Ria's Collection: A cake and a Happy Father's Day

Sunday, June 21, 2009

A cake and a Happy Father's Day

It was Father's Day and a day of sentiments :( Now that my wedding is all set ... I feel it's time for me to leave the family and go :( So I thought " Make Hay While The Sun Shines " :D
So instead of going for a wedding reception on saturday night, I thought i'll make a cake for Appan :) You see I sacrificed some yummy Muslim Biriyani and Alisa ( It's a Malabar muslim preparation of wheat and meat. Its cooked together and is mashed up really well and is served with ghee and sugar! Trust me it's just too good!!! :) Nevertheless I had a lovely time baking the cake for him. BUT when the cream showed it's attitude to me by not whipping up, I was kinda let down because I so wanted to make a stunner :( Big deal! I went ahead! And look what I made!! :) The cake rose beautifully and I managed to make 4 layers out of it BUT the sloppy cream got soaked up in between all the layers making the cake ever so moist and the layers purely invisible! :D

We had some family friends calling by last evening and I was ever so glad to serve them few slices :) and you won't believe the compliments I was showered upon :D They went home with a copy of the recipe :)
Chocolate Lemon Cloud Gateau
Recipe, as adapted from Mandarin Orange Cloud Gateau by Sue Ross, pg 17 and re-adapted from Deeba's blog

Ingredients:
Plain flour - 150gms (1/2 cup + 1/8 cup)
Cornflour - 25gms (1/8 cup)
Baking powder - 2 tsps
Pinch of salt
Icing Sugar - 150gms ( 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup)
Oil - 5 tbsps (I used sunflower oil)
Water - 5 tbsps
Eggs - 3 / separated
Zest of 1 orange ( I used zest of a medium sized lime )
Orange juice - 1 tbsp ( I used lime juice )

Filling:
Whipping Cream - 200ml
Almonds - 3 tbsp (ground)
Castor sugar - 2-3
tbsps

Ganache:
Cream - 150 ml (15% fat)
Dark chocolate - 150
gms / broken into pieces
Some extra chocolate for garnishing (grated, scrolls etc)
Silver
dragees,powdered sugar etc for garnishing.

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Line an 8" springform tin. (the original recipe uses 2 8" sandwich tins)
  • Sift the cornflour + flour + baking powder + salt + icing sugar (yes, it's correct) into a mixing bowl.
  • Beat the egg whites till they stand in soft peaks & keep aside.
  • Lightly beat the oil + water + yolks together & stir into the dry ingredients.
  • Beat until smooth, & stir in the juice & zest.
  • Fold the whites gently into the yolk mixture.
  • Turn into lined tin & bake for about 45 minutes till well risen & golden brown. Check if it is done with a wooden pick.( Slide a sheet of foil lightly over the top if it begins to brown too fast).
  • Leave in tin for 10 minutes, & then cool completely on rack.
  • Once cool, cut into 2 or 3 layers.
  • Filling:
  • Whip the cream + sugar till firm. Whisk in the ground almonds.
  • Reserve a little cream for the topping, & sandwich the layers with the rest.

Ganache:

  • Put the cream & dark chocolate into a pan heat over low heat till all the chocolate has melted, stirring constantly. Stir well, & leave to cool.
  • Frost the sides & top of the cake with the ganache. Decorate the top with grated chocolate curls .

Chill well & serve right out of the fridge! This gateau doesn't need to sit at room temperature for a while; it's great!


The cake tasted absolutely marvellous and delectably moist. My Amma who is not a cake fan at all ( not because she is butter/fat conscious BUT she just doesn't like cakes) and will take a pinch of it just because I pester her throughout behaved very very differently yesterday!!! :)

She had a real long day yesterday after cooking for 30 people ( yes, she caters :D ) everything from starters to dessert and by around 8.30 p.m she was exhausted. And the last thing she would want me to do is to pester her to eat a slice of cake I made ...but she obliged :) Good sign!! :)

'Hmmm... it's a good one' came the immediate reply!! I was happy and elated :) BUT instead of going back to rest she took the whole cake and a knife, sat down under the fan and started eating it chunks by chunks! All I could do was STARE!!! :D All she ever used to have was a small pinch of any kind of cakes... and now chunks???? :D

I was soooo happy :) She made my day!! :)

-Ria

20 Comments:

Sanghi said...

Wow Ria, u rock..! I'm drooling over them now. yummy@!

Parita said...

Oh thats so sweet, i miss my dad now :( the cake looks mouth watering!!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

What a beautiful cake! so tempting!

Cheers,

