Mint Chocolate Layer Cake

On Friday I had a blast at a party at my friends Victor and Patrick's house! It being Patrick's birthday, the occasion called for a cake, so I put one together and it came out quite well... but I guess I am biased towards chocolate-mint seeing as how it's the best flavor combo EVER. Good choice, Patrick! Chocolate cake, mint Swiss-meringue buttercream, a Moroccan mint tea soak... awwww yeaaaah.





Of course I gave the cake my new signature Azara look: almost flat on the sides but leaving room for irregularities (not refrigerating and re-smoothing with a heated palette knife), and a swirl on the top. Straight-forward, no-fuss, but elegant.

This time I tried using a Swiss meringue for the buttercream, a departure from my usual Italian meringue. Instead of making a hot sugar syrup and beating it into whipped egg whites, the Swiss version calls for melting the sugar into the egg whites in a bain-marie (double boiler) and then beating that mixture into a meringue. I liked it; it was very soft, but didn't cause any structural problems as I layered it. My only complaint is that every once in a while I detected a grain or two of sugar that hadn't completely melted. Next time I'll keep it on the bain-marie for longer!

Moroccan Mint Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons very strong, warm Moroccan mint tea (or whatever other tea you'd like to use)
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons powdered egg whites (with the tea, equivalent to 7 egg whites: you can use regular egg whites and just flavor the buttercream with mint extract)
2 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/3 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 lbs butter (eight sticks) at room temp
Mint extract

Reconstitute the powdered egg whites with the tea. Place the sugar, water, and reconstituted whites in the top of a bain-marie filled with simmering water, and stir constantly to dissolve the sugar. Once all the grains have disappeared, beat the mixture on high speed until the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch.
Gradually beat the butter into the meringue. It may look like it's breaking, but keep beating until it is light and billowy! Taste and add mint extract as needed.

The chocolate cake recipe I used is here.

Here are some terrible night-pictures of the inside! 14 layers...

Bake Hard,
Azara

The Perfect Vanilla Cake with Caramelized Sweetened Condensed Milk Buttercream

Yesterday was my Auntie Sharon's birthday, and my cousin Jennifer and I made a special Belize-flavor influenced cake: a vanilla base (the best I've ever made) with a vanilla buttercream that has a can of caramelized sweetened condensed milk beaten into it.

In Belize for birthdays a vanilla cake is made and then covered with 'bile milk' (boiled milk) aka caramelized sweetened condensed milk. It is delicious, if a little over-the-top, and Jennifer and I thought we'd do a spin on it.

Auntie Sharon loved it!

Happy Birthday Auntie Sharon!!

Recipes:


The Lightest and Most Delicious Vanilla Cake I've Ever Made

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 egg at room temp
1 1/2 cups ice-cold milk
3 egg whites at room temp
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°. Prepare two 8" round baking pans.
Whisk/sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
Cream the butter and shortening together. Beat in the sugar and vanilla, and whip for about 5 minutes until very light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until incorporated.
Mix the butter into the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the cold milk. Set aside.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add the sugar and beat until a stiff-peak meringue forms (we cheated and only beat it through soft peak! Still came out great).
Fold the meringue into the batter in three additions.
Split the batter between the pans and bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the top of the cake springs back when touched.
Pair with any frosting, although I would suggest using...

Caramelized Sweetened Condensed Milk Buttercream

12 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups butter (4 sticks)
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
4 egg whites at room temp
2/3 tsp cream of tarter
2 Tbsp vanilla

Completely submerge the can of sweetened condensed milk in boiling water. Allow to boil for 3 hours, topping the water off if it boils below the can. Set aside to cool (several hours).

This is what it looks like after 1.5 hours; we were in a hurry! 

 

 

 

Beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 5-10 minutes. Set aside.
Put the sugar and water into a pan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. As the syrup boils to 238°, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar to a frothy foam. Slowly pour the syrup in while continuing to beat.
Add the butter in a half-cup at a time. When all is incorporated, beat until super fluffy and awesome.

Like this!

Add in the sweetened condensed milk and beat until incorporated.





And now some pictures:

Crumb-coated and in the freezer to set before the real icing begins.

Iced: an 8" cake iced without a turntable! Not the smoothest ever, still proud of myself.

The cake is exactly as fluffy and soft as it looks...

 

Taken the night of the birthday celebration: this is what cake looks like when cut at room temperature.

Here is the cake cut right out of the refrigerator: much cleaner lines!

Bake Hard!
Azara

Chocolate Mochi Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

This week I made chocolate cake... with a twist! Over half of the flour in it is Mochiko rice flour, and it baked up just like a slightly chewier medium-chocolatey cake. 

Some delicious vanilla Italian meringue buttercream, and boom! A fancy schmancy cake. Recipes at the bottom!

Here are a million pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Mochi Cake

1 1/4 cups mochiko
3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, either in chips or chopped up
12 oz evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites at room temp
pinch of cream of tartar
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Oil and flour two 9" pans or, if you're doing a little tall cake like me, one 3" tall 6" diameter pan and one 9"x13" pan.
Mix dry ingredients (mochiko, flour, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.
Melt the butter and add in the chocolate, mixing until completely melted. Add evaporated milk and vanilla extract.
Mix the wet into the dry and set aside.
In a super clean bowl, start whipping the egg whites. Add the cream of tartar. When they're completely foamy, start to add the sugar, a little at a time until it is all incorporated. When the meringue keeps stiff peaks when the beater is lifted out of it, it is ready to be mixed into the batter. Fold a third of the meringue into the batter, and then do the same with the remaining meringue.
Pour the batter into the pans. For me, I filled the small pan halfway and put the rest in the large pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes for a shallow cake and 45-50 for one in which the batter is deeper.

Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream
(makes enough for one 9" cake or a small and tall one like that pictured above)

1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks) at room temp
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cups water
3 egg whites at room temp
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp vanilla

Beat the butter until light and fluffy, for around 10 minutes with a hand-held beater.
Place the sugar and water in a pan over medium heat and cook, stirring intermittently until the sugar is melted.
While the sugar boils, begin to whip the egg whites in a super clean bowl. Add in the cream of tartar, and whip until the whites are thick and fluffy. Keep the beater going while keeping an eye on the syrup temperature. Once it reaches 238° pour it slowly into the whites with the beater going (being careful not to pour the syrup over the beaters to avoid splatter) and continue to beat until the bowl is cool to the touch. Add the butter in a half cup at a time, add the vanilla and then beat a few more minutes to fluff the buttercream up. Done!


Bake Hard,
Azara