soft cheese frosting – The Pudding Queen

Double White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

January 28, 2023January 28, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Birthday time again, so I was looking around for a new cake recipe. I don’t know why I bother, really, as the birthday boy would be quite happy with the ultimate chocolate cake, every time (see The Ultimate-Chocolate Cake). Still, I like to try something new and I thought that a lighter cake would be a good idea since it would be served up after a substantial birthday dinner! I came across this recipe on line, which seemed to be a form of angel food cake (a very light sponge) but with added white chocolate. I’ve never made an angel food cake before so it was the excuse to indulge in buying a new piece of kit-an Angel Food Cake pan!

The central pillar is to ensure that the centre of the cake cooks through, too.

Angel food cake is supposed to be made in an ungreased pan, since the cake, sort of, crawls up the side of the pan during baking. It is cooled in the pan, balanced upside down, perched on supports-the central tube is actually higher than the rim of the pan, to facilitate this cooling. My recipe said to grease and flour the pan before using, which maybe should have set off alarm bells. What should I do-follow the perceived wisdom for angel food, or follow the recipe? In the end I followed the recipe, considering that the addition of the chocolate might have affected the process.

Pan greased with butter, then dusted with flour and excess tapped out

Cake

1 cup/250 g/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp (plus extra to grease the pan)

3½ cups/440 g all-purpose (plain) flour, plus extra for the tin

2½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

½ tsp salt

125 g/4 oz white chocolate, chopped

½ cup just-boiled water

1½ cups/375 g granulated sugar

6 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1½ cups/375 ml buttermilk, at room temperature*

*due to absence of buttermilk, this was prepared by adding whole milk to lemon juice (1 tbsp lemon to 1 cup milk) and leaving to stand.

Heat the oven to 300˚F/150˚C/Gas 1-2

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Use a balloon whisk to ensure it is well-mixed. Set aside.

Place the chocolate into a small bowl. Add the just-boiled water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.

Place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. I used my temperamental stand mixer for this, as it was easier when I wanted to add ingredients, and it is quite a long process of mixing. I just had to be careful to keep scraping down the sides of my bowl to ensure good mixing.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium and then add egg whites, one at a time, beating to ensure each is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Reduce the mixer speed once more. Add the flour, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until just incorporated. Mix in the white chocolate/water mixture.

Flour, buttermilk and white chocolate mix added

Transfer to the prepared tin. Bake until a skewer comes out clean (75-80 minutes). Remove from oven and leave to cool, in the tin on a rack, for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack to cool completely.

The recipe stated that the cake would take 75-80 minutes, but mine was still sticky at that point. I reckon it was 90 minutes-plus before my wooden skewer tester came out clean. The greasing of the pan seems to have been necessary, I lost a patch of cake from the top when I released it from the tin. Oh well, one slice will have extra-deep frosting!

I have to admit that at this stage I was not at all sure about this cake and was hunting out my recipe for Blackout Cake as a backup (see Bit of a Mash-Up-Blackout Fudge Cake). The sponge in this cake is very easy to make and is a lovely dark moist chocolate cake which would work with all sorts of frosting. In the end I decided to stick with the cake I’d made and cross fingers…

Cream cheese frosting

100 g/3.5 g white chocolate, chopped

½ cup/125 g/1 stick unsalted butter, softened.

8 oz/250 g/1 block cream cheese, softened

1 cup/155 g icing (powdered/confectioners) sugar

½ cup/125 ml whipping (heavy/double) cream

Melt the chocolate, in a bain-marie or in the microwave. the recipe suggests the microwave, but I’ve always thought that white chocolate is particularly easy to overheat, so I went with the bain-marie. Set aside.

Incidentally, I think that the quality of the chocolate for this cake does matter a lot. Normally I buy Lindt white chocolate, but this can be difficult to find occasionally, and so it proved this time. I managed to get one bar, but needed more, and ended up with a budget ‘store’s own’ alternative. This did not melt well at all. I’m glad that I saved the Lindt bar for the frosting and used the other for the cake.

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the icing sugar and mix to combine, then add the melted chocolate and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the cake.

When ready, beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Stir a spoonful into the cream cheese mixture, then fold in the remaining cream.

To assemble

Cut the cake in half, through the equator. Place the base on a cake board or serving plate.

I recently also acquired a cake turntable, along with some icing equipment, offset spatulas and that sort of thing. I always say that I’m no great shakes at icing, so maybe I could improve. Anyway, the cake didn’t look bad when cut in half, although it maybe had a slightly ‘bready’ texture. I glued the bottom down onto a cake board and placed this on the turntable, ready for the next stage.

Add ½ cup/125 ml seedless raspberry jam to the base and spread evenly.

Add ¾ cup of the cream cheese frosting over the jam layer. Place the top half of the cake on top.

