Sorry if this sounds daft. I have given recipes off the internet a few tries but none of them were really good. I don’t have an electric beater thingy and don’t want to invest in one so I end up using elbow grease.
Want to do a B’day cake for my son, so ‘sponge’ is not really important but any tried and tested cake recipe will be welcome. Ditto with butter cream icing. I successfully manged to make some last month, albeit it began melting in 20 mins outside the refrigerator. We ate the cake in 30 mins. but during the frosting ritual, I had to keep shoving the cake back into the fridge every now and then.
Thanks
Several observations and suggestions.
You mention that you want to make your own and I understand that may be ALL you want. But lacking that, you can go to a DIY baking store and pick up a mix like they sell in the U.S. I think it was Betty Crocker. Several flavors to choose from but about twice as expensive.
Another option for the cake is to get the sponge cake round little cakes about 8-9 inches in diameter that they sell at 7-11. A third cake option is to go to RT mart bakery section and look for what they amusingly call cheese cake in a 5X10 inch pan about 3 inches deep. It is more like the stuff from 7-11 but bigger and cheaper.
Frosting is easy stuff:
I’m not sure where you found your powdered sugar from your last try. Sometimes I see it at RT Mart but I get mine at the DIY baking store. If that’s the case, also pick up a small bottle of vanilla flavor and a small can of shortning. Some stores have repackaged shortning in about 1/2 kilo size. That would be ideal as the shortning goes stale after a few months.
Use about 4 cups of powder sugar and 1/2 cup of butter. If you have shortning split them 1/4 cup each. A little more won’t hurt it but it will be more prone to melting. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Use a fork or big spoon and mix together. When as fine and crumbled as you can get it, dribble in some milk or canned cream (Carnation stuff). Dribble, stir, dribble, stir, dribble stir. It is very easy to get too much milk and a big extra amount of frosting. When it is as stirred and smooth as possible, add about a teaspoon of vanilla and stir it in. Make sure it is very creamy. Maybe a little thicker than mayonaise so it spreads easily and doesn’t crumble the cake.
If using the 7-11 cakes, use 2 like a double decker cake. If using the oblong one from 7-11, cut in half and use it like a double layer.
BTW, Divea, if you want to treat the guy to some frosted cookies, especially as the holidays approach, you can get some round “Digestive” brand cookies in the red round package at Wellcome and just about everywhere else. They are course ground graham and make a good quick snack with some frosting on them. Cut back on the butter/shortning as it tends to soften the cookie. If you got to the DIY baking store, pick up some food coloring, candy sprinkles and some various cookie cutters. Quick and easy stuff.
Happy Birthday to the boy!
I get all my stuff from the DIY baking shop. I know I can buy those cakes, but just want to use these opportunities to make some of my own. Last Month I made a mermaid cake for my daughter which wasn’t bad, but that was for her Kindergarten class. For my son, we are having a party at home and older ‘discernig’ people will be around. I am trying to bake 2 rectangular cakes and then cut em up for a fire engine…since I will have to layer them, I want it to be spongy so that it can absorb a bit of orange juice and withstand a bit of refrigeration without going all hard.
Honestly, I gave up on making birthday cakes for my daughter and christmas cookies and stuff, simply because I nearly went insane trying to deal with the freaking frosting melting 0.5 seconds out of the fridge.
That one looks brilliant, though, nice work.
My mom used to do that ever since we were small kids: baking a big rectangular cake for a birthday, cutting it up to make a giraffe or tiger, etc., and frosting/decorating appropriately. In fact, at almost 80 years old, she made a great monkey cake for my daughter’s fourth birthday last year. And for an artist friend of theirs she recently made a cake modeled after one of his sculptures.
But I didn’t realize anyone else did such things. Good for you. :bravo:
My coworker who bakes lovely stuff -and I am the guinea pig for her recipes- suggests using cream instead. She says it actually hold out longer. You buy the carton of teh one that’s already sweetened and you can mix colors if you want when you whip it with the mixer. End result -with chocolate shavings and a few cherries, plus help of a press kind of pump:
She also says that the already made frosting can be bought at Wellman’s -dunno about the taste, but consistency, yep, it has that.
She is looking for something we call mazapan, that would be ideal for the making of figurines and stuff. Though I prefer the cookie palms you can eat later.
Cream, real cream doesn’t hold that much longer … the vegetable non-dairy stuff does because it’s … vegetable oil shortening in cream form … resists temperatures, used all over Taiwan …
The only way you can keep cream longer is to boil up syrup to 124-126 C … and mix that under … same for butter cream, but you have to add egg yolks to, and sugar … not just powdered sugar …
She is looking for something we call mazapan, that would be ideal for the making of figurines and stuff. Though I prefer the cookie palms you can eat later. [/quote]
I have only limited experience with frostings, but here is my understanding. Hopefully someone else will correct me if I’m wrong, or confirm this:
A higher butter content will mean more melting. If you’re using more than a cup of butter per pound of powdered sugar, that’s your problem right there. Increase the sugar content. A touch of salt and a shot of lemon juice can help offset the sweetness if that’s a concern. My mom liked lemon icing for this reason – she could add a bit of lemon juice and zest to get a tangy icing (still sweet and rich) that went very well with chocolate cake, for instance.
