Blackforest Cake

Told you , that was this girl birthday  fall on Aug , normally I would just do a cake I would love to bake and bless the birthday person. However , occasionally I would ask the person what kind you would like to have for your birthday celebration. Most of the people would say any cake will do. This girl happen to be one that happily share with you her idea of a cake :) Her first choice was Green Tea Matcha Cake ~~ honestly I do not know will I able to bake that cake. 2nd was Black Forest Cake. I was thinking to bake her a Strawberry Mirror Cake.

Well if I do gave the birthday gal a choice I would like to do what they prefer if I can manage it.Hence voi la here is the Black Forest Cake !!

I have look through quite a number of recipe for this classic beauty.That was so many of variety of style , way to deco, how to cream it and even the chocolate cake base . I want  to have something simple and yummy . I always believe simplicity is beauty. When I share a recipe I wish people can easily get it and wont feel dishearted to try out. I started baking by following recipe that is 4 step and 6 ingredients type. It really help to boost my confident in baking being an amature.

This cake is not that difficult in fact that is really lot of recipe for this cake that is easy and simple to follow. I modify from 2 my love food blogger. So hopefully this will be one that you feel is easy to attempt :

Recipe Sharing as below :
Adapt from ->Chocolate Hidden Banana Cake ( Table for 2 or more)

99gm cocoa powder
150g Dark Chocolate ( Melted using double boiler style)
110gm all purpose flour
110gm cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp sodium bicarbonate
250gm sugar 
1/8 tsp salt
6 large egg yolks
162gm corn oil
½ tsp vanilla extract.
6 large egg whites
 20g Cocoa Powder

Method :

1.. Preheat your oven at 175C. I did mine at 160C. Line a 8  inch round cake mould
2. Combine all purpose flour, cake flour, cocoa powder,baking powder, sodium bicarb, sugar and salt.Whisk it.
3 Combine melted chocolate with egg york well and add in oil beat in medium speed for 1 minute.
4. Put in vanilla and beat for a few seconds.
6. Put in half the dry ingredients (2) and beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Put in the balance and beat on high speed for 1 minute.
7. Put in egg whites and whisk on high speed for 2 minutes.
8. Pour batter into round mould.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean
10. Leave cake to cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan to cool down completely on cooling rack.
11. Carefully cut the cake in 3 slices

As for the Cherry layer I adapt from another famous food blogger -> Joyofbaking

1 can of 680g Cherries
12 stalk of fresh Cherries
50g Sugar
2 tbsp of corn flour plus 1tbsp of water
2 tbsp of Sherry ( Kirsch) - I do not have kirsch so used Sherry
500ml Pouring Cream (whipped)

Method :

1.Place a metal bowl in freezer for whipping cream
2.Drain the cherries, reserving the liquid. Place the cherries in a bowl and toss with 2 tbsp of Sherry. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

3.Place the reserve cherry syrup in a small saucepan , put in sugar and heat till the sugar has dissolved and pour in the cornflour.Let it cool.

4.Take out the metal bowl from freezer and pour the cream in and beat it till stiff soft peak.

Assemble the cake :

1. Put the bottom layer of chocolate cake on smooth surface mat, brush the cherries liquid as (2) on the cake. Soak it as much as your cake to be moist.Cover with a layer of whip cream. Top with a handful of cherries. Spread it evenly.
2. Put the 2nd layer of the chocolate cake on top. Repeat the same process
3. As all 3 layer has been assemble, on top of the 3rd layer brush with the cherries liquid and cover the whole cake with cream.
4. Deco as you like it. You can put some shave chocolate in the middle and place fresh cherry on top of the cake as you want it to be.

The surprise of the birthday gal face is really worth the effort of going through all this process.
Again the cake is moist and the fresh cherry is refreshing
Give this a try , or you may even find another easy way of doing this classic beauty.

