Olive oil lemon cake

Here's the thing: building cakes of somewhat designer magnitude should not be limited toward events of an apparent worthiness factor, you know, like wedding/milestone birthday/winning an Oscar, or anything remotely similar. In fact, the Pow! moment you've been waiting for, might be for something far less sensational.  

Not disclaiming the thrill in showing off your Boss skills each possibility permitted, but, in all honesty, testing techniques you've been dying to try could be the simplest of cake orders away. On occasion, specifically when YouTube blesses your imagination for such a time as this.

I'm not isolating the conversation to the gold gilded visuals on the page today. Instead, I'll give you an in-depth view of the contents inside. After all, we know exterior glam without an awesome interior is mere decoration (life lesson for the day, please).

Before we delve, a reminder: do not allow the "olive oil as fat" part in the ingredient menu mislead you. It's the liquid conduit for the many mighty things that happen in build. Like the tender-dense crumb which brings a certain sophistication to the entire setting. The fact it's supremely moist might fool you into thinking a sleeve of butter slipped through instead.

EVOO notes linger in bites, allowing the hint of lemon shine through as the sun. It creates a not-so-rich surface in which to accommodate ornate decor, such as the marshmallow fondant railed along its sides. 

Further and as I've mentioned before, citrus spruced cake is substantially delicious.  The clean, bright mouthfeels from the snips of zest is an outstanding testament to how addictive cake can actually be

These few elements sync beautifully with the syrup infused base. Considering, we all know Top Brass in high class dessert-ing come from sugar soaked pastries.

In hindsight, the venture does not fall into a Fall-scented bracket (yes,pun!) and may have you reconsider pinning it on the upcoming holiday menu. Though, based on what I've said here, is that really a deterrent against making it right about now?

Moreover, those marble slab panels there could rival an architectural digest feature.

Looking at the amount of times I've rediscovered the glories of baking this gem, it beckons me to new revelations, one being it will definitely be a permanent cake menu fixture.

Because I do cake orders, in addition to a few other gigs, you see:-)

Finally,  the do-ability factor is tantamount to a third grader degree. 

Wouldn't that be... enough said?

(Cake recipe adapted from Modern Honey)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• grated zest from two whole lemons
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/3 cup milk(preferably 2% or higher)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and line baking pans with parchment.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a bowl.
• Cream sugar, olive oil, eggs  lemon juice and the vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk. 
• Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until combined, about 1 minute.
• Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool in pans for five minutes, then invert cakes onto racks and allow to cool completely before frosting.
• Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Notes: 

You could swap the olive oil for canola oil if you prefer, although flavor may be compromised.

I used three 6 inch baking pans to bake my cakes.

1/2 tsp of lemon zest was added to my cream cheese frosting.

For the fabulous panel art, check out Rosie's tutorial.

My recipe for marshmallow fondant here.

The cake itself freezes well, upto 2 weeks.

Precutting the fondant and setting aside  to dry overnight will keep slabs upright and perpendicular.

2019: Moist yellow cake

2018: Multigrain pizza with charred paneer

2017: Banana cake

2016: Swiss roll cake

2015: Basic chicken curry

2014: Besan laddoo

2013: Alfajores

2012: Macarons

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Memories of my father-in-law who passed away last week.  He's now at The Table, 

tête-à-tête -ing with Jesus❤️

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”  Romans 8:15-16

                                                          

Caramel cake/Chess cake

For those of you who sense a lack of design and artistry skills, particularly in the baking department, this might be a project to consider. mentioning not, the terribly good fluff of crumb the above structure beholds.

In actuality today's guide is about fashioning caramel cake, together with two frostings, that make it worth writing love letters into the ethos to. The grandmaster exterior housing is justly furnished with an interior of plush cloud.

Furthermore, we can agree it's the inside that matters, a reasoning that extends to innumerable life principles/people/places/ things and the like. 

In my unrelenting opinion a baked good is way better when caramel infiltrates it in multiple ways. Burnt sugar condiments are a stupendous way to create dessert  magic.

If anything, please don't see it as an exhaustive task. I suppose it would seem so, once you glance at the product list of things to gather, whip, bake and assemble. Fear not, they're nothing more than pantry staples; collab-ing to produce stupendous results.

Alternatively, this could b a minimalist baker's paradise, in that it's excellent in naked form. Though, I would goad you to go the whole nine: cake, frosting et all, in finale releasing your fiercest pastry van Gogh.

Baking and assembling chess cake was unforgettable, in my experience. We were in the throes of Covid and I had too many things on my plate(literally :)). Default survival mode was directly in line with the impact of leftover prospects and cake shaving quantities.

For the caramel~
Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 can condensed milk

Directions:

• Place sugar  in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Using a spoon or spatula, gently whisk the sugar.
• Allow the sugar mixture to come to a brown and turn a dark amber in color( Coca-cola color is how I like to describe the end result)
• Take off heat and stir in butter.
• Mix in condensed milk. Stir until combined.
• Return to stovetop and cook on medium for a further two minutes.

For the cake~

Ingredients:

(cake recipe adapted from Liv for Cake)

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs 
• 2 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup caramel
• 1 cup milk 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Grease and flour 2 9" inch cake pans. I used 2 12"'x12" pans for the cake here and doubled the recipe.
• In a large bowl, sift together, flour, baking powder and salt.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs and beat on high until creamed and well combined.
• Beat in the vanilla and caramel until incorporated.
• Add flour and milk in three additions, beginning and ending with milk. Scrape bowl with spatula as and when needed.
• Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, ur until toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.
• Leave cakes in pans for 10 minutes. Invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Vanilla caramel frosting:
I added two tablespoons of caramel to my vanilla buttercream and added 1-2 teaspoons of cream.

Chocolate caramel frosting:
I added three tablespoons of caramel to my chocolate buttercream and reduced the amount of cream to 1 tbsp.

Notes: 

Caramel thickens as it cools. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks. Heat in the microwave before each use.

The top portion of the game board was made of white chocolate/black candy melts. However, I spent so much time on molds and fondant/gumpaste, that I could not leave those pieces out.

Chess molds can be found on Amazon. The pandemic situation caused delay in shipments, and I was forced to make gelatin molds. By the time, I engineered king to pawn, my Prime parcel arrived a day prior to cake delivery.

Check out Rosanna Pansino's  tutorial on how to make a chess cake

Grandmaster customer

 Checkmate and eat cake. The smart chap who ordered this cake has been a faithful client three years in a row.

  Hopefully, I'll work my way up to being his wedding baker.  

Rubik's Cube and The Pig...a few of his favorite things.

2018: Caramel fudge filling

2017: Jalapeno cheese bread

2016: Spaghetti with scallops and salami

2015: Steamed dumplings

2014: Pastry tarts

2013: Chaat fries

2012: Battenberg cake

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"You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins." Psalm 85:2