A TRIO OF LITTLE CAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

Mini-cakes are cute from the get-go, in fact most desserts made in single serving are pretty adorable by default. But some details can raise their level of cuteness even higher. Today I share three ideas to make mini-cakes a little more special.

The first method to make cute cupcakes is using a different shape of pan. Like this pan from Nordic Ware. I think the quality of their pans is hard to beat, and totally worth the price tag. They are heavy, well-made and bake like a dream. I usually still spray the inside with PAM baking spray, a light coating ensures nothing will stick in the little crevices.

LEMON MINI-BUNDT CAKES

LEMON MINI-BUNDT CAKES
(adapted from several sources)

125g butter (I used Kerrygold)
150g sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs (100g)
180 g all-purpose flour
1 + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp lemon extract
for the glaze:
200g powdered sugar (1 cup)
Juice of 1 fresh lemon (amount adjusted for consistency)
sprinkles to decorate (optional)

Heat oven to 350 F. Rub the sugar with the lemon zest for a couple a minutes until very fragrant. Cream butter and lemon-infused sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating in slow speed until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and milk. Mix well to combine, then add the lemon juice and extract, whisking gently.

Pour batter into the pan a little over 1/2 full in each cavity, but not quite reaching 3/4 of the capacity. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Leave the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes than invert and cool them completely over a rack.

Make the glaze by mixing the ingredients. You want a pourable consistency, but not too thick so that the ridges of the cake still show. Pour over the cooled cakes. Decorate with sprinkles.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

These lemon cakes are very moist, with intense citric flavor. I used a very thin glaze because I wanted the ridges to be evident. If making a regular cupcake, consider a much thicker icing that will stay on the surface a little better.

PISTACHIO-ROSE MINI-CAKES

In this method, used by Sonali from sugaretal, you will need a silicone mold to bake the cakes. Then, after washing it well, the pan is used to apply the compound chocolate coating. The result is quite stunning, but the process pretty simple. I used this pan.

PISTACHIO ROSE MINI-CAKES
(recipe from Sonali)

To get the recipe, follow the link to her Instagram page.

After baking the cakes….

The silicone pan is washed and dried very well. I used a little gold luster powder to brush the bottom of the pan, then poured Candy melts dyed light green. Carefully brushed that all the way to the sides of each cavity and placed the cake back, snuggly, so that it would get a smooth coating on the surface. Make sure to do one little cake at a time, so that the melted compound chocolate does not harden.

The pan is placed in the freezer for about 30 minutes, so that the shell is properly formed and the cakes will release fully coated.

I am totally in love with this combination of pistachio and rose. In fact, I urge you to visit Sonali’s blog, full of elegant ideas for all sorts of desserts.

Finaly, the third way to dress up a cupcake, is making a few colors of Swiss meringue buttercream and creating a cute pattern on the surface. I followed the design of Liz Shim, available at Domestika.com

CUPCAKES DECORATED WITH SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

LION HEAD CUPCAKES
(design from Liz Shim)

I made a simple vanilla cupcake (recipe from America’s Test Kitchen), and a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream following the recipe provided by Liz Shim in her class. I coated the top of the cupcakes with buttercream, and separated small amounts to dye orange, brown, and black. Those were used to make all the details using star-shaped or round piping tips.

I hope you enjoyed this trio of cakes. There are many options for mini-cake pans at Nordic Ware, one more beautiful than the other: hearts, little houses, tiered little cakes, stars… just choose your favorite and play with cake flavors. I think the pan I used would be very nice with a red velvet cake too.

Coating a cake with compound chocolate is another great option to include in your repertoire, and Sonali is a pro at that. You might remember I’ve used her method in the past (click here).

As to piping designs with buttercream, it involves a bit of a learning curve. I am much more comfortable piping Royal icing, which stays put better and is less prone to melting with the heat of your hands in the piping bag. But I intend to keep practicing, so stay tuned!

ONE YEAR AGO: From our Garden to You

TWO YEARS AGO: Lady Bug Macarons

THREE YEARS AGO: Five-Stranded Braided Bread

FOUR YEARS AGO: Green Olive Salad

FIVE YEARS AGO: Coffee Macarons Dressed up to Party

SIX YEARS AGO: Blogging Hiatus

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Tomato Tatin

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Headed to Colorado!

