http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4CFG6c9YO0
I recently made some cakes and wrote about it for a new online magazine called Decor Addict, and I made a little stop motion video of setting it all up for you guys! Hope you like it- and don’t forget to pop over to the site to see more pictures. xo
Sometimes I worry that, despite never gaining weight, Jordan will die at 35 from eating to much butter and salt. I have low blood pressure, so I am okay in the salt department but, I do eat an alarming amount of butter. But it’s better with butter! It is. But sometimes I think maybe I should eat more vegetables and exercise more. I was thinking this the other day as I struggled into my skinny jeans. So I decided to make olive oil cake. Practically health food right? I mean olive oil helps prevent heart disease. Genius.
So instead of spending 17 dollars to go to hot yoga I spent 14 on good fruity olive oil and baked a cake. Yes friends, I am not only healthy but also frugal.
Then I made a really amazing icing with some kumquats because I am the sort of person who keeps kumquats handy, just in case. But if you are not similarly obsessive regular old oranges would be lovely too. I didn’t plan on it being a burnt orange frosting but, well, I burnt it, and it smelled so good burnt I just decided to go with it. And I’m glad I did.
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brandy
3 extra-large eggs
6 extra-large egg yolks
2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F
Butter and flour a bundt pan or a 8 inch round cake pan
Sift together dry ingredients.
In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment mix eggs and yolks and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes.
Slowly pour in sugar and continue to beat for another minute
Very slowly pour the olive oil and brandy and vanilla into the the bowl, letting it drip against the side of the bowl to prevent it deflating as much as possible.
Remove bowl from mixer and fold in dry ingredients by hand.
Pour into prepared pan and bake until an inserted skewer comes out with only a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes.
Let cool for about 5 minutes in the pan, the carefully invert it onto a wire rack and allow to fully cool before icing
Burnt orange frosting
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
5 Kumquats, sliced, or the zest of 2 Oranges peeled with a vegetable peeler into thick strips.
1 cup Icing sugar
3-4 tbsp Whipping Cream
1 vanilla bean split in half and seeds scraped.
Bring sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add in kumquats or oranges and vanilla bean and seeds and cook on high heat.
Let oranges begin to soften and become translucent.
After about 20 minutes the mixture will begin to caramelize.
Don’t stir it! Let it get a deep amber and the oranges start to get dark
Take off the heat and immediately add in the remaining half cup of water. Be careful, it will boil up!
Strain and allow to cool.
Mix in the icing sugar and as much cream as needed to get to the right consistency.
Drizzle over cake and serve it up!
“I have yet to attend a party where the chef has sewn together a string of delicious steaks into a golf club or fedora I have never seen (and hope to never see) a baby rattle composed of salmon fillers. But cake abuse has no limits” writes Matt Lewis in the introduction to cakes in his wonderful book Baked Explorations. It’s true isn’t it. The form over function in the world of cakes is very strange. If you want a red race car make it out of cardboard, or styrophoam. Why make it out of cake? Cake that will, inevitably once all the parts are assembled, be dried out and boring. If no one wants to eat it whats the point?
Which is why I make a big effort to make cakes that are wonderful, delicious, and if I do it properly, something beautiful too. I, like Matt Lewis, am a cake pusher.
I making love cake. I like making simple cakes with a dusting of icing sugar, I like making pound cakes with a lemon glaze on top, and sometimes, I like making elaborate pretty cakes, because it’s a little challenging but mostly because I like proving that a cake can be both delicious and pretty. I’m stubborn like that.
I made such a cake this weekend for my amasing friend Kate’s birthday. It was a dark chocolate cake that has espresso instead of milk in the batter so it’s not overly sweet, which lends itself beautifully to frostings. I did it up with a salted caramel buttercream and I’m not going to lie friends, I’m pretty pleased.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Cream
9 Egg Whites
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1.5 lb Unsalted Butter, soft
Dark Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cup butter, room temp
3 cup sugar
2 Eggs
2 Egg Whites
1 1/2 cup Dutched Cocoa Powder
4 cups All Purpose Flour
1tbsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1tbsp Vanilla Extract
2 2/3cup Hot Strong Coffee
Make Frosting
Combine 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a pot. Cook on medium heat until sugar is disolved. Remove spoon and Bring heat up to high. It will start to thicken a little.
Then It will start to brown slightly. It will turn quickly so keep a close eye on it.
Then it will get a pretty auburn colour. And then your in business
Now, act fast. Take it off the heat, pour in the cream and stir. It will bubble up like crazy, don’t panic, but be careful. I don’t have any pictures of this part because it was bubbling and I was stirring.
Pour that into a heat safe container and let cool.
Get a small pot with an inch or two of water on the stove and bring it to a simmer. I usually use the caramel pot because it’s easier to clean after it’s had boiling water in it.
Put the egg whites, salt, and remaining sugar into the the bowl for your mixer and whisk vigorously over the pot.
Kepp whisking until its quite frothy and it’s hot to touch.
