In the mood for Cupcakes - Red Velvet and Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

After two bake-less weeks, it is time to ride on the baking mood. Somehow, I am very much into the making of cupcakes this week. It might come across as a little late for Aspiring Bakers, but I am enjoying myself to the brim nevertheless. So far the count is three, and I have a good feeling the number will be on the rise. 

 

Once again, I have been tasked to help with cupcake making. Due to my friend's relentless nagging for Red Velvet Cupcakes, I finally threw in the towel and decided to embark on this activity that somewhat spells 'Radioactivity', due to the awkwardly deep red colour of these cupped treats. The colour of my cupcakes did not turn out as truly red as I only had 'Xmas red' Wilton gel colour on hand. 

Using the recipe from my newly arrived Martha Stewart Cupcakes from Amazon, the texture turned out to be amazingly fluffy even though there is no creaming of butter involved in the entire mixing process. Texture wise, it is definitely a yes from me. Taste-wise, I wished it had been richer or more vibrant. Then again, I have not had much encounters with Red Velvet cakes hence little room for comparison to know what is considered to be a good one. Perhaps the cream cheese frosting will give it a more rounded flavour on the whole. 

For the cream cheese frosting, I confirmed my hypothesis that Tatura cream cheese (from Phoon Huat) is indeed not a good brand for use in frostings. It created a messy lump when I tried to do peanut butter cream cheese frosting and the cream cheese frosting for the red velvet cupcakes looked kind of lumpy/ somewhat curdled/ loose (a little dough like) and did not pipe out as ideally as I would like it to be, compared to when I was using Elle & Vire cream cheese. However, when doing cheesecakes using Tatura cream cheese, the results are not too shabby.

I made a astounding discovery relating to these red velvet cupcakes. When eaten straight from the fridge chilled, the cupcakes remained tender and fluffy like they just came out of the oven. Because of the chilling, the cream cheese frosting has a nice firm texture, almost like a cheesecake layer which makes the cupcake even more so enticing.  

Besides acceding to my friend's request for red velvet, I managed to convince him that these Chocolate Mud Cupcakes are truly to die for. The texture is moist, fudgy and it resembles a cross between a fluffy cupcake and a souffle, due to its flour-less nature and the incorporation of beaten egg whites. To go along with the chocolate cupcakes, I piped 'piles of chocolate dung' and spooned spiked piles (for a simple homemade look) onto them, which are actually Dark Chocolate Frosting from Martha Stewart Cupcakes.

Comparing this Dark Chocolate Frosting with the Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting, the former is a dark chocolate buttercream that holds its shape well when piped while the latter (much higher chocolate content) is a fudge-like chocolate goodness that spells awfully chocolate.

Hmm.. After taking a bite into one of the chocolate mud cupcakes, I realised the frosting layer is too thick and it overshadowed the richness of the chocolate mud cupcakes. The frosting by itself is actually not too shabby. However, the morale of the story - keep these chocolate mud cupcakes unfrosted and frost other less rich cupcakes instead. Lesson learnt. Apparently, stacking one rich flavour onto another rich flavour doesn't quite work out!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting ( recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes)
Serving size: Makes 9 standard size cupcakes
Taste and texture: Fluffy and moist cake texture.
Equipment and Materials:

• Standard size muffin tin
• Cupcake liners to fit
• Flexible spatula
• Handheld beater/ stand beater
• Wire rack
• Wooden skewer/ toothpick/ cake tester
• Flour sieve
• Piping bag
• Large round piping tip
• Mixing bowls

Red Velvet Cupcakes

• 150g cake flour
• 1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150g caster sugar
• 180 ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg, at room temperature (55g to 60g with shell)
• 1/4 tsp red colour (gel)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 125ml buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp distilled white vinegar

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 120g unsalted butter, softened
• 240g cream cheese, straight from the fridge
• 100g - 200g icing sugar (or add more if desired to obtain firmer but sweeter frosting)
• 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Making the cupcakes

Prepare oven and muffin tin - Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Prepare flour mixture - Sift cake flour, cocoa powder and salt into a large bowl. Using a balloon whisk, whisk to combine and allow the dry ingredients to be evenly distributed.

Mixing oil, sugar and egg- In a mixing bowl, beat oil and sugar until combined on med-high speed. Add in the egg and continue beating until mixture is smooth, for about 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl well with a flexible spatula.