NINE YEARS AGO: Farofa Brasileira

TEN YEARS AGO: Thai-Inspired Pork Tenderloin

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: A yummy Brazilian cake: Bolo de Fuba’

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Summer’s Tomatoes

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Leaving on a jet plane…

29Jul2022

A TRIO OF SUPERSTARS

Posted in Cake, Cookies, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Today my blog pays homage to three amazing bakers who put great effort into each post they compose. Their blog articles end up as detailed tutorials that allow even a beginner baker to tackle what might seem very intimidating at first. I share three recipes, in the chronological order I baked them in the past couple of months.

SUPERSTAR BAKER #1
HELEN FLETCHER
BLUEBERRY LEMON POKE CAKE

BLUEBERRY LEMON POKE CAKE

One of the tastiest cakes baked in our kitchen, and I am not exaggerating. Moist. Sweet to the perfect level. Luscious. Everything works in this cake. For the recipe and very detailed tutorial, visit Helen’s blog with a click here. You will make a blueberry jam to fill the cake, and I advise you to give enough time to allow it to set a bit, just to make it easier to work with…. Below, a little comparison between Helen’s neat work and yours truly… my jam was still bit too loose. No major harm done, though, I just thought it was funny to share.

Helen’s site and her cookbooks are a constant source of inspiration for me. Plus, she is tremendously helpful and whenever I get into trouble I drop her an email. She has rescued me more than once. A lot more than once (wink, wink).

Every once in a while, Helen offers online classes, and I’ve taken a couple of them. One of my favorites was last year, in which she taught how to make Chocolate Tartlets with a caramel filling. A thing of pure beauty and absolutely decadent! Make sure to subscribe to her blog, so you get notification of upcoming classes.

SUPERSTAR BAKER #2
CAROLINE
RED VELVET OREO STYLE SANDWICH COOKIES

RED VELVET OREO STYLE SANDWICH COOKIES

Absolutely delicious, you can make them without the cutouts if you’d like to simplify your life, but of course turning them into Linzer territory is not a bad move at all! For the full recipe click here. I made a very slightly modification adding strawberry extract to the filling and a touch of pink gel color. Other than that, I followed her recipe to a T.

You can modify the filling, use jam, or Nutella, the cookies are very flavorful and will be perfect no matter your choice of filling. Caro has countless baking lessons in her site, I highly recommend you pay her a visit and subscribe to be notified of new posts. Caroline is one of the moderators of a Facebook group with almost 18 thousand members, for lovers The Great British Bake Off, and that’s how I got to know her. I don’t know how she manages to do all she does…

SUPERSTAR BAKER #3
TANYA OTT
RED VELVET CAKE DONUTS

As you can see, I’ve been on a red velvet kick lately. These are spectacular and simple to make, especially if you follow the detailed instructions and the very helpful video available in Tanya’s blog. Essentially two bowls, no need for an electric mixer until you get into frosting territory.

Another example of a great baking instructor, Tanya’s articles are always carefully composed, and I am in awe of the amount of work she puts into the making of each of the videos often included in her posts. In case you don’t know, Tanya was one of the contestants in season 5 of The Great American Baking Show, and I shared the tent with her a few times. She even got a handshake from a certain guy with penetrating blue eyes…

That’s all for now, folks! I hope you visit my friends’ sites, and get as inspired
by their baking as I do…

ONE YEAR AGO: Turkey Meatloaf

TWO YEARS AGO: Prue Leith’s Smoked Salmon and Beetroot Blinis

THREE YEARS AGO: Mandioca Frita 101

FOUR YEARS AGO: White Chocolate Raspberry Dome Cake

FIVE YEARS AGO: Blueberry Crumble Coffee Cake

SIX YEARS AGO: Pickled Red Onions

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Mini-Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

NINE YEARS AGO: Whole-Wheat Spaghetti with Grated Tomato Sauce

TEN YEARS AGO: A Taste of Yellow to Honor Barbara

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Gratin of Beefsteak Tomatoes

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Tour de France Final Stage: PARIS

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Snickerdoodles with a Twist

18Jul2022

DRESSING UP THE ROLL CAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

I’ve been on a roll for the past month or so. After a long time – maybe a couple of years – not making this type of cake, I flirted with a few different methods, including some by very reputable sources, but they did not please me for one reason or another. In this post, I share a very simple recipe. Simple in the sense that you don’t have to separate egg whites and yolks, it rolls very well thanks to the addition of a very small amount of melted butter, and the texture is not dry like most versions, again kudos to butter. Plus, you won’t need a special size of baking pan, it works well in a half-sheet, which most people have in their kitchen. You can of course, skip the patterned decoration, but, why would you not go for it?

