Elaborate Vanilla Birthday Cake

July 12, 2020April 4, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This is a vanilla cake that I threw together for a birthday that looked perfect for instagram. It was quite laborious but made during quarantine when we had all the time in the world (which is hopefully over by the time this is being posted, but we’ll see).

Give this a shot to try and impress a crowd.

The cake base is slightly modified from Earl Grey Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla “Buttercream”

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

1/2 cup strained and cooled tea concentrate (I used a vanilla oolong tea – 2-3 tbsp tea + 1/2 cup boiling water)
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 eggs
1 cup 1% milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the Icing:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (softened)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons milk or cream

For the Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz chocolate chips or dark chocolate

Directions:

For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350° and spray 2-3 cake pans (depending on layers).

1) Steep tea (in filter) with 1/2 cup boiling water. Allow to cool

2) In a mixer combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix on medium speed until well combined (about a minute).

3) Add butter, a few cubes at a time until the mixture becomes like coarse sand.

4) Add eggs one at a time

5) Add milk, vanilla and tea concentrate and beat well. Scrape down as necessary

6) Transfer to prepared cake pans and bake for 35-45 minutes (depending on 2 or 3 layers).

Allow to cool for 1 hour before preparing icing.

For the icing

1) Cream butter. Add vanilla extract and mix well.

2) Add sugar 1 cup at a time, adding milk or cream if not combining

Ice in between layers and assemble the cake. Trim off excess on the top to ensure layers are even. Use a spatula to smooth out the edges.

I used fondant to cover the cake as well so I only put a “crumb coat of icing” however, you can also transfer the cake the fridge or freezer to cool before adding a top coat of icing.

For the Ganache:

Before putting ganache on top, make sure cake is cold (in fridge or freezer for > 1 hour.

Melt chocolate and heavy cream over a double boiler until combined. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes to cool.

Transfer to piping bag or ziplock and cut a small hole at the bottom.

Pipe along the edges, pausing to allow ganache to drip down the sides of the cake. Cover the top in ganache and smooth out with knife.

For Decorations:

Top with anything you can find, laying it out in an organized manner. I used a mix of sprinkles, chocolate covered pretzels, candy canes, peanut butter cups, chocolate covered espresso beans and mini eggs. I also used icing to attach crushed mini eggs (using a cast iron skillet and a ziplock) around the edge.

Sourdough Cinnamon Buns

June 14, 2020March 26, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

I know, you’re over the sourdough trend – but I was out of yeast and have been trying to come up with other uses of my starter. I settled on sourdough cinnamon buns and they were delicious. If you’ve mastered the starter I highly recommend this recipe.

The base recipe comes from the Clever Carrot and the icing comes from Gimme Some Oven.

If you have a cast iron skillet I highly suggest you use it for this. otherwise use a spring form pan or pyrex.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2/3 cup milk (skim, 1% or 2%)
2 tbsp/28g unsalted butter (+ 2 tbsp/28 g additional)
1 large egg
1/2 cup/100 g bubbly active starter (fed the night before)
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 cup/300g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

For the filling:

1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp cinnamon

For the icing:

:
1/2 cup/4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Melt butter. Add milk.

Put egg, starter and sugar in stand mixer. Add milk mixture and mix wiht paddle.

Add flour and salt and continue mixing until combined. Cover with towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Use dough hook and mix for 5 minutes. Add more flour if dough is sticking to sides.

Transfer dough to bowl coated in oil or butter and cover with towel.

Allow to rest for 30 minutes, perform a single stretch and fold. Cover and let rise overnight (8-12 hours).

Stretch and fold edges toward the centre to deflate dough. turn over and allow to rest for 15 minutes

Melt 2 tbsp butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon in bowl.

Roll out dough out to approx. 16 x 12 inches on a floured surface. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture overtop.

Roll tightly along the long end. I chose to cut them into smaller buns, approximately 1 inch each. I used a serrated knife. You can also use unflavoured floss.