I decided to try a ‘crumb coat’ for the frosting. This is a thin layer of frosting that covers the outside the cake and is then left to ‘set’ in the fridge. The idea is that any crumbs from the cake surface are trapped in this layer and then the top coat will be pristine and crumb-free. Well, I gave it a go:

I popped the cake (on the turntable!) into the fridge for 15 minutes, but it didn’t seem to set over much. Maybe this is not the best frosting to achieve the smooth surface? Anyhow, I also realised (later) that I’d neglected to do another stage, which was to wrap each layer in plastic film and place them into the freezer for 15 minutes, to help stabilize the layers.

So I ended up with some sort of frosting-definitely not perfect, though- and I had a bit of a go with piping, too. I think my career making wedding cakes had better go on the back burner.

As for the cake? Well, I think it was a bit bready in texture, and it really wasn’t the airy cake I was expecting. I don’t know if that was a function of the cheaper chocolate, or the fact that it took quite a lot longer to bake than expected. It really needs to come out of the fridge for a couple of hours in advance of serving, too, but the cream cheese in the frosting means that it has to be stored refrigerated. On the plus side, its a big cake and will provide 16 servings with no problems. I don’t think I’d make it again, though, but you live and learn.

Lusciously Fruity-Lemon Blueberry Cake

March 30, 2022March 20, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Birthday time again, and I wanted a show-stopping birthday cake. We were eating Mexican for dinner, so a cool, fruity cake would work well after a spicy first course. I thought I’d do lemon blueberry again, but this time I wouldn’t use a cake mix like here (Not really cheating…Lemon Blueberry Cake). No, this time I’d go from scratch. I found a recipe on line (Sally’s Baking Addiction), which had a cream cheese frosting. One thing, though, that had a vanilla frosting and I wanted mine to be lemony. Not a problem, I’m always happy to adjust to fit.

The recipe:

For the cake

230 g/1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

250 g/ 1¼ cups granulated sugar

100 g/ ½ cup packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract*

354 g/3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

250 ml/1 cup buttermilk**

Zest from 3 lemons

125 ml/½ cup lemon juice (approximately 3 lemons)

258 g fresh/275 g frozen (1½ cups) blueberries***

1 tbsp all-purpose (plain) flour

*the original recipe wanted 1 tbsp, but that seemed far too much!

**I made buttermilk from 1 cup of whole (3.25%) milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice, left to stand for 15 minutes before using

***I used the frozen berries. Do not defrost before using.

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas 4. Grease and line 3 x 8 inch or 9 inch sandwich tins and set aside.

I used my stand mixer for this cake, but a hand-held mixer would work fine. Beat the butter until creamy, add the two sugars and beat again until creamed together.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until completely combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture, then add the buttermilk, lemon zest* and lemon juice until just combined.

*I found a small grater the easiest thing to get the zest from my lemons.

Toss the blueberries in the 1 tbsp extra flour, gently fold into the batter, but do not overmix.

Separate between the three sandwich tins and smooth the tops. Cook for 20-30 minutes (note the 8 inch tins will take the longest) or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins. The cake is quite dense and moist so will need to cool well before being removed from the tins.

Remove from the tins and cool completely whilst making the frosting.

This was supposed to be a three tier cake but my layers (8 inch cakes) were pretty thick-it would have been a towering cake with all three. I therefore used only two of them. The final tier was very flavoursome, even without the frosting, and would make a very acceptable dessert, with custard for example. If wanted, you could reduce the recipe by one-third and make just two, 8 inch cakes.

The frosting:

1 block/224 g/8 oz full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

115 g/½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

420 g/3½ cups icing sugar (powdered/confectioner’s sugar)

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

Pinch of salt

The original recipe called for a vanilla flavoured icing, and had double/heavy/whipping cream in place of the lemon juice, but I wanted a real lemony hit so I substituted lemon juice. For this bit I used a commercially-made lemon juice-I always have a bottle in the fridge.

Again I used my stand mixer with the smaller bowl.

Beat the cream cheese with the butter until no lumps remain. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the salt, I tablespoon lemon juice and vanilla, incorporate into the mix on low speed then beat on high for 3 minutes, adding additional lemon juice to thin, if needed. A smooth frosting will form. Use to sandwich together the layers and cover the top and sides. Store refrigerated to set the frosting. Decorate with additional blueberries, if liked.

It made a hearty yet very fruity cake!

You could definitely taste the lemon and the blueberries in this one.

Dark and Stout-Chocolate Guinness Cake

October 3, 2020January 25, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

It’s been a long time since we had dinner at our local restaurant. It specializes in seafood (of course) and enormous desserts; seriously enormous. In fact, one slice of their Cranberry Cake with Rum Sauce would feed a family for a week. It’s good, too, but not as good as their ‘Mrs. Swaine’s Guinness Cake’, a soft, moist, dark dream of a cake topped with a white creamy frosting. I’m not sure who Mrs. Swaine is, but she can definitely knock up a good cake.

I thought I’d see if I could find a recipe and have a go, myself. Nothing by Mrs. Swaine, but I did find several recipes, including one by Nigella Lawson. She usually produces a good recipe (her Blueberry Boy-Bait was as good as it sounds) so I thought I’d have a go at her cake. First to get some Guinness. I only needed a cup-full (250 ml) but ended up having to buy four cans, the smallest amount they sold. Incidentally, I have read that this has been made successfully with something called Chocolate Stout, so I will look out for that if I’m ever in the vicinity of somewhere likely to sell it. Some of these independent micro-breweries might be the very place to look.