FESTIVE DIAMOND ROLL CAKE WITH NUTELLA FILLING
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the decoration:
50g butter, softened
50g powdered sugar
50g egg whites
50g all-purpose flour
pink, yellow and teal gel colors

for the cake:
130g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 large eggs, at room temperature
200 g granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

For the filling:
170g (6 ounces) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup Nutella
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Make the piping decoration by beating the butter with powdered sugar in a small bowl until fully combined. I used a hand-held electric mixer. Add the egg whites and beat for a couple of minutes. Add the flour and mix by hand with a spoon, divide in three portions. Color them pink, yellow and teal.

Place a diamond stencil over a sheet of parchment paper and add small amounts of each color as shown in the composite picture included in my post. Spread the colors in one direction, trying not to move them back, but making sure to cover all the little diamonds. Carefully remove the stencil frame and freeze the parchment for 30 minutes or so.

Heat oven to 375°F. Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl. Reserve. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until the mixture form ribbons, about 12 minutes. Add the lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla. Beat until combined. Sift the flour mixture over the beaten eggs, fold gently. When the flour is mostly incorporated, add a little bit of the mixture to the melted butter, whisk well. Pour that into the cake batter, whisk gently to disperse. Pour over the frozen parchment paper placed in a half baking sheet, and smooth the surface.

Bake the cake until it begins to pull away from the sides, about 12 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, cover the cake with a towel and let it cool fr 10 minutes. Remove the towel, sift a little powdered sugar over the surface and flip it over parchment paper. Gently peel off the paper with the design, flip the cake again over a clean towel. Starting with a short side of the cake, roll the cake gently, using the towel to support the cake as you go. Let the cake cool all rolled up in the towel, seam side down.

While cake cools make filling by using a handheld mixer or standing mixer to beat cream cheese and heavy cream on high until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add ½ cup powdered sugar, Nutella, and cocoa powder. Start the mixer on low and slowly increase speed, beating until the filling is light and fluffy. The filling should be thick and spreadable. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, so that it sets a little.

Carefully unroll the completely cool cake, spread the filling, then roll it again. Wrap the cake in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, overnight is best. When ready to serve, slice a small piece of each of the ends, so that it looks more polished.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: For this pattern, I used three colors of the paste, and placed them in alternating spots over the large stencil, that covers the whole surface of the half-sheet. The thickness of the stencil determines the amount of paste that gets into the paper. The design transfers very well to the surface of the cake, and does not interfere with rolling it.

I’ve had this stencil frame for many years, bought it on eBay, but could not find it anymore.
This one is very similar, in case you are interested.

If you don’t have a stencil frame, there are plenty of alternatives to decorate, one of them drawing little flowers on the paper, and pouring the batter on top. Two things are important to remember: first, the design cannot be too large, or it will pull the cake during baking, and might even make a crack in those spots. Second, the layer of the design should be as thin as possible, because it you make it too thick, it might not incorporate well into the cake batter, and pull away during baking. Make sure to use white parchment paper, because it helps keeping the cake layer lighter, giving better contrast with whatever pattern you go for.

The Nutella filling is excellent! I’ve used it to fill macarons a couple of days later. The cream cheese does a little magic to cut the sweetness of Nutella. It has a wonderful spreadable consistency, but the macarons stored in the fridge held up pretty well, once moved to room temperature for 20 minutes or so. I hope you give it a try, either to fill a regular cake, make sandwich cookies, or…. a patterned roll cake!

ONE YEAR AGO: Roasted Carrot and Barley Salad

TWO YEARS AGO: Ode to Halva

THREE YEARS AGO: Brazilian Pao de Queijo (re-blogged)

FOUR YEARS AGO: Apricot Linzer Torte

FIVE YEAR AGO: A Trio of Air-Fried Goodies

SIX YEARS AGO: Focaccia with Grapes, Roquefort and Truffled Honey

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Moroccan Carrot Dip Over Cucumber Slices

EIGHT YEARS AGO: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

NINE YEARS AGO: Cilantro-Jalapeno “Hummus”

TEN YEARS AGO:A Moving Odyssey

ELEVEN YEARS AGO:Hoegaarden Beer Bread

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Ancho-Chile Marinade: Pleased to Meat you!

