Courtesy: Anagha Gunjal Reddy, The Ritz-Carlton Bangalore, Ame Cakes N Bakes
December is here and with the chill in the air comes the unmistakeable aroma of coffee, chocolate, butter, vanilla and warm spices lingering in every home, a gentle reminder of what is, after all, the most wonderful time of the year.
It is the season of celebrations, parties, twinkling lights, shared tables and at the heart of it all, cake. Rich, layered, moistened – cakes of all shapes and sizes are the stars of every year-end party. Baked with love, frosted and spiced with care and wrapped in ribbons for gifting, these sweet treats are proudly placed as the showstopper on every party table.
Three passionate bakers and pastry chefs share their favourite creations, along with simple, foolproof tips to help home-bakers recreate a little magic of their own.
Eggless Chocolate Truffle Cake
By Anagha Gunjal Reddy, home baker
What you need
For cake:
One and a half cups of flour
One cup of granulated sugar
Half a cup of melted butter
One-third cup of Dutch-processed dark cocoa
One teaspoon each of baking soda and Vanilla essence
Three cups of hot water
Pinch of salt
For chocolate truffle frosting:
500 gm of dark chocolate
400 ml of fresh cream
Preparation
Sift all flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, mix all the wet ingredients well – hot water, vanilla essence and melted butter. Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients in two parts. Whisk well until smooth.
Pour the batter into an eight-inch pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 165-degres C for 20–25 minutes. Test with a toothpick until it comes out clean.
For chocolate truffle frosting, chop the chocolate and place it in a bowl. Heat the cream until warm (do not boil) and pour it over the chocolate. Whisk well until smooth, making sure there are no lumps.
Let it set for 4-6 hours or overnight on the kitchen counter. If the weather is warm, refrigerate until you get a spreadable consistency.
Carrot Cake
By Shreyas Gharat, pastry chef
For cake:
One cup each of dark brown sugar (packed) and desiccated coconut
Four whole eggs (or five cups, beaten)
One and three-fourths cup of wholemeal flour
Four and a quarter teaspoons of baking powder
One and a half teaspoons each of nutmeg (ground) and cinnamon (ground)
Three and three-fourths cups of finely-grated carrots
Three-fourths cup of vegetable oil
For frosting:
Two tablespoons plus one teaspoon each of butter and cream cheese
Half cup plus one tablespoon of icing sugar
A pinch of vanilla essence
One and a half teaspoons of orange zest
Preparation
For cake, combine the dry ingredients together. Add carrots. Mix eggs and vegetable oil. Mix dry and wet ingredients together until evenly distributed. Pour in a mould. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
For frosting, take butter at room temperature and mix icing sugar in it. Soften cream cheese, add in butter and icing sugar mixture with vanilla essence and orange zest.
Mix until combined and smooth.
Gingerbread Cake
By Radhika Divate, pastry chef and cake artist
For cake:
One and a half cups of flour
One and a half teaspoons of baking powder
Quarter teaspoon each of baking soda and salt
One teaspoon each of ginger and cinnamon powders
Quarter teaspoon of clove powder
Half a cup each of hot water, sugar and corn syrup
Six tablespoons of melted butter
One egg
One teaspoon of vanilla essence
For frosting:
Half a cup each of butter and cream cheese
Zest of one lemon
A pinch of salt
One cup of sugar
One teaspoon of red food colouring
Preparation
For cake, combine and sieve all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix hot water, corn syrup and sugar in another bowl. To the wet ingredients add melted butter, egg, vanilla essence and mix. Once the wet ingredients are mixed together combine them with the dry ingredients and bake at 180-degrees Celsius for 35-40 minutes. Test consistency with toothpick – it should come out clean.
For frosting, whisk the butter and cream cheese till fluffy, add the sugar, lemon zest and salt, and whisk till fully combined. Divide into two parts and add red colouring to one of them. Mix well.
To create a two-colour frosting effect, first cover the entire cake with white frosting. Use a cake comb to gently remove alternate vertical sections of the frosting. Chill the cake well to set it. Once firm, fill the empty sections with the red frosting and smoothen both frostings together for a clean, two-tone finish.