Alternating flour mixture and buttermilk - Turning the mixer to low speed, add 1/3 portion of the flour mixture to the oil-sugar-egg mixture and beat until well combined. Next add in half the buttermilk and mix well. Continue the alternating addition of flour (3 additions) and buttermilk (2 additions), starting and ending with flour mixture. Batter should be well combined and smooth. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl well with a flexible spatula during the mixing process to incorporate loose ingredients.

Adding baking soda and vinegar mixture - In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar. The mixture will foam. Add it to the batter and mix for 20 seconds on medium speed. 

Baking the cupcakes - Spoon batter into cupcake liners until 4/5 filled. Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes at 180 degrees C or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean. 

Preparing Cream Cheese Frosting

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy and smooth on medium speed. Turn to low speed and add in 100g of icing sugar. Mix to obtain a smooth frosting. To obtain a firmer frosting, add more icing sugar to desired firmness at the expense of sweetness. Add in vanilla and mix well. Frost red velvet cupcakes as desired. 

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Chocolate Mud Cupcakes (recipe adapted from Tempt: Cupcakes to Excite by Betty Saw)
Taste and Texture: Tender, gooey with tiny bits of almonds.
Serving size: 9 standard size cupcakes
Recipe: Refer to Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

Dark Chocolate Frosting ( recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes)

Quantity: Makes enough to frost 16 cupcakes

Taste and texture: Chocolatey and buttercream-like. 

Ingredients:

• 30g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 80ml boiling water
• 300g unsalted butter, softened
• 70g icing sugar
• pinch of salt
• 450g dark chocolate (50-60% cocoa mass), melted and cooled

Making the dark chocolate frosting:

In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and boiling water to obtained a smooth cocoa liquid. In a large mixing bowl,  beat butter and icing sugar on medium-high speed until butter mixture is pale and fluffy. Turning to low speed, add the cooled melted chocolate and mix to obtain a smooth mixture. Lastly, add in cocoa mixture and beat well. Frost cupcakes as desired. 

Notes:

1. Red velvet cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting need to be kept refrigerated. 
2. Leftover/unused cream cheese frosting and dark chocolate frosting should be kept refrigerated in freezer bags/ piping bags/ ziplock bags. 
3. Serve red velvet cupcakes chilled. The cream cheese frosting will be firm and the cake will remain moist, soft and fluffy. However, allow the chocolate mud cupcakes to rest at room temperature for some time to allow it to soften before serving.
4. Chocolate Mud Cupcakes will shrink in size when cooled, creating a sunken crater. This is perfectly normal. 

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Irish Cream Chocolate Cake

To date, I have tried out numerous chocolate cake recipes. Most of them are similar in one aspect - they usually turn out to be crumbly. This was something I had not expected when I made an Irish Cream Chocolate Cake just a few weeks back. 

Whenever I decide on any recipes to try out, I will take some time to read the brief write-up to learn more about the cake (if there is any), followed by scrutinizing the list of ingredients. What brought my attention to this particular pound cake is the use of Irish Cream, a generous amount of it compared to just a mere few tablespoons.

The author had described this particular cake to be dense yet velvety in texture. It does sounds contradicting that the cake can be dense yet velvety at the same time. However, I can attest to the fact that these two qualities are not mutually exclusive.  I could understand perfectly what she meant after having tasted the cake. There is hardly any crumbs falling when I took a bite into a slice of it, as opposed to the conventional chocolate cake which is ever-so-crumbly. Flavour-wise, there is a decent caramel hint of Irish Cream minus the alcoholic aftertaste that which some might not welcome.

Irish Cream Chocolate Cake (recipe adapted from 300 Best Chocolate Recipes by Julie Hasson) 

Taste and texture: Dense yet velvety, has a decent hint of Irish Cream. 

Serving size: 8-10 slices, makes one 9 x 5 inch cake

Equipment and materials:

• 9 x 5 inch loaf
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring spoon set
• Measuring jar
• Handheld mixer/ Stand beater
• Baking paper
• Flour sieve
• Rubber spatula

Ingredients:

• 185g cake flour
• 45g cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• 225g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 200g castor sugar
• 200g whole eggs, at room temperature
• 150ml Baileys Irish Cream

Making the cake:

Preparing loaf tin and oven - Line and grease a 9 x 5 loaf tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 

Preparing dry ingredients - In a large mixing bowl, sift in cake flour, cocoa powder and salt. Use a wire whisk to disperse the dry ingredients evenly. 

