To My sweetheart,
You are all that I ever wanted & the best Gift from Above
Happy Birthday Sweetheart ♥
This post is a Special dedication to my dear Husband
All my friends and well-wishers and readers of this blog, I have been getting constant mails, chats and even messages on what plans I have on my Husband's Birthday. Well its time to reveal :D, this time around I had main focus to bake him a cake, wait bake 2 cakes and this is my very first attempt to make a Birthday cake. Like I had mentioned in my earlier post on ideas for Husband's Birthday, I incorporated one of the idea, which is to do what he likes and why not its his special day. So like most busy housewives I was planning my husband's birthday for nearly a month (too much huh?). I love to put in all my best efforts and ideas and to tell you he was just blushing the whole time :-), I thoroughly enjoyed if every bit and made me think of the earlier days before marriage when we used to meet and blush :P.
Surprise 1
Alright going to what I had done, I made some lamingtons. Ok not just some, quite a lot around 60 pieces which took me nearly 2 whole days. Now I know you might ask why 60, well he is not that old (will reserve his age for his sake ;-), I had promised to send some to his friends at work. And I did make a tower of Lamingtons and added a candle, sparklers to make it even more surpricy. Made him cut the lamingtons at 12 midnight and he was so pleased.
His Verdict: He totally loved the sweet treats and the melt-in the mouth snow-flaked beauties. And he like always was worried if the sparklers would make the smoke alarm ring :-/ but thankfully it didn't
Surprise 2
Since He loves roses and white cake, I tried to combine both and I baked a vanilla sponge (eggless & butterless) with vanilla butter icing and decorated with hand-made crystalised flowers/edible flowers. Well I went for the eggless butterless version cos Lamingtons had both of them and wanted to try something different. This was the cake for the morning session before he could hit work
His Verdict: He loved that the cake was less fatty and the cake was a totally pleaser, spongy, moist and just melts in you mouth. He totally went bonkers for the crystallised roses. Well the cake did win his heart and he told me this "This is the best Birthday cake I ever had" and I said "Me too :P", now tell me what else could make my day even special?
Surprise 3
Well well well this is a secret will tell you when time comes, not in this post :P so you might have to wait for this and so does my Birthday Boy
Recipe Section
Australian Lamingtons
Vanilla Sponge Cake (No Butter No Egg)
My Thoughts : This is a super easy cake and you do not need a whisk (electric/ free stand) to do the cake and just a spoon is more than enough to beat the ingredients. Its quick to mix and easy to do. Although the cake was eggless and butterless, it did not feel or taste different, and in my opinion it was too good. The icing gave a lovely balance to the cake.
Ingredients for Sponge - for 8" pan serves 10
(Please Read Notes Below)
All Purpose Flour/ Maida 1 and 1/2 Cup (200 gms)
Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup (165 gms)
Plain yogurt (curd) - 1 cup (250 ml) ~ I used Onken, at room temperature
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1 and 1/4 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 ad 1/2 tsp
Cooking oil - 1/2 Cup
Milk - 1 tbsp (for brushing on top)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F / 180C and grease an 8" cake pan (or loaf pan) with some butter or oil and set aside. In a bowl sift the flour and set aside.
- In another large bowl beat the yogurt with a spoon to remove any lumps and add the sugar to it, beat again and wait for the sugar to dissolve well, this would take 5 mins. Now add the baking powder and baking soda to it. Beat again and set aside for 5 mins until you see small bubbles on the surface of the mixture.
- Its time to add the vanilla extract and oil. Mix well until the ingredients are combined. Now add the flour in 3 batches, gently fold the mixture using a whisk or rubber spatula (or even a wooden spoon) until you see no more bubbles/streaks of flour. Pour into the prepared pan and tap it firmly on the counter top a couple times to get rid of the air bubbles
- Bake in center of a pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins until the top turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with dry crumbs. Brush the milk on top. Let the cake sit in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert it onto a cooling rack for 3 hours and later decorate with icing (see icing recipe below)
Notes
- Don't let the cake mix sit for too long outside before baking, it might end up in a hard cake
- use flavourless oil and make sure you use good quality vanilla essence
- make sure that curd is in room temperature
- you can also make the cake in a loaf tin and without icing
- make sure that curd is in room temperature
- you can also make the cake in a loaf tin and without icing
Basic Vanilla Butter Icing
Unsalted butter, softened at room-temperature-50 gms
Icing sugar-2 cups
Milk- 3 tbsp to loosen the mixture (use according to need)
Method
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or free-stand mixer beat the butter until soft and gently add the icing sugar 1/4 cup each time and beat well. You will find the color changing from yellow to light cream color. It took straight 15 mins for me to get to this consistency, add milk to loosen the mixture.
Note
- If your cream is still yellow either you need to whisk for a longer time or this could be cos of the butter you had used, they say that cow's milk butter gives a yellow tint.
Crystallised Flowers/ Roses
Source ~ Bake & Decorate Book By Fiona Cairns
Prep time ~ 3-4 mins
Drying time ~ 8+ hrs
(Please Read Notes Below)
I made the crystallised flowers a day before so that they can dry up well. I left it in the kitchen counter top and it dried perfect.
Ingredients
1 Egg white
Roses/ petals/ flowers ~ as needed
Caster sugar 1 cup
A paint brush
Edible glitter (optional)
Method
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place egg white in a bowl and sugar in another. Beat the egg white lightly. Hold the petal/ flower at the base and paint wit egg white. Gently sprinkle on the sugar, making sure that every surface is covered. Shake off the excess and let it lay on the parchment over night in room temperature/ slightly warm. You can also used some edible glitter to give it a bit of a sparkle like how i have used a silver one. But make sure it is edible glitter and not the one's we get in stationary shop. They will harden and turn brittle, it would take atleast 8 hrs to get this stage. Handle them with care
Assembly
- Since I did not layer the cake i did not divide it to two, its upto you if you want to layer the cake double the quantity and divide in the center. Drop tbsp size icing on the cake and start spreading it with a off set spatula and create swirls, peeks or just vertical streaks with them.
- Decorate the cake with the crystalised flowers/ edible flowers and refrigerate for atleast 20 minutes before cutting. This helps the cake to set well and icing to get firmed up but not too much
Notes
- you can use leaves and small fruits to crystallise but I have not tried it. In my opinion its best to get roses from a florist and make sure they do not spray harsh chemicals onto it. On a personal note we did not eat the petals and I have reserved them to see how long they last.
Hope you'll having a wonderful day :-)
Linking this recipe to Priya Suresh aks Valentine's Day Recipe Event
