Colour My World

This is a slice of a birthday cake I made for my younger son.

As compared to his elder brother, somehow, it seems to take a longer time for this boy to grow! Due to his small built, plus, his behaviour, he seems to be a baby forever! Since his birthday falls at the end of the year, he has waited almost a year for this day. He keeps telling me how he envy his friends whose birthdays are in the earlier part of the year...they don't have to wait very long for their birthdays to arrive ;)


I would really like to make a 'traditional' birthday cake for him...you know, those that comes with lots of fresh cream, beautiful piping and kiddy cartoon characters. Since I am not good with any of these, I have opted to do a simple cake, and decorate them with some fool-proof candies! Hopefully, with more practice, I can make a real birthday cake for them next year!


Instead of the usual sponge layer cake, I made the cake base by adapting a Low-Fat Chocolate Marble Cake recipe from Alice Medrich's Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts. Feeling very adventurous, I added in some nutella and turned this into a Nutella Butter Cake.

Tip 1: The instructions from the recipe calls for using an electric mixer, but I used a wooden spoon and spatula instead. I learned that as long as you cut the butter into small cubes and leave it at room temperature until it is very soft, it is really easy to mix it with a wooden spoon. The batter was very simple to prepare...not very much different from making a muffin or a quickbread. Except for a slight crack on the top, the cake was baked beautifully.

Tip 2: I liked the way the sides was evenly browned...something that I have learned from the numerous baking session...ie, to just line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper, as for the sides, grease and flour it instead of lining it with parchment paper. This way, the sides will get to brown very nicely without the insulation from the parchment paper. When ready to unmold the cake, simply slide a thin-bladed knife all around the side to release the cake.


While the cake was cooling on the rack, I made the usual chocolate ganache I am familiar with, melt 100g of chocolate with 1 small tin of nestle's pouring cream. Since I didn't layer the cake, I only used up half of the chocolate frosting.

The birthday boy willingly helped me sprinkled on the mini M&Ms, 'hundreds and thousands' and Hershey's kissables.

I coated the sides with crusted oreo biscuits as I know every well that I won't be able to achieve a nice even frosting. The end results reminded me of a Oreo cheesecake I have seen in some cafe :)

When the cake was all ready, I realised that whatever that went into or on the cake were all my boy's favourite goodies!


I was lucky that the cake turned out rather soft and light...not very different from a sponge cake...in fact it tasted much better. I believe the cake would taste very moist if I had not kept in the fridge, uncovered. I will certainly make this cake again, without all the candies and frosting of course!



Nutella Butter Cake

Ingredients:

225g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 salt
85g butter, soften at room temperature
3 tablespoons Nutella spread
150g sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup plain, non-fat yogurt


Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degC. Line bottom of a 20cm (8") round pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides of the pan, set aside.
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Mix together yoghurt and vanilla essence.
4. With an electric mixer, beat butter and nutella for 1 min. Gradually add in sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 mins. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl periodically.
5. Dribble in the eggs slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beat constantly for about 2 mins.
6. On low speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in 1/2 of the yogurt mixture. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour mixture. On high speed, beat in the remaining yogurt mixture. On low speed, beat in the rest of the flour mixture.
7. Pour batter into into prepared pan, smooth the top evenly with a spatula.
8. Bake for about 45 ~ 50mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Let cool in pan for 10 mins before unmold. Invert onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.
   
   Note: To mix by hand, cream butter with nutella and sugar with a wooden spoon until the mixture turns creamy and fluffy. Add in the eggs gradually, 1 tablespoon at a time, stir until the eggs are fully incorporated into the batter. With a spatula, fold in the flour mixture alternating with the yoghurt mixture in 3 separate additions.