Creaming the butter - Place softened butter and castor sugar in a mixing bowl. Cream the butter as mentioned in how to cream butter. 

Adding eggs to creamed butter - Add eggs to creamed butter in 4 additions, beating the mixture for 2 minutes on medium low speed after each addition is added. As eggs are added, the mixture tends to curdle. With continuous beating, the mixture becomes smooth and firms up. 

Alternating dry ingredients and Irish Cream - Add 1/3  of the dry ingredients to the egg-butter mixture. Beat on low speed until dry ingredients disappears and batter is smooth. Next, add in half of the Irish cream and continue to beat on low speed until Irish Cream is incorporated and batter is smooth. Repeat the alternating of dry ingredients and Irish Cream until all ingredients are used up and batter is smooth. Scrape down sides and bottom of mixing bowl with a spatula to blend in stray ingredients. The process should be as follows

1. Add first 1/3 addition of dry ingredients.
2. First 1/2 addition of Irish Cream.
3. Second 1/3 addition of dry ingredients.
4. Remaining 1/2 of Irish Cream.
5. Remaining 1/3 dry ingredients.

Baking the cake - Pour batter in lined loaf tin and bake at 180 degrees C for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10mins. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.   

Chocolate Lava Cake - Pudding or Cake?

The air seems rather quiet in the regional blogosphere lately. Most blogs which I frequent seem to be taking breaks. I have been taking short breaks myself, doing blog-hopping less frequently and not leaving comments as often. In the meanwhile, I am still baking and trying out recipes as usual and the inspiration for baking never cease to end. For the month of may, I seem to be going on a chocolate streak or rather a chocolate rampage to satisfy the chocoholic in me. 

Now that I have been baking for a while, I have clear vision on the direction I am heading for. The impression of fondant cakes has been stubbornly stuck in my mind recently and I cannot help but want to think of opportunities to get my hands working on them. With that in mind, I will be planning fondant cupcake projects fortnightly or once every month so as to gain some practice and experience. Since my mum's birthday is around the corner, it would be a great theme to kick start the cupcake project. I am excited just at the thought of it. Great man!

When it comes to desserts, I am not a big fan of desserts that are served warm. There are some exceptions though, one of them being the Chocolate Lava Cake or Chocolate Fondant Cake. Even though the name suggests that it is a cake, it is more like a rich chocolate pudding instead. To get the best experience out of your chocolate lava cake, do serve it warm and top it with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream. The coldness and the velvet texture of the ice-cream helps to contrasts the warm-rich-gooey pudding and adds colour to your gastronomic experience. 

With a hint of coffee aroma, this chocolate lava cake is a potent dessert, maybe even too rich for the palate when one asks for additional servings, which is most possibly attributed to the additional 4 egg yolks. Death by Chocolate Lava Cake would serve as a suitable name for this dessert. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delights May 2011, hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted. 

Chocolate Lava Cake (recipe adapted from Cooking for Beginners by John Burton Race and Angela Hartnett)

Taste and Texture: Rich and thick-gooey.

Serving size: 4-6

Equipment and Materials:

• Heatproof bowl
• Mixing bowls
• Ramekins or 3.5 inch round tart tins (1.5 inch deep)
• Saucepan
• Wire whisk

Ingredients:

• 185g dark chocolate buttons/callets/pistoles (I used 63%)
• 180g unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 200g whole eggs + 45g egg yolks
• 2 tbs instant coffee powder (I used Nescafe)
• 85g caster sugar
• 80g plain flour

Making the pudding:

Melting chocolate and butter - Place chocolate and butter chunks in a heatproof bowl. Sit the heatproof bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering water placed over low flame, without the base of the heatproof bowl touching the water. This is known as a double-boiler.  Allow the chocolate and butter to melt, stirring the mixture frequently. 

Adding egg yolks to melted chocolate mixture - When the chocolate and butter have fully melted and results in a smooth mixture, remove the heatproof bowl from the heat. Whisk in the egg yolks into the chocolate-butter mixture until well combined. Set aside to allow the mixture to cool.

