Skip to main content

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Yes, it's that day of the year which is exclusively for me!!! I grew a year older, which also means a year lesser to the graves....*smiles*.....This year too I received my quota of presents and wishes...And had a great cake cutting ceremony early in the morning...... *smiles*...(Little joys of life)


So, what is a birthday without a cake!!......Remember my last year's b'day cake!! This year too I decided to bake my own birthday cake. But this time, it was a quite a disappointment for me!!! Actually, I had pinned down on Deeba's (of PAB) Coffee and Vanilla Bean Layered Cake months back....But unfortunately, had to change it at the last moment as my little one was not keeping well.....JJ insisted on buying a cake but I was so adamant on baking my own birthday cake....Moreover, these days, I don't like the bakery baked cakes as they are very sweet and full of flavors! So, I searched for a recipe which required less preparation time as I had to cater to a sick child  in between.....I choose to bake the Flourless Chocolate Rum Cake from Pastry Affair.....Everything went on fine; from the preparation to the baking and cooling of the cake....Suddenly, things went wrong when I de-moulded it to a cake plate.....The cake tore into pieces and I was so shocked! There was nothing much to do about it except to just stare at it! Disappointed and not knowing what to do next, I sat in front of the TV, switching channels....I had only my eyes glued to it but mind wandering for a solution.....And that is when I remembered about a cake recipe, which I had read about long back.....I immediately hoped on to Suma's blog Cakes and More and searched for  her birthday cake, the Coffee Cream Gateaux.....The recipe required less ingredients and time to bake the cake, so in I go to my kitchen with my laptop and started off the preparation to bake the cake....I had to finish the cake within an hour before the power goes off and so I was in a rush that I missed a vital part of the cake preparation....But, finally I had a Birthday cake!!And thankfully, my little one slept off peacefully all this time......{And I am not including the pictures of the entire cake as the decorations on the cake were somewhat childish!} 

The method below explains how I prepared this cake. For more details on this sponge cake please visit Suma's blog.

Coffee Cream Gateaux
Ingredients:
Recipe Source: Cakes and More

For the Coffee Sponge
Eggs - 3
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Plain Flour - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 1/2 tsp
Instant coffee powder - 1 tbsp

For the Coffee Cream
Sweetened whipping cream - 2 cups (I used 1 sachet of  instant whipping powder)
Instant coffee powder - 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp


Method:

Preparing the Coffee Cream
  • Chill the beater and bowl in the freezer.
  • Prepare the whipping cream as mentioned on the package. To this add the essence and instant coffee. Whip the cream and refrigerate the cream for frosting.

Preparing the Cake
  • Grease, line a 8" cake tin, flour lightly. Keep aside.
  • Preheat oven to 190 C.
  • In a large bowl, take eggs, vanilla essence, sugar and instant coffee. With an electric beater, whip the eggs for ten mins till thick and mousse like. Beat at low speed and then move to medium high speed. {This is where I made the mistake and that is the reason for my thin cake. The volume of the cake depends on how well it is beaten. So, immerse the bowl in a pan of simmering water and beat until it has tripled in volume and mousse like}.
  • Sift the flour over the egg mixture in 3 additions. Fold in the flour very gently but thoroughly with a spatula.
  • When all the flour has been incorporated, transfer the batter to the tin.
  • Bake for 35-40 mins or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. {Do not open the oven for the first 20 mins of putting the cake}.
  • Once done, leave the cake in the tin for 10 mins. Run a knife along the sides to release the cake.. Turn onto a wire rack and cool completely. 
  • Once completely cooled, spread the coffee cream using a spatula. Frost the cake on all sides with the cream. Chill the cake and decorate.


Now, if you are wondering what happened to the first cake, you need to wait for the next post.... After all I live in a country where "An idea can change your life"....*smiles & winks*......




 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Always happy to hear from you.....

Popular posts from this blog

Caramel Cake

This time, I am deeply smitten with the vacation bug, and I still haven't recovered from it yet. A trip to The Capital was the main highlight of this year's vacation and we especially my kids thoroughly enjoyed it. It was their many firsts--first looong trip in the train (48 hrs), first trip to the North, first long trip with their grandparents and so on.....So you could imagine their excitement!! Meanwhile, many special days like the Mother's day and Father's Day have come and gone, but I was never in a mood to at least make an effort to bake something for those special days.....Anyways, let me hope this Caramel Cake would compensate for all those lazy bygone days..... Once again, when I have to make a come back, I normally depend on the Fondbites, Bake Along Recipes and this time too, didn't alter that routine!! No more blabbing, off to the recipe for the Caramel Cake (Fondbites, Bake Along # 18). Ingredients: For the Cake Unsalted butt...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This Oven Cold Cream Cheese Pound Cake was  Bake Along #11 . And this had a speciality too!! You needn't preheat your oven like you do when baking normally. Just cream and mix the ingredients and pop it into your oven....simple!  A pound cake is a type of cake traditionally baked with a pound of four main ingredients: flour, butter, eggs and sugar. You could add different flavours or dried fruits for a variation. In this pound cake, I added cream cheese too and guess what I got-- an utterly delicious and yummy yummy cake!! Ingredients: Cake flour- 115 gms Butter - 115 gms, softened Cream Cheese - 115 gms, softened Eggs- 3 Baking powder - 3/4 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Sugar - 1 cup Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: NO PREHEATING the oven!!  Butter and flour a loaf pan and line the bottom with butter paper. Place softened butter and cream cheese in a bowl and beat using an electric beater until soft and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Karachi Biscuits

The Fondbites Bake Along # 59 was Karachi Biscuits, which were new to me.... However, Mr. Hubby said it was famous in Hyderabad and every bakeries sold these biscuits.... Anyways, I gave it a try with few changes in the original ingredients..... Now, on to my tweaked recipe: Ingredients: Recipe Source: Fondbites Butter – 350 gms, softened Icing sugar – 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour – 3 cups Baking powder – 1/2 teaspoon Orange zest – grated from 1 whole orange Fresh orange juice – 1/4 cup Pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon Tutti Fruiti – 100 gms, orange coloured Almonds – 1 cup, finely chopped Method: Whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, zest of orange in a big bowl. Add tutti fruiti and chopped almonds and mix well using your hands until the flour mixture coats the tutti fruiti well. Keep aside. Add butter into the bowl of your electric beater and beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes until it becomes lig...
Post a Comment
Read more