Pandan Souffle Cake

Ooh . I told you am a pandan lover. I have first baked this souffle cake （相思海棉蛋糕） with one of my favour ingredient - Palm Sugar. ->Palm Sugar Souffle Cake . I simply love the texture of the cake . Honestly not quite sure what is the english name for this cake. Since is mostly egg white base and the spongy effect of it. I have it name Souffle cake .

I have the whole Palm Sugar Souffle cake all by myself within a week. Kept in an air tight cake container , it simply keep the moist and you wont feel full even if you have 3 -4 pieces at one time. It quite a dangerous cake ! As winter is ending soon , we have another steamboat dinner session at a friend's place. I often volunteer to bring  a dessert . All of us came from South East Asia, everyone just love and miss the pandan cake we often have back home. I promise to make something from pandan. Not always has to be the ->Pandan Chiffon Cake. So to have something different here is what I make .

My hubby has a great laugh about the height of this cake and don't quite understand why it rise so tall. All in all the cake is fluffy , full of pandan fragrant and everyone try to grab another extra piece if they can :)

Recipe adapt from ->SiewWei

Ingredients A:
Corn oil 65g
Milk 80ml (combine self made Pandan Essence 30g + Milk 50g / also can replace with Coconut milk)
Salt 1/4tsp
Egg yolk  100g
Egg 1pc
Superfine flour 65g ( I used cake flour)

Ingredients B:
Egg white 200g
Castor sugar 65g
Cream of Tartar 1/2tsp

Method A:
1.Combined Corn oil, Pandan milk, egg yolk and egg in a bowl.Whisk well till have little bubble.
2. Add in  Flour, mix well, set aside.( cover well and set aside ,do not let air get in )

Method B:
1. Combine egg white and Cream of tartar, beat in medium speed, slowly add in sugar, beat till soft peak form.
2. Mix A & B, pour the mixture into 7" loose base square baking pan. Steam bake ~ 150 degree, 55 minutes.
3. Inverted the cake pan, till it is cool completely.

Japaneses Dark Pearl Chocolate Chiffon Cake

What  a name for this cake - Japanese Dark Pearl Chocolate Chiffon Cake. Honestly I am not a gal that is a big fan of chocolate. Not even when I was young, probably cause my family cant afford such luxury candy.

Well come back with this cake. I spotted this in my friend blog and got really curious about what is this Dark Pearl about. After digging into the recipe and search through the website, what a delight to know is Chiffon cake . Chiffon is always my love and I like it soft and moist. Is good to try out something different from the usual Pandan Chiffon Cake.

So here is my 1st attempt of this lovely Japanese Dark Pearl Chocolate Chiffon Cake. I did it another one the other night cause for no reason I just want some chocolate cake, and nothing can compare to a chiffon for a chiffon lover.

So here is the recipe I got from ->Bakericious

Ingredients :
Cocoa Batter:
150g chocolate cut to small chunk
 (I used a mixture of 30g 90% dark chocolate and 120g 20% chocolate)
 90ml water -> I have this substitute with milk / might add some liquor next time
100g corn oil
25g cocoa powder
65g cake flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
115 g egg yolks (6 yolks for me)

Egg White Batter:
225g egg white (6 whites for me)
100g castor sugar (Reduced to 85g)
a pinch of salt
1/8 tsp of cream of tartar

Method:
1. Melt chocolate over steaming water and stir till smooth. Add in cornoil slowly, stirring all the time till smooth. Fold in the rest of the ingredients and stir till smooth.
2. Whisk egg white with cream of tartar till frothy, then pour in sugar gradually and then add in the salt. whiks till a soft peak is formed.
3. Fold egg white into the egg yolk mixture and then pour into a 23" to 25" round chiffon cake pan. (I used 23")
4. Bake at 180C for about 40 mins or till cooked.
5. Invert cake onto a cooling rack until completely cooled. Remove cake from pan and serve.

I beat up some cream add strawberry to go with  my cake. It just simply yum and the way I love it moist, soft , fluffy and the the cake is not too sweet as am using Lindth dark chocolate. Again a cake that end our night sweet and perfect :)