you baked this 2 days ago meh?

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  3. ZY,I am a cake person too, hmmm... that is bad changed (to my waist :P) since I used to dislike cake. Well, the older I am, the more sweet tooth I have! This cake looks very good, but I will like to have thicker cream (see, how sinful I am). You may try cake ring next time, I believe shd be workable. Or chill the cream 1st before frost, I ever did that b4, both cake and cream in and out the fridge for many times until the frosting was done.

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  4. Hi Bakertan,

    I think your cake looks gorgeous! And nutella cream sounds super delicious too :). Nice job there!

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  5. Oh yes, when I first read that the cake melted, gelatine was what I thought of.
    When working with dairy cream at our climate, always stabilize the cream with gelatin. That's how I always do it, at least it won't melt that quickly. There will be some time for mercy.
    The birthday boy is so so lucky to have u as a friend.

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  6. I don't mind having this cake for my birthday. Looks good and moist :)

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  7. Oh wow... it looks yummylicious regardless what you said! Btw, what happened to the mooncake recipe?

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  8. Yr cake looks pretty enough & I'm sure it tastes superb *^_^*

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  9. I don't mind being that friend of yours cos the cake looks lusciously soft and creamy!
    Long ago I used Hanan's double cream which stabilizes well in our climate. According to the supplier, the market for it is small and so they have stopped importing!
    Today, a workable solution is to use gelatine as suggested.
    Keep on baking! :)

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  10. I am a cake person too. This cake looks perfect to me - I havent had the guts to do a mouse cake yet.

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  11. Looks like you are getting better at this! Very nicely done, bet your friend must be pleased. But I would highly recommend sladdering more chocolate cream over the cake... Just because it will make it so sinfully good, lol! Looking forward to see more beautiful cakes from you, jia you!

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  12. If you didn't tell the process of making it, I thought this is bought from bakery shop. It looks nice for me even though the process is about troublesome for you. However, it worth the efforts! Good job! I wish to have a piece, it looks yummy!

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  13. ZY, this cake looks perfect.

    I too tried one recipe and I couldn't get the cream to firm up despite chilling it. Each time I tried spreading it, due to our climate, it melts faster than I can work. So in the end, I gave up on this and tried others.

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  14. I couldn't tell you botched things up... The cake looks very soft.

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  15. Dear ladies,

    thanks a lot for being so supportive. really apprieciate it. I will do a even better job next time round =]

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    Hey Jane,

    thanks so much for encouragement. ya agree, we learn alot from our mistakes. I am so glad to have learnt quite abit from all the silly/blatnt/misc mistakes I have committed so far, lol

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    Hey Pei-lin,

    I didnt measure the amount of cream. Just eye-balled the amount and smeared them on the layers, haha..

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    hey Jess,

    I already doubled the amount. Looks like its not thick enough for you, lol. Ya next time gonna bring out my cake ring to use.

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    Hey Allie,

    thanks! the nutella cream is heavenly even though it melts away very fast =]

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    hey wendy,

    I must go practice with using gelatine next time round.

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  16. Hi anncoo,

    thanks! its pretty moist and good. i wish i hadnt botched things up and do unjust to it.

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    Hey Jenny,

    thanks! I am slowly writing my post on the mooncakes, haha... been busy these days..

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    Hey Cathy,

    thank you so much =]

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    Hey busygran,

    thanks for sharing your experience. yup i will definitely keep on baking and wont bow down to defeat.

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  17. hi chris,

    you should try making a mousse cake. its fun and nice to eat. I was afraid to do layer cakes and mousse cakes initially, but soon overcame my fears =]

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    hey Bee Bee,

    thanks! looks like i must increase the amount of cream again next time if I do it. if i have time, i will definitely do lots and lots of cakes haha

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    hey grace,

    thanks alot! ya its worth the effort definitely.

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    hey edith,

    thanks! i think i will do it one last time. if it doesnt work well then i will give up on it.

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    hey shirley,

    sadly its the truth i didn't do it as well as i should have, haha. well, nvm i will work harder next time =]

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  18. So I must say, I would be very happy if I received this cake on my birthday. I think that it looks great! And I love the addition of nutella. How can you go wrong with that? I'm glad I stumbled on your blog tonight!

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  19. hello there! i notice that juggling with the frosting seems to be a really common problem esp in our weather. perhaps nx time instead of frosting the hard way, you can try pouring the cream into a mousse ring and let it set in the fridge. to release, use a blowtorch or hair dryer to torch the sides. that way you'll get neat sides and top, a cheat's way really :) don't hv to keep re-refrigerating the cream anymore. you can see from my strawberry shortcake entry, i did that and the sides and top looks so much neater than frosting manually.

    your cake looks fantastic anyhow ;)

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  20. Hi Zhuoyan,

    When we see a recipe asking for fresh cream, is it heavy cream, 35% whippng cream or non-dairy cream/? Thought of asking you since you seem to have good experience with creams. :P

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  21. hey monet,

    thanks for dropping by =]

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    hi bossacafe,

    thanks! I did think of using a cake ring after making the cake.

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    hey aimei,

    I will use dairy whipping cream with 35% butterfat or higher. If I am not wrong, fresh cream means dairy cream. I have not tried using non-dairy cream.

    heavy/double cream (are the same according to some sources) are at least 35%, which is almost the same as most brands of whipping cream we have here. single cream/ light whipping cream has lower %.

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