Hey guys, it has been a few busy days around here. Because of my exhibition, which is coming soon, it is auite hard to document my baking… :/
In these days full of [mental] action, I have been craving especially one thing: NUTELLA. The good thing about this stuff is its flexibility. Put it anywhere and it will be a hit (we are talking about sweets right here, remember). And if you want to share a chocolaty melty dessert with someone you like or you are alone and hungry or frustrated or both, I have an idea for you. Only with a few ingredients you can make one or two persons happy. And don’t feel guilty if one of these is you.
All you have to do is bake this tiny cake in a 10 cm (4´´) round pan, slice up some strawberries and whip up cream.
Then put nutella (as much as you like) onto the warm cake layer. Then place the strawberry slices on top.
Put on some cream. More strawberries.
2nd cake layer on top,some more cream, decoration, done. Takes all in all about 15 minutes and will make you happy for much longer.
Happiness Cake
makes about 2 servings (depending on your apetite :D)
60 g butter (1/2 stick)
50 g sugar (1/6 cup)
1 egg
75 g all purpose flour (2/3 cup)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
Whisk together the flour baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add the egg and stir until fully and incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients and stir until the dough is smooth.
Transfer the mixture into an oiled pan and bake about 12 minutes or until a toothpicker comes out clean.
Cut the cake into two layery and put nutella on the hot bottom. Let it cool a little, then go on with strawberries and cream.
Then: dig in.
Yay! The second surprise-on-the-inside-cake. Found the idea on pinterest and knew this would be the cake for my bf’s mother’s birthday.
The butterflies I made of basic white cake, baked in a rectangular pan and cut out with a cookie cutter. Then I made a brownie dough and put the butterflies inside. The cake is topped with a mascarpone and raspberry cream, then covered with beaten heavy cream.
So proud of this flower I made of fondant and the paper wire butterfly. :P
Find the instructions for this cake below and a tutorial with pictures for the surprise effect here.
Butterfly Inside Cake
white cake:
250 g (2 sticks + 1 tbsp) butter, room temperature
200g (1 cup – 1 tbsp) sugar
4 eggs
300 g (2 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
Whisk together the flour baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and stir until fully incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients and stir until the dough is smooth.
Transfer the mixture into a rectangular pan lined with a baking sheet 30 x 40 cm (12 x 16´´) and bake about 15 minutes until a toothpicker comes out clean. Let cool then cut out butterflies with a cookie cutter.
brownie cake:
225 g (2 sticks) butter
300 g (1 1/3 cup) sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
85 g (3/4 cup) dark cocoa powder
120 g (1 cup) flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Melt the butter in a microwave. Combine with sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla. Sift together all dry ingredients and stir them in.
Put 1/3 into a round pan 26 cm (10´´). Place the butterfliec in a circle into the mass. Pour the rest of the dough on top.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpicker comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely.
topping:
250 g (8 oz.) mascarpone
120 g (4 oz.) fresh raspberries
5 tbsp. powdered sugar (or to taste)
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream
Beat raspberries, mascarpone and powdered sugar until the cream is smooth. Spread on top of the cooled cake and let cool in the refridgerator for at least 2 hours.
Beat heavy cream until stiff and cover the cake.
Decorate as you like.
Ladies love flowers. I love them, too, although I would not say I am a real lady. But, you know, I had some cake around… it wanted the flowers so bad I gave the to it. Yep, I kinda killed my bouquet for women’s day, it was just the right thing to do.
What I am talking about here is a fluffy, creamy dreamy cake with fresh strawberries. A sponge cake layer is soaked with thinned strawbery jam and a thick mascarpone and strawberry cream layer covers the moist dough.
To give this beauty a special outward appearance, put a ring of ladyfingers around it and tie with ribbon. Top with fresh flowers. As this season everything is going to be about pastel colours, I these light pink ones were perfect. So cute!
Strawberry Mascarpone Cake
(for round 10´´ pan; 12 servings)
sponge cake:
2 eggs
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
100g (1 cup – 1 tbsp) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 tbsp strawberry jam
1 tbsp water
cream:
200 ml (4/5 cup) heavy cream
250 g (8 oz.) mascarpone
3 tbsp powdered sugar
300 g (10 oz.) fresh strawberries
decoration:
mini marshmallows
fresh flowers
240 g (8 oz.) ladyfingers
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Cream eggs, vanilla and sugar on high speed for about 1 minute. You should be able to see lots of bubbles in the batter. Add dry ingredients and incorporate them. Oil a round 26 cm (10´´) pan and bake for about 10 minutes until a toothpicker comes out clean.
In a small bowl, combine strawberry jam and water. Stir with a whisk until the mixture is almost homogenous. Spread it all over the sponge cake with a teaspoon. This will make the cake moist.
Beat the heavy cream in a bowl on high speed until stiff. Beat in mascarpone on low speed. Add powdered sugar and incorporate shortly.
Wash strawberries and cut into small cubes. Carefully stir the fruit pieces into the cream.
Put a cake ring aroung the sponge layer and pour the cream on top. Smooth it down. Let sit for about 1 hour, then remove the ring carefully and decorate.
Now do what is good for you and have a bite.