Combining whole eggs and rest of ingredients - In a mixing bowl, combine whole eggs, coffee powder, sugar and flour to obtain a smooth mixture. 

Obtaining final batter - Fold the cooled chocolate-butter-yolk mixture into the whole egg mixture and mix well. 

Chilling the batter - Spoon batter equally into prepared ramekins (greased and floured) or tart tins and chill for at least 30 mins. 

Baking the chocolate lava cake - Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Bake batter for 8-10 mins. Serve warm in ramekins/ tart tins or allow the pudding to cool and set for a while before running a small knife round the perimeter and turning them out onto serving plates. Serve with vanilla ice-cream. 

Notes:

1. Flour the ramekins/tart tins well if you are intending to turn the puddings out. There is less chance of the pudding sticking to the tins/ramekins if they are greased and floured. 
2. Bake one pudding to test the timing. The middle should be molten and the sides are set. If overbaked, there will not lava gushing out when a spoon is dugged into the middle. 
3. Do not skip the part on chilling. It helps the pudding achieve its fudgey-gooey-ness. 

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Chocolate Mud Cupcakes - Chocolate Fever

As I am writing this post, I am impatiently waiting for my Google Chrome browser to be allowed access to my blog. It turns out that I have to rely on my backup browser, Mozilla Firefox, to sign in to my blog. 

Sometimes, I wonder. Have we become slaves to technology? Access to the internet and the use of cell phones have officially become our next basic needs after water, food and air. Sadly, I am guilty of being enslaved to technology myself. When my internet lines are down, I feel helpless without access to my Windows Messenger, Hotmail and Blogger. Luckily, I am not much of an addict to Twitter and Facebook yet. Perhaps one reason would be that I am at present not an owner of a smart phone. I have to admit that I am slow in catching onto the technology train, for I am still using a Sony Ericsson non touch-screen flip phone. 

Now that my cell phone is sending me hints of retirement having served a two-year term, I am evaluating my needs and the functionality of various smart phone models available on the market. Apart from the search for a new phone, I am also toying with the idea of getting a new camera. 

My point and shoot digital camera (Sony DSC-T2) has been serving its purpose well when it comes to food photography. There is little need to adjust the manual settings and all I have to bear in mind is the minimizing of camera shake which will cause pictures to lose focus. What caught my attention initially is the touch screen capability which makes navigation throughout the interface a breeze. However, there seem to be a limit to the level of sharpness. Even with the aid of digital enhancement (I do simple edits in Photoshop), some pictures still look a little blurry.

As mentioned previously, I am in quite a chocolate mood these days since May is a month of Chocolate Delights, the theme for Aspiring Bakers May 2011. My idea of an ideal chocolate treat is one that is moist and fudgey/gooey. This Chocolate Mud Cupcake fits the description aptly, with its light moist gooey texture. When eaten warm, it is particularly comforting and even more so when accompanied with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delights May 2011, hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted.   

Chocolate Mud Cupcakes (recipe adapted from Tempt: Cupcakes to Excite by Betty Saw)

Taste and Texture: Tender, gooey with tiny bits of almonds.

Serving size: 10 medium sized cupcakes

Equipment and materials:

• Cupcake liners
• Medium size muffin tin
• Electric beater
• Spatula
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring scale
• Wire whisk

Ingredients:

• 30g cocoa powder
• 120ml boiling hot water
• 110g dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 63%)
• 110g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 165g brown sugar
• 100g ground almond
• 80g egg yolks
• 120g egg whites

Making the Cupcakes:

Preparing muffin tin - Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Preparing egg-yolk batter - In a large mixing bowl, combine the hot water and the cocoa powder. Stir well to remove the lumps and ensure cocoa is well dissolved. Next, add in melted chocolate, melted butter, brown sugar and ground almonds. Stir to obtain an evenly mixed mixture. 

Using an electric beater, beat in egg yolks on medium low speed, one at a time, ensuring each egg yolk is well combined before adding the next.

Beating egg whites - In a separate clean metal bowl, beat egg whites on low speed until it turns foamy. Gradually increase the speed to medium high when the volume increases. The egg whites should stiffen in the process and the volume will increase about 6 times. Continue to beat the egg whites until they form medium-firm peaks. This is when the beaters are lifted from the egg whites, snowy egg white peaks are formed and they are slightly wobbly when the bowl is shaken.

