Mommy's Birthday Cake

Made this cake for Mom on her birthday..

This is the first time I make a cake for my mommy.. I wasn't confident with frosting the cake and decorating them, lack of the creative juice in me.. Hehe..

So being her 50th Birthday this year, I raised up my hands and "volunteer" to bake her a cakie, nothing fanciful just a simple blackforest cake but frosted in chocolate ganache.

My mum was really happy when she saw the cake. Actually there's no element of surprise in here, my mom saw me busying frosting the cake and decorating it, so there is no "WOW-reaction" in her face.. All I could see was her beaming away.. Maybe she's proud of me? (I guess so too!)

Sharing with you the pictures:

Did wrote some short messages on the cake board using white chocolate.. But this picture was taken by my sister before writting.. Or rather when I was melting the chocolate, she took this picture.. Haha..

What I wrote was "Happy birthday, Mommy" (In chinese) and drew a big heart shape beside the text! Hehe! (shows that I love my mommY!)

This is exactly the same cake as B's Bday cake, only difference is that I uses chocolate ganache (1/3 milk chocolate, 2/3 dark chocolate) to frost the cake. My family don't really adore creams..

Well, anyway, that day she was really happy, maybe its because all the family members + all the boyfriends was there to celeb with her.. And I believe my cake did make some contribution to her happiness as well! Hehe!

I wouldn't mind all the trouble, as long as my mommy is happy!

B's granny Chocolate-O-Durian mousse cake

Hey people.. I backed to share with you guys a cake I bake 1 yr ago.. (I didn't have a blog back then).

Baked this cake for B's grandma.. It's her 70yr old birthday.. To the chinese, its considered as quite a big event.. I mean I feel quite embarress to bring out or present this cake.. I mean.. look at the decoration.. So...


The above is the actual cake for B's grandma and it weights about 1.5kg - 2kg.. I know look wises is really ugly and not good enough as bday cake.. *Slap self hard hard*

It was my really really maiden attempt at using whip cream to decorate the cake.. Just simply add mix in pink colouring and green colouring..

Sigh, my piping is really CMI (cannot make it) *slap triple hard again*


I'm like that, if I were to bake a cake for a major event, I'll trial trial to make one for family consumption and to ask them for comments..the picture above is for family consumption..

The blackish thing in between the cake is actually a failed chocolate mousse.. Hehe.. But the durian mousse makes up for the bad ganache failure.. Durian mousse is smooth and bursting with durian flavor.. YUM!

Thank god the 2nd attempt of this cake is a much better attemp.. The chocolate mousse is much much more better, not runny and its smooth. I was so happy that day that I actually assembled the cake w/o much hiccups.. =)

I adopted the recipe from Aunty Yochana's blog.

Choco-O-Durian Mousse Cake

Ingredients

Durian sponge
4 Eggs
250g optima flour
1 tsp ovalette
70g water
1 tsp durian paste
drops of green colouring
70ml corn oil (to be added last)

1. Beat the above ingredients together till thick and fluffy (approx 10mins).
2. Fold in corn oil and pour into a 9" round tin.
3. Bake at 175C for about 45mins or till cooked.
4. Turn cake onto a wire rack and leave it to cool.

Chocolate Mousse
100g good quality chocolate, chopped and melted
200g whip cream, whipped till stiff
20g rum

1. Whip cream till stiff, fold in melted chocolate and rum.

Durian Mousse
2 egg yolks
50g sugar
250g durian flesh
75ml milk
200g whipping cream, whipped
10g gelatin powder
3 tbsp water

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl over simmering water until puffy, stir in durian flesh and cook for a while to warm it up.
2. Soak gelatin powder with water and let it bloom. Microwave for a while until gelatin melts and add into durian flesh mixture. Stir till well combined.
3. Add in milk and stir thoroughly.
4. Gently fold in whipped cream making sure its mixed thoroughly.

Assemble

1. Spread chocolate mousse on top of a slice of cake, and them top up with the other layer of sponge cake.
2. Pour the durian mousse onto the sponge and level it. Top the cake with the last piece of sponge. Chill cake till set.
3. Cream the whole cake with cream and decorate as desired.

Note: I triple the whole recipe. The cake pan I bought is very big, so the first batch of cake batter I pour in just nice for a layer. Which means I bake the cake layer by layer for 3 times.

Comments were good! Those who tried my cake said that its very nice! And this made me so happy!