Now, however, I had to say a sad goodbye to my venerable hand-mixer, a Sunbeam Mixmaster that I have had since we moved to Canada, 17 years ago. It’s been a workhorse but has finally turned up its toes. I had to find a replacement and ended up with a Black and Decker in a snazzy orange (Mark has a drill that looks just like it). I have to say that these things do seem to have deteriorated in the intervening years since I bought my Sunbeam. The tools on that felt substantial, stainless-steel items that never took a stain or a knock, whilst the ones on the new one feel light and flimsy in comparison. Still it comes with a plastic tub that supposedly holds the tools and clips on to the bottom of the handset (when it feels like it), so I suppose that’s all right. I’ll be surprised if this one lasts 17 years, that’s all I’ll say!

One thing about this cake, it doesn’t need a lot of mixing. Mostly I used a balloon whisk and a rubber spatula, the mixer only came in for a little egg-beating (to be fair, it worked well for that). It’s a substantial cake, supposed to fit a 9″ deep-sided tin. I don’t have one of that size but it would probably have worked well in a Bundt pan, which I do have and might use for this in the future. What is a Bundt pan? I didn’t know about these until relatively recently, never having seen them back home but its a fluted ring pan. Might be called a ‘Gugelhupf’ in Australia.

Anyhow, I decided I’d use two 8″ loose-bottomed sandwich tins, greased and lined with baking parchment. It meant that I could include a layer of frosting between the layers, although it did mean that the resemblance of the cake to a pint of Guinness was lessened. Oh well, I guess we could live with that.

The Recipe:
250 ml/1 cup Guinness stout (or other dark stout)
250 g/8 oz (2 sticks/ 1 cup) unsalted butter
75 g/ ¾ cup cocoa powder
400 g /2 cups caster sugar (granulated sugar works well for North America)
150 ml/ 2/3 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tbsp / 15 ml vanilla extract
275 g / 2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
2 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
FOR FROSTING
1 block (250 g/8 oz) cream cheese
150 g/ 5 oz/ 1 cup icing sugar (confectioner’s or powdered sugar)
2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch_
125 ml / ½ cup double cream, or heavy cream, or whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C, 160C fan/Gas 4. Grease and line (if possible) a 9 inch tine, two 8″ sandwich tins or a Bundt pan. Nb, can also be used to make cup cakes!

Pour the Guinness into a wide saucepan.

Note, when measuring the beer, I used a Pyrex jug and made sure that the meniscus of the liquid was at the 250 ml measure, with the foam above. It’s the retired scientist in me coming out! It’s probably more accurate than trying to fill a cup measure.

Chop up the butter and add it to the pan. Warm the mixture until all the butter has melted then remove from the heat. Add in the cocoa powder and whisk until dissolved, then pour in the sugar and whisk until dissolved.

There is a thing called ‘blooming’ the cocoa powder, which basically means adding it to a warm liquid and allowing it to sit for a couple of minutes. It’s supposed to really bring out the chocolate flavour and might be worth trying with any chocolate cake recipe that involves adding cocoa powder. It doesn’t need a lot of liquid, just a tablespoon or two of hot water or milk. In this recipe, of course, it happens anyway!

Place the eggs, sour cream and vanilla into a separate bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.

Pour into the slightly cooled chocolately mixture and whisk to incorporate.

Combine the flour and soda by sifting into another bowl, then whisk this into the mixture in the pan. Pour into the prepared tin(s). It will be very liquid!

Transfer to the oven and bake. A single cake will take 45 minutes to 1 hour. The two sandwich tins took between 30-40 minutes. the cakes were done when a metal skewer inserted into the middle came out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins, on a wire rack.

Nigella describes this as a ‘damp’ cake and she’s right. If you try to remove the tins too early, it will definitely disintegrate. I left mine for over an hour, until the tins felt cool and there was very little residual heat in the cakes, then I carefully removed the tins and lining paper, before leaving them to cool completely on the racks.

For the frosting, lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the icing sugar and cornflour, and beat to combine. If using double cream or heavy cream, add this and beat until you have a spreadable consistency. If using whipping cream, as I did, whip the cream to soft peaks first, add a couple of spoonsful into the cheese mixture and, once combined, fold in the rest.

Use the frosting to sandwich together the layers, if using, and then pile on the top of the cake. It keeps well for 2-3 days in an air-tight container.

Chocolate Guinness Cake (Mrs. Dennis’s, perhaps?)

It is perhaps even tastier (and definitely more sticky) on the day after baking. A little definitely goes a long way. It eats nicely as a dessert with additional cream (got to use up the rest of that cream somewhere!). I think its a recipe I will revisit; as I suggested a chocolate stout might be nice, perhaps a little coffee flavouring, maybe a chocolate granache topping, leaving the frosting for the centre of the cake. Lots of options.