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Shrimp Moqueca

16Jun2022

THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS 13!

Posted in Cake by sallybr

And this virtual spot is now officially a teenager! Thirteen years. One thousand, five hundred and forty-six posts published. Over twenty-nine thousand comments. But how do we measure all the joy I get from keeping this site alive? Impossible. For thirteen years I’ve been doing it with the exact same enthusiasm of the first week. I don’t think I could keep at it, if I was not fully in love with the whole process. To celebrate, I share a little entremet with mirror glaze, the kind of bake I adore, but with the limitations of the pandemics I’ve been unable to do. Since it was just the two of us, I went with individual portions, very small cakes with a combination of cherry, pistachio, and mascarpone. Plus the mandatory bling!

CHERRY AND PISTACHIO MINI-ENTREMET CAKE
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the cherry-pistachio centers:
20 g egg yolk
8 g caster sugar
3 g cornstarch
20 g milk
60 g whipping cream
10 g pistachio paste
4 Amarena cherries in syrup

Heat the oven to 200F (yes, very low temperature). In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the sugar and cornstarch. Put the milk, cream and pistachio paste in a saucepan and heat while whisking. As soon as it boils, pour it over the egg yolk mixture and whisk. Put one cherry in each of 4 holes of a small half-sphere mould (about 1 inch in diameter). Pour over the pistachio mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the center is almost fully set. Cool to room temperature, then freeze for several hours to overnight, to be able to un-mold them.

for the sponge:
70 g icing sugar
70 g almond meal
100 g egg
10 g all-purpose flour
10 g pistachio paste
70g egg white
10g granulated sugar
melted white chocolate for brushing cake circles

Heat the oven to 375F. Using a KitchenAid mixer, whip together the icing sugar, almond meal and the eggs. The mixture should double in volume, so whip it for at least 8 minutes. Reserve.

Make a meringue, gently beating the egg white until soft peaks form. Increase the speed of the mixer and add the sugar, a little bit at a time. Beat until firm peaks form. Fold one-third of the meringue into the whipped egg mixture, followed by the flour. When the mixture is smooth, gently fold in the remaining meringue. Spread the mixture on a half-sheet pan covered with parchment paper, and smooth the surface with an off-set spatula. Bake for about 10 minutes, until dry to the touch. Dust a sheet of baking paper with a little powdered sugar and invert the baked sponge over it. Peel off the parchment paper that it baked on. Using two cookie cutters, cut out 4 discs that will fit inside the mold that will hold the dessert, and 4 discs that will fit inside the little mold used for the cherry inserts. Melt the white chocolate and apply a very thin coat over one side of the larger piece of sponge. Reserve.

for the mascarpone mousse:
6 g Platinum gelatin (3 sheets)
80 ml whipping cream
55 g egg yolks
80 g granulated sugar
160 g mascarpone cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla paste
320 g heavy cream

Bloom the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes. Combine egg yolks with sugar, whisking well and set aside. In a saucepan, heat 80 ml of cream until it boils. Remove from heat, and slowly pour a bit of the hot liquid into the egg yolk mixture, to temper it gently. Add the rest of the cream and transfer all the mixture to a saucepan.

Over low heat, cook until 180 F stirring constantly. Remove from heat, drain the gelatin, and add to the mixture, stirring until completely dissolved. Let the mixture cool down to around 140 F. Add the mascarpone cheese, mix until the cheese is incorporated. Process with a hand mixer, to emulsify. Add the vanilla paste, and let it cool to around 95 F. Meanwhile, whip the 320 ml of cream to soft peaks. Incorporate the cream gradually to the mascarpone mixture.