Place dough in greased or sprayed pan. Allow to rise for 2 hours.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350˚F.

Allow to cool.

Mix all icing ingredients in mixmaster with paddle attachment.

Transfer icing to a ziplock and piped onto the cinnamon buns once cooled.

Sourdough Bagels

May 17, 2020March 26, 2020 ~ Max ~ 1 Comment

Now that you’ve gotten used to working with starter, it’s time to try another sourdough recipe.

Sourdough bagels are the next in our sourdough adventure. They were quite similar to the time I made pretzels! For an active starter – I feed it the night before I want to use it (or the morning of if I’m going to make the dough in the evening)

This recipe comes from Baking Sense, however I altered them to make them multigrain.

Ingredients:

For The Dough:

1 cup/224g active starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
2.5 cups/350g best for bread flour (+ extra if needed)
2 cups/280g multigrain best for bread flour
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp salt

For The Boiling Water:

1/4 cup/56g granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 egg white, whisked
1 large pot of water

Toppings:

Everything but the bagel spice
Kosher salt
Garlic flakes
Poppy seeds
Sesame seeds

Directions:

Combine starter, warm water and 2.5 cups white flour in mixing bowl. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.

Add molasses, honey and salt. Use dough hook to combine with remaining 2 cups of multi-grain flour.

Continue mixing with dough hook for 5-7 minutes. Put dough in lightly oiled bowl. Allow to rise for three hours, stretching and folding the dough every half hour (pull up on one edge, turn bowl, and repeat on all four sides).

Turn dough out onto floured surface and cut into 12 pieces.

Using cupped hands form into circles, punch hole into centre with your finger and form into a circular bagel shape.

Place dough on floured baking sheet. Put in fridge to rise over night.

Remove from fridge in the morning and allow to rise for four hours in the morning.

Preheat oven to 450˚F.

Bring boiling water ingredients to a boil. Boil each side of bagel for 30 seconds and transfer to cooling rack.

Transfer from cooling rack to baking sheet and top with egg white and desired bagel spices.

Bake for 20 minutes at 450˚F.

Sourdough Bread

April 19, 2020April 26, 2020 ~ Max ~ 1 Comment

To celebrate being able to eat bread again, I thought I would share this sourdough recipe. This is a higher hydration version of The Clever Carrot’s Sourdough. I’ve been working on perfecting this for the last few months and each time I make it, its slightly different. There are many youtube videos that describe the shaping and stretch and fold techniques. Making the winter version requires about 12 hours to rise, but in the summer it can be done in half the time. I usually prepare my dough in the evening (Saturday night) and then bake it in the morning (Sunday morning).

As for the starter – there are instructions on The Clever Carrot to make your own starter however I got some from a local bakery and have been keeping it alive and feeding it once a week. I feed it the day before I make bread by pouring off 3/4 of the starter and adding 1 cup flour, 1 cup water. I also feed it anytime I notice a liquid build up or it starts to smell a little vinegary.

I also used a scale to make this because it made the process more accurate.

Ingredients:

150 g bubbly, active starter
350 g warm water
25 g olive oil
500 g Best for Bread Flour
10 g sea salt or kosher salt
Flour for dusting

Directions:

Whisk the starter, water, olive oil in large bowl.

Add flour and salt and squish together. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Once rested work dough into a ball, leave in bowl and cover.

Perform stretch and folds at 1 hour intervals 2-3 times. Pinch a side of the dough, pull up and fold over itself. Turn bowl and perform on another side until you have moved the bowl 360˚.

Allow to rise for 6-12 hours.

To shape the dough use a bench scraper to fold the dough over to the centre moving around the dough in a full circle. Flip the dough and cup the sides of the dough rotating in a circular motion.

Either place in a bannton basket or in the dutch oven for the second rise (1-2 hours).

Preheat oven to 450˚. Drop temperature to 400˚ and bake covered for 20 minutes. Remove dutch oven lid and bake for an additional 40 minutes.

