From chocolate to spice: Festive cake recipes bakers swear by

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.