Folding egg whites into egg-yolk batter - Fold one third of beaten egg whites gently into egg-yolk batter to lighten. Incorporate the remaining egg whites and fold gently to obtain a smooth, watery-foamy batter. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure even mixing.

Baking the cupcakes -  Spoon batter into cupcake liners until they are nearly filled. The batter will not rise much. Bake cupcakes at 175 degrees C for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cupcakes will sink noticeably in the middle when cooled.

Notes:

• There is no gluten in this recipe. Hence, it might be one factor why the cupcakes tend to sink and shrink.

Double the Chocolate Goodness

What is the best thing to do when you have a sweet tooth? The answer is - learn to bake. And that was what I did exactly. Now that I have been baking for some time, I can satisfy my sweet cravings whenever I feel like it, customized the way I want it to be.

Now that this month's Aspiring Bakers theme is chocolate, I have a list of chocolate bakes making their way to my to-do-list. I am so going to abuse my chocolate books for this period of time, one particularly worth mentioning being Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson. The book promises a myriad of lip-smacking chocolate treats, and one treat that caught my eye was a Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe.

Previously when I made similar double-dosed chocolate cookies, they turned out supremely fudgy,gooey and slightly on the sweet side, very much like brownies in the form of cookies. In contrast, these Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Lisa Yockelson turned out to be firm and sandy (I usually like my cookies to be firmer). There were little pockets of 'molten lava' enveloped amidst the crumbs, thanks to the use of chocolate chunks (I used chocolate callets/pistoles) instead of the conventional chocolate chips. If chocolate chips were used, they would melt to a paste-like consistency instead. 

On the whole, most recipes from this chocolate compendium by Lisa Yockelson look very promising. However, there tend to be many similar recipes, for example, several recipes on flourless/ near flourless chocolate cakes with little explanation on how the texture and taste would vary. Readers from certain parts of the world might also be short-changed since different varieties of chocolate sweets (Snickers, Reese Buttercups, Heath etc) are often used, but some of them may not be easily available. 

Even though the recipes I have tried all work out really well, I must say she has a tendency to produce extremely sweet chocolate frostings, some of which require 4-7 cups ( 1cup icing sugar is 100g) of icing sugar. These are the recipes I am never going to try out. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies (recipe adapted from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson)

Serving size: 40 cookies

Taste and texture: Crunchy, sandy, bittersweet chocolatey with pockets of molten chocolate. 

Equipment and Materials:

• Stand beater/ handheld mixer or wooden spoon
• Flour sieve
• Measuring spoon set
• Spatula
• Mixing bowls
• Wire rack
• Baking trays/ cookie sheets
• Baking/ parchment paper

Ingredients:

• 220g plain flour
• 1 tbs cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• 165g unsalted butter, softened
• 135g castor sugar
• 60g brown sugar
• 50g egg, beaten and mixed with 2 tsp vanilla or 1 tbs Baileys
• 60g unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 230g coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate in pistole/callet form (around 60%)

Making the cookies:

Mixing dry ingredients - Sift the plain flour, cocoa powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk with a balloon/wire whisk to ensure even distribution. 

Cream butter - Cream butter on medium low speed until fluffy. Add in castor sugar and continue to beat for 2 minutes. Add in the brown sugar and beat for 1 minute. The creamed butter should be sandy and fluffy. 

Making the cookie dough - With the mixer on medium low speed, add the beaten egg mixture in two additions, ensuring each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Add in melted unsweetened chocolate and beat until combined, scraping sides and bottom of bowl of ensure even mixing. 

Next, add in the flour and mix on low speed until the flour just disappears. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chunks   and ensure that they are evenly distributed. Chill prepared dough for 30 minutes. 

Baking the cookies - Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Scoop levelled tablespoons of dough onto baking trays lined with baking paper, spacing each dough apart to allow space for spreading. Bake cookie dough for 16-20 minutes at 180 degrees. Cookies will be slightly firm to the touch when done and will firm up further upon cooling. Allow cookies to firm up for a bout a minute or two on their baking trays before transferring them to cool on wire rack. Ensure cookies cool completely on wire rack before storing in air tight containers. 