Switching part of the butter to margarine or shortening will help stabilize it. Crisco shortening is probably healthier than local DIY shop stuff, due to their new process which virtually eliminates trans fats. Try 25-50% in a micro batch to test it and see what you think. I’ve never tried this. Too much shortening will result in poor taste and poor (greasy) mouthfeel, though.
Egg yolks in the recipe accelerate melting. Eliminate them.
Decrease the liquid slightly in a humid environment.
Adding cream of tartar will help stabilize it somewhat (or so I’ve read; I’ve not tried it – Wellman’s had it last I checked).
Cooling the cake completely and keeping the icing cool before, during and after application will of course help. Are you refrigerating these?
If I were going to get into cake making, I’d probably order Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible.
[quote]Best Buttercream Frosting
Meringue Buttercream Directions
To make the creme anglaise…
Place a sieve suspended on a bowl near the stove/range.
In a medium-size stainless steel saucepan combine the sugar and yolks.
In a small saucepan bring the milk and vanilla bean to a boil.
Add 2 tablespoons of the milk to the yolk mixture, and stir constantly using a wooden spoon.
Gradually add the remaining milk while stirring.
Cook over medium-low heat and continue stirring until the mixture starts to steam slightly and the temperature reaches 170° F on an instant read thermometer.
Strain immediately, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the custard and cool to room temperature. (To speed the cooling, put the bowl into a larger bowl that is filled with ice water.)
Cover and refrigerate until ready to complete the buttercream. (NOTE: The creme anglaise can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.)
To make the Italian meringue…
Place a heat-proof liquid measuring cup near the stove/range.
In a small heavy nonstick saucepan combine 1/3 cup sugar and the 2 tablespoons of water.
Heat while stirring until the sugar dissolves and the mixture bubbles.
Stop stirring and reduce the heat to low. (If using an electric range remove from the heat).
In an electric mixer bowl beat the egg whites with the whisk attachment until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form when the beater is raised.
Gradually beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised slowly.
Increase the heat and boil the syrup until an instant read thermometer registers 248° F to 250° F (the firm ball stage).
Immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measure to stop the cooking.
Using the electric mixer, pour a small amount of syrup over the egg whites with the mixer off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup.
For the last addition, use a rubber spatula to remove the syrup clinging to the glass measure.
Lower speed to medium and continue beating until completely cool, about 2 minutes.
To complete the best buttercream frosting…
Place the butter a clean electric mixer bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds or until creamy.
Gradually beat in the creme anglaise until smooth.
Add the Italian meringue and beat until just combined. (If the mixture looks curdled it is too cold. Allow it to sit until it reaches 70° F before continuing to beat smooth.)
Place in an airtight container. Rebeat before using.
Storage: Six hours at room temperature. One week refrigerated. Up to 8 months frozen. If refrigerated or frozen, allow the buttercream to come to room temperature before rebeating.[/quote]
MT, Thank you for the kind words but I can’t take the credit for it. I did make that cake and the frosting and thats about it. The palm trees and dolphins came from the Florida bakery, I inserted a mini doll and hubby drew the green fish tail…so it really is not my handiwork per se.
Icon. The cream cake looks good, but the hubby likes the little crunch in butter cream, besides butter cream sticks easily so its easier to manipulate and not that fluffy. Oh and you really couldn’t eat those cookie palms. they were rock hard, so you’d need to dunk them in a glass of milk A cake, cookies and milk. Not bad eh?
Dragon bones, I’ll try the lemon thingy. I will refrigerate everything. Thanks for those handy tips. Another problem I faced, was that since the Anchor butter I used was yellow, the icing came out yellow. And when I added blue, it turned green then I had to add more blue. I wonder what it will do with red? Orange fire engine??? So is white butter available here? i know the Lupak brand is also yellow.
Belgian pie, I do have a few vanilla beans and never knew what to do with them (the gifts we get!). I used this recipe for my simple frosting…http://southernfood.about.com/od/icingrecipes/r/Buttercream-Frosting.htm
Your recipe looks great but I worry it can go wrong in many places. I think Db’s idea of using loads of sugar and correcting the sugar content with lemon juice is good and simpler.
When I know the cake will be exposed to ambient temperature, try making a cannolli like frosting using powdered sugar and ricotta cheese with a little dash of vanilla.
I’ve never had issues with creaming - if it gets too hot just put it back in the fridge to rest for a couple of mintes.
Got myself a 600 watt kitchenaid mixer - damn that makes life easy. It feels like cheating.
[quote]When I know the cake will be exposed to ambient temperature, try making a cannolli like frosting using powdered sugar and ricotta cheese with a little dash of vanilla.
[/quote]
then I had to add more blue. I wonder what it will do with red? Orange fire engine??? So is white butter available here? i know the Lupak brand is also yellow.
no idea what cannolli is.