Allow to cool for 1 hour before cutting.

Banana Bread with Buttercream Frosting

February 23, 2020December 14, 2019 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This banana bread uses an interesting ingredient to make it super moist. Not one you would expect, but with a little explanation it makes sense. Mayonnaise. Yes it sounds weird, but mayonnaise is made up of oil and eggs, two ingredients that make this banana bread super moist.

Make sure to use super ripe bananas because they are sweeter and have a better texture. Some grocery stores sell their over-ripe bananas at a great deal so look out of them- I got a massive bag of bananas for 99 cents.

Ingredients:

For the Banana Bread:

6 Medium Bananas
1 cup mayonnaise
2 egg
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

For the Icing:

1 cup butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk (depending how thick you want the icing)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line and spray a 9×13 pan.

Mash bananas in a large bowl (or mixmaster). Add mayo and egg and mix well.

Add flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix until combined.

Add chocolate chips and mix briefly.

Pour batter into prepared 9×13 pan.

Bake for 40-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool. Remove from pan.

While cooling prepare icing. Cream butter on medium speed for 3-4 minutes.

Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with milk. Add vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

Ice the banana bread and cut into individual slices. I piped the icing on for the pattern here. These can be wrapped individually in Saran Wrap. Store in an airtight container.

Crispy French Bread

January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This recipe came from life as a strawberry and was an immediate hit. Next time I’ll make it with 1/2 multigrain flour and see how that turns out.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 warm water (about 100˚F)
1 1/5 tsp kosher salt
2 1/5 cups bread flour

Directions:

Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a mixer bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.

Add kosher salt.

Add flour a little at a time and mix with a dough hook until combined.

Lightly flour all sides and turn it over inside the mixing bowl to cover. Cover and let rise for 1 hour until dough has doubled in size.

When dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board. Pour dough (carefully) onto cutting board and shape into a round loaf by pulling in the edges and flipping over.

Flour a mixing bowl and place the loaf seam side (folding side) down. Allow bread to rise for 30 minutes.

While bread is rising place an empty Dutch Oven with lid on into the oven and heat to 460˚F.

When oven is hot, take the Dutch Oven out and carefully put a trimmed piece of parchment in. Place the dough seam side up in the Dutch Oven carefully. Place the Dutch Oven back in the hot oven (using oven mitts) and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until crust has browned.

When done use a spatula to lift the bread out and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Apple Pear Crumble

December 29, 2019October 8, 2019 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This recipe is similar to the previous apple pear crisp, but we’ve adapted it to add a crust and turn it into a crumble. You can also swap out the fruit in the summer for the peach blueberry crisp filling to make a delicious summer crumble.

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (or margarine if non-dairy), melted

For the Filling:

3 Apples (Granny Smith), chopped
2 pears (Bosc), chopped
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 ground cinnamon

For the Topping:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cold and cut into small pieces
1/8-1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚. In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add butter or margarine and mix until combined.

Press into a circular pie dish or fluted tart pan. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.

While baking, make the filling and topping.

Mix all ingredients for filling in a plastic bag and shake.

Mix all ingredients for topping in a bowl. Combine with fork or pastry blender.

Put filling on top of baked crust, and add toping on top. Bake for 30 minutes and brush with melted butter or margarine and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.

The Momofuku Milk Bar Cake

November 3, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This post isn’t an original or modified recipe, but instead an experience with a recipe. I’ve included a link to the recipe I followed from Bon Appétit. I didn’t make any changes, but altered the proportions to make the cake larger. I made three times the cake batter from the proportions in the recipe and double the crumb and frosting. In hindsight I would have made triple the frosting as well (I ran a little short when assembling the cake).

I’ve included pictures of the process and a photo of the final product however you can follow the instructions and ingredients in the Bon Appétit recipe.

As for equipment, I bought a 10 inch cake pan for assembly at Michaels, and some sheets of acetate paper.

Mixed Dry Ingredients.