Notes:

• Do a test batch (3 or 4 cookie dough) to determine your ideal baking time and texture. It might not be the same as mine since every oven is different. My cookies usually take 20 minutes to bake. Do note that a longer baking time would result in a firmer cookie and a shorter baking time produces softer cookies. 
• The 30 minute chilling time prevents the cookies from overspreading. To get nice thick cookies that do not spread much, freeze the dough for 5 minutes after they are shaped. 
• Unsweetened chocolate is not the same as cocoa powder. 
• You might want to add more bittersweet chocolate. I will be doing that for my next round. 
• To re-crisp the cookies, return the cookies to the oven and bake at 180 degrees for about 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely. The crunch will return. 

Two Bakers and a Cookies and Cream Layer Cake

Last Saturday was a day which I very much looked forward to. Me and Jean had arranged to meet up and do a couple of bakes. The bakes on our list are a cookies and cream layer cake and a chocolate banana swiss roll. 

Unfortunately as I was down with Sinus and my nose was like a running tap, the plan for the chocolate banana swiss roll had to be called off. I was not able to focus well while baking. Had Jean not reminded me, I would have carelessly left out the cocoa powder for the chiffon sponge.  

Combining our efforts, both of us assembled the cake from scratch. Jean layered the cake while I did the frosting. Compared to my previous cookies and cream cake (pictures were lost when my com crashed recently), the frosting was not very well executed. You can see some parts of the cake only had a thin layer of frosting which could barely cover the chocolate sponge in the interior. I was not really in the mood to bother myself with a cleanly frosted cake. 

When it comes to frosted cakes, I am not quite a cream person. On the other hand, Jean loves fresh cream. For me, if it has to be a cream cake, the fillings and flavours that accompany the cream are crucial. I was kind of skeptical at how the cake would turn out to be initially and I am glad that it turned out great. The chunky Oreo cookie bits softened in the cream filling to a texture similar to that of a cookies and cream ice cream. To enhance the flavour, I added in a bit of icing sugar and vanilla extract. If you are a cookies and cream lover, this is the cake for you. 

I am definitely glad to have Jean at my place for a nice Saturday afternoon of baking and sharing session. Look forward to our upcoming baking sessions and executing many more bakes. When you have company, you can expect to be more ambitious. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted

Cookies and Cream Cake ( Chocolate Sponge Cake recipe adapted from 超人气香港蛋糕56款, Cream filling adapted from My Birthday Cake by Kevin Chai)

Serving size: Makes a 8 inch round cake. Serves 10 slices.

Taste and texture: Cake base is soft and moist. Cookies and cream filling is similar to cookies and cream ice cream.

Equipment and materials:

• 8 x 3 inch round pan
• 9 inch round cake board
• Cake leveller or palette/serrated knife longer than 8 inches
• Balloon/wire whisk
• Rubber spatula
• Handheld beater/Stand beater
• Baking paper
• Wire rack
• Toothpick/wooden skewer
• Flour sieve
• Mixing bowls
• Cake turntable (optional)
• Star Piping tip (Wilton # 22)

• Piping bag
• Coupler

Chocolate Sponge Cake (3 layers):

• • 70g egg yolks, room temperature
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 4 tbs vegetable oil
  • 4 tbs water
  • 80g cake flour
  • 15g cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 145g egg whites, room temperature
  • 50g caster sugar
    
    

Making the Chocolate Sponge Cake:

Prepare Oven - Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Prepare flour mixture - Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk to combine and allow the dry ingredients to be evenly distributed.

Making the egg yolk batter - Place egg yolks, 50g caster sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add in oil and water. Mix well with a wire whisk. Add in the flour mixture and mix to obtain a smooth and thick chocolate batter.

Beating egg whites - In a clean metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on low speed. Increase speed slowly to medium-high and beat untill egg whites are at soft peaks. Add 50g of sugar gradually and beat untill egg whites are almost stiff and still moist. This is when the beaters are lifted, the egg whites will form peaks that are upright and not drooping slightly. Egg whites will resemble whipped cream.The entire bowl of whites will not drop out when the bowl is overturned. Do not beat until the egg whites are dry and clumpy.

Folding in egg whites - Using a balloon whisk, fold one third of beaten egg whites into egg yolk batter gently to lighten and combine. Fold in the rest of the beaten whites to combine. Final batter should be foamy and uniform in colour with no streaks of egg white present. Folding egg whites gently using a balloon whisk will prevent egg whites from deflating too much.