ASSEMBLE THE DESSERTS. Place a small amount of mascarpone mousse inside each of 4 cavities of a semi-sphere silicone mold (3 to 3.2 inches in diameter). Drop the cherry insert inside. Place the small circle of sponge on top. Cover the cavity with mousse, leaving a little space on the top, so you can place the larger circle of sponge on top, with the chocolate painted side facing up. Smooth the surface, adding a little more mousse if needed. Freeze overnight, or for a minimum of 6 hours.

for mirror glaze:
3 sheets Platinum grade sheet gelatin
120ml water
150 g liquid glucose
150 g granulated or caster sugar
1 tsp agar-agar
100 g condensed milk
150 g white chocolate, chopped fairly small
½ tsp titanium oxide (optional, but advisable)
red and purple gel food coloring
Prism powder to sprinkle in the end (optional,I used Tourmaline Pink)

Put the water, sugar, liquid glucose and agar-agar in a small pan and bring to simmering point, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and let it stand for about 5 minutes. This is the base syrup for the glaze. Meanwhile, soak the gelatin in some cold water for about 5 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water and stir into the hot water, sugar and liquid glucose mixture to dissolve. Stir in the condensed milk and the titanium oxide.

Put the chocolate in a medium bowl and pour this hot mixture slowly over the chocolate, stirring gently to melt it, avoid making bubbles. Add the red food gel dye. A stick immersion blender works great, but you must keep the blades fully submerged at all times. If bubbles are present, pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

The ideal temperature to glaze is 92 to 94 F. Un-mold the cakes, immediately pour the mirror glaze over the frozen surface. Sprinkle with Prism powder or golden luster powder. Cake should sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I love making entremet cakes. They seem complicated but the nature of these cakes pretty much forces you to do everything in steps, over a period of a couple of days. No rushing is advisable, not even feasible. Just take your time and enjoy the ride. This version calls for a baked center. That part of the recipe came from a great cookbook, Patisserie at Home, from Melanie Dupuis. Once that is made (and it can sit in the freezer until you are ready to proceed with the recipe), it is all very straightforward. A sponge bake, some assembling, freezing everything and then my favorite step, mirror glazing!

I used two different ways to present the mini-cakes. In the first version the cake was placed on a small plate and little chocolate covered candy added around the base. A little gold leaf for a final touch on top.

The second version was a little less time-consuming, I just carefully added golden non-pareils around the edge, in a random pattern, and a little white pearl on top.

I imagine you are curious to see the cake cut… So here it is, the different components of this very tasty dessert…

I must say that of all the entremets I’ve made, this ranks very high in the deliciousness level. The cherry, when cooked to make the center, gets a very nice texture and the taste seems concentrated. Lovely. If you make mirror glazes, I want to point out that I add a touch of agar-agar to my recipe. That makes the layer cut more nicely, without slipping, as it is common with gelatin-only formulas. There is no change in taste.

Without further ado, I invite you to step with me
into the 14th year of my blogging adventure!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns 12!

TWO YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns 11!

THREE YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns 10, and a Giveaway…

FOUR YEAR AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns 9!

FIVE YEAR AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns eight!

SIX YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns Seven!

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Bewitching Kitchen Turns Six!

EIGHT YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns Five!

NINE YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns Four!

TEN YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns Three!

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns Two!

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Bewitching Birthday!

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Welcome to my blog!

15May2022

ONE BOWL, ONE WHISK CONFETTI CUPCAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

Cannot get much simpler. These are egg-free cakes, easy and fast to prepare. The buttercream icing is a lot more involved than the cake, but if you prefer you can serve them with a dusting of powdered sugar, or a simple glaze. Many cookbooks and blogs have versions of these cupcakes, I based mine on smittenkitchen.com

CONFETTI CUPCAKES WITH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
(adapted from several sources)

200g all-purpose flour
160 grams granulated sugar
1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup full-fat milk
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles

for the buttercream:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature (1 stick, 113 g)
4 cups powdered sugar (32 oz)
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Make the cupcakes: Heat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners in a 12-cup standard muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. To the center, add the milk, oil, lemon juice, and flavoring extracts. Whisk very well until smooth. It will be very liquid. Add sprinkles, fold them gently. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cupcake lines 2/3 full.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the butter with 2 cups of the powdered sugar, the milk, vanilla, and salt. Once that is smooth, keep adding the rest of the powdered sugar. You might not need it all, add it until you have the desired spreading consistency.

Frost the cupcakes using a Wilton 1M tip, then add confetti sprinkles, if desired.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: As I mentioned, these are probably the easiest cupcakes ever to make, even a cake-o-phobe will have no issues. They are tender, light, and delicate. Also festive, because rainbow sprinkles make anything festive… I like the addition of vanilla buttercream, even if it increases the complexity of the bake a bit. You can omit it, the cupcakes are delicious without it also.