Take off the heat, and attach bowl to your mixer. Whisk on high until stiff peaks form.
Slowly add in the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon until it’s all combined. If you notice yours doesn’t thicken up nicely and is beginning to look split slow down the mixer and add in a big piece of butter, that should thicken it up nicely.
Slowly add in the caramel and there you have your caramel buttercream.
Make Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 350F
Butter, flour, and line with parchment 4 cake pans, 2x 8 inch round, and 2x 5inch.
Cream butter and sugar until it’s very fluffy, about 5 minutes
Add in the eggs and whites and beat again until light, about 3 minutes
Alternate in dry ingredients starting and finishing with dry. It will look like a big hot mess
Don’t panic. Just whisk it for about 15 seconds until it starts to look smooth. Don’t do this for very long, and a few lumps are absolutly okay. See how much nicer this looks?
Pour into your prepared pans and bake until an inserted skewer comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool.
Trim off the top of the cakes with a serrated knife to flatten them out. Put a dollop of icing on the cake stand and then put down the first layer of cake. Spread liberally with icing. Sprinkle with salt.
Repeat with remaining layers
Ice the outside loosely.
Smooth it out and refridgerate for at least an hour. The ice again to cover the crumbs and the dark cake inside. This always takes me a while, and if I’m really struggling then I put it back in the fridge, let it set up again and then use my inverted spatula on the cold frosting. Sometimes I find this easier. If your icing looks a little split at any point just put it back into your mixer and it will come back in seconds.
Then do whatever you want with your decordations. Tie a ribbon on it, dot it with pocka dots, which is what I did here. I just put some frosting in a piping bag, pressed it against the cake and dabbed the icing on. It was very easy. I also did a line of dots, done the exact same way, along the line between the layers because it was a little messy there. And then I put flowers on top because I like flowers. Et Voila! Pretty and delicious cake!
This is not a cake for the faint of heart. This is not a cake to throw together after work, or a cake to make for a kids birthday. Oh no. It will take several hours to make, and multiple steps and some patience. This cake is a labour of love. But, this isn’t a hard dessert to make, just a time consuming one I promise. And if you time yourself well, and make a few things the night before you won’t hate yourself for saying you’ll make it. And when your friends see the cake you’ve made, they will be intensely impressed. This is a show off cake. This is the cake to make if your boss is coming over for dinner, or for an anniversary. Or if your me, with to much time on your hands it’s what you make when you have friends coming for dinner on Friday night.
Crepe Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Poached Pears
This is a long process, you will want to make the ganache first, because it takes several hours to firm up. Then make the crepe batter, because it will take at least an hour to cool. The poach the pears, then make the crepes. Then assemble it all!
Ganache:
500g Heavy Cream
250g Dark Chocolate, finely chopped
1tsp Vanilla Extract
Bring the cream and vanilla up to a boil
Pour over chocolate.
Let is sit for a couple of minutes, then stir. It may seem to take a while but it will get smooth!
Crepes
6 eggs
7 tbsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Butter
3 cups Milk
In a pot bring melt the butter. Keep it on the heat until it is very frothy, stirring regularly. In a couple of minutes the milk solids will start to get brown and it will smell nutty.
Immediately pour the milk in and bring it to just belove a simmer.
Meanwhile mix the eggs and the sugar in a mixer with the whisk attachment.
Add in the flour and then slowly pour in the milk and butter mixture.
Whisk until you have nearly no lumps.
Cover and set to cool in the fridge.
Bring a small frying pan, not stick if you have it to medium heat.
Put a small nub of butter into the pan and tilt the pan to either side until the whole pan is covered.
Pour about a quarter cup of batter into the pan. It should spread pretty thin.
Let it start to bubble up a bit the tilt the pan to let excess from the middle spread to the sides.
Carefully, with a rubber spatula, push the edges gently and shake the pan until the whole crepe is moving.
Flip the crepe, with a spatula if your new to this, or with a flick of the wrist if your an old pro, and let it cook another minute on the second side.
Slide it onto a plate and go for the next! Repeat until the batter is finished, this will take a while.
Poached Pears
5 medium sized firm pears, I used Anjou.
1 cup sugar
1tbsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of an orange, peeled with a vegetable peeler into thick strips
Peel pears.
Cut them into quarters and core them.
Put them into a pot with sugar, vanilla and zest. Cover with water.
Bring to a simmer and gently cook for about 10 minutes or until just becoming translucent and are soft enough to cut with a spoon. Take off the heat and let cool.
Assemble
Slice the pears into thin strips.
Put a dollop of ganache on your plate
Lay a crepe down, spread it with ganache, then layer some pears on top.
Put a small dop of ganache onto the next crepe and place it face down on the crepe before, the ganache will work as glue to keep the layers from separating.
Repeat, repeat repeat.
I used about 17 layers of crepes, and now I’m writing this while eating the left overs.
I then used some pear slices on top to decorate it and sprinkled some icing sugar on top too.
I hope you make this cake,and I hope you like it as much as we did!