Baking the sponge cake - Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 x 3 inch round pan and bake at 160 degrees C for 25 -30 minutes. Test doneness using a skewer or toothpick. The highest part of the cake should rise up to 4/5 of the height of the tin. When the cake is done, the inserted skewer will come out clean. Cake will shrink from edges and in height on cooling. Unmould sponge cake and leave to cool upright on a wire rack.

Cookies and Cream Filling:

• 250 ml chilled whipping cream (diary)
• 160g coarsely crushed Oreo cookies, cream filling removed
• 1 tbs icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Frosting and Decorations: 

• 300ml chilled whipping cream  (diary)
• 10 pcs mini Oreo cookies (with cream filling)
• some finely crushed Oreo cookies
• 9-10 pcs Oreo cookies to decorate perimeter (cream filling removed)

Preparing Cookies and Cream Filling:

Whipping the cream - Place 250 ml chilled whipping cream in a mixing bowl. Beat the cream on high speed until it reaches mousse state. Add 1 tbs icing sugar and continue beating the cream on low speed to dissolve the sugar. Add vanilla extract and continue beating, stopping and checking the consistency every 5 seconds. Beat the cream until it reaches soft peak (80% stiff). Fold in coarsely crushed Oreo cookies into the whipped cream to obtain cookies and cream filling. Set prepared fillings aside for use.    

Preparing Whipped Cream Frosting:

Whipping the cream - Place 300 ml chilled whipping cream in a mixing bowl. Beat the cream on high speed until it reaches mousse state.  At this point change the speed to low and continue beating the cream, stopping and checking the consistency every 5 seconds. Beat the cream until it reaches soft peak (80% stiff). Set prepared whipped cream aside for frosting and piping rosettes.  

Assembly:

Slicing sponge cake - Slice sponge cake into 3 even layers using cake leveller or long serrated/palette knife. Slice off the part that has domed.

Preparing the layers - Using the removable base of a round tart tin or a round cake board, slide the tart tin base or cake board under a sponge layer and carefully transport one sponge layer onto a 9 inch round cake board placed on a cake turntable (optional). This method of transferring is to prevent the sponge layer from breaking.

Dab half of the cookies and cream filling and spread it evenly onto the first sponge layer using a palette knife or spatula.

Place a second sponge layer (using the tart tin base or cake board to transport) carefully over the first sponge layer and align it properly with the first layer. Dab the remaining half of the cookies and cream filling and spread it evenly onto the second sponge layer using a palette knife or spatula.

Add the 3rd sponge layer (using the tart tin base or cake board to transport) and align it well with the first two layers. Apply a thin layer of whipped cream frosting on the surface and the sides (perimeter) of the cake to seal the crumbs first (crumb coating). Once the crumb coat is done, add enough whipped cream to the surface and sides of the cake and smooth the whipped cream using a palette knife. Set aside remaining whipped cream frosting for piping rosettes.

Decorations:

Piping rosettes and placing mini Oreos - Fill a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #22 star tip with the remaining whipped cream frosting (or any other tip you desire). Hold the piping at 45 degrees to the cake surface and gently squeeze out the whipping cream, applying constant pressure and moving your hands in a circular motion to pipe a rosette. Release pressure and pull the tip away to complete the rosette. Pipe 10 rosettes and place a mini Oreo cookie resting against a piped rosette in a circular fashion (see pictures above).

Placing Oreo cookies around perimeter and scattering finely crushed Oreos - Place Oreo cookies evenly spaced apart around the perimeter of the cake see pics above). Scatter finely crushed Oreos in the middle of the cake. 

Notes:

1. Whipped cream is not stablized and would not hold its shape for too long at warm room temperature 
2. Try practice piping rosettes on a strip of baking paper 1st before piping on the cake surface.
3. Cream whipped to 70-80% stiff is ideal for piping, filling and frosting. If it is too stiffly whipped, the cream will not be smooth when piped or may separate when it is frosted (if cream is too vigourously handled).  
4. Use about 1/2 tsp cream of tartar to stabilize the beaten egg whites if required. It will make folding of egg whites easier.

Notice:

If you wish to post the recipe and instructions online, please give due credit and do re-phrase the instructions. I have taken quite a bit of effort to construct, edit and type them out. Thank you =].

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