I myself find that the cake is very nice too! Maybe its because I'm a ultimate durian fan.. Hehe!

Do try this cake!

A Blackforest cake for a B'day boy

September 11, a day that some people will never forget.. (due to the attack of the twin towers)

However, this year september, 11 is a special day for someone special..

Its B's birthday.. so I created a cake for him.. He really like chocolates very much, and almost immediately BLACKFOREST CAKE flash across my mind, so without any procastination, I lift my butt off the comfy chair and search online for Blackforest cakie..

I got this recipe from "Do what I like" @ Kitchen Capers Forum.

http://wlteef.blogspot.com/2005/04/black-forest-cake.html

When I saw the picture of the cake florence created, I was so amazed! absolutely stunning! Just like what we will get from those secret recipes, breadtalk etc.. So yeah, a picture determines the birthday boy's cake.. Keke

Presenting to you, this lovely recipe:

BLACKFOREST CAKE

Ingredients

(A)

4 egg yolks

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp rum or kirsch (I use my Sis's chocolate liquer)

40g castor sugar (I use icing sugar)

(B)

5g cocoa powder

85ml warm corn oil

(C)

135ml warm water

(D)
125g cake flour
1/2 baking soda
1/2 baking powder

(E)

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

50g castor sugar

(Fillings)

15 fresh cherries pitted and halved (dried with paper towel)

25 canned pitted sour cherries halved drain well

500ml whipping cream whipped with 2 tbsp icing sugar

100g shaved Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate

10 - 12 Fresh whole cherries with stems for decoration/maraschino cherries with stems

Methods

1. Mix ingredients (A) well with a hand whisk.

2. Stir cocoa powder in warmed oil until dissolved and pour into yolk mixture.

3. Stir (C) into yolk mixture.

4. Sieve ingredient (D) and stir it into yolk mixture.

5. Whip egg whites in a clean mixing bowl until big bubbles are formed. Add in the cream of tartar and whip until white in colour. Add in sugar over 3 times and whip until egg whites is stiff. 6. Pour 1/2 white into yolk mixture and blend well.

7. Pour yolk mixture into the remaining egg white mixture and blend well

8. Pour batter into clean baking pan and bake at 175C for 45 minutes or until cooked.

9. Invert cake and leave to cool. Then cut cooled cake into 2 or 3 layers.

10. Whip the cream with icing sugar until stiff.

11. Add pitted fresh and sour cherries into half portion of the whipped cream.

12. Sandwich the cake with (11).

13. Frost the cake with the remaining half portion of whipped cream and decorate as appropriate with chocolate shavings and fresh whole cherries

I prepared the base cake around afternoon before the night I do up the decorations, this allow the crumbs to settle, and when you slice the cake into 3 individual parts, the crumbs will not fall off.. And a prettier cut as well la..

So after all these hardwork, I came up with this cake:

I did not decorate the cake with marashchino cherries because I couldn't find them at the AMK Phoon Huat, and not wanting to run around the whole "little red dot" (Singapore) for the cherries, I settle for strawberries and Rochers.. The rochers was quite a hit, guess they like the rochers.. Strawberrie wise, quite sour..

Non-dairy whipped cream was used to deco the cake as well, I prefer non-dairy over dairy whipping cream. Because I tends to overwhip the dairy whipping cream and "transform" them into butter.. *Sobs*

Just simply no luck with dairy whipping cream.. So whenever any recipe calls for dairy cream, I'll substitute it with non-dairy ones, the taste will not be compromised (according to my tastebuds) =p

Oh ya, I also used the heart candies to decorate the cake... add on a sweet and feminine touch.. Keke. The side of the cake uses chocolate shavings.. Done by yours truly.. Well, I really dislike making my own chocolate shavings, cos they tends to melt quite fast in hot weather, and resulting in a gooey mess..

Anyone has any idea to make my "Chocolate shaving journey" a less tedious one?? Please tell me! TIA!

Taste wise, I think it might be due to the chocolate liquer that I used, the chocolate scent is strongly enhanced, and the cake is spongy soft! Another point to add, the cake is not too sweet, which makes it even more appealing to me.

*I love desserts, but I don't have a sweet-tooth. Weird uh?

Well anyway, the cake was quite well received by all those who tasted it, and of course, the Birthday boy loves the cake as well! So overall, its worth the hardwork! As I greatly appreciate it when people enjoys my bakes!

Hmm.. Stay tuned, I'll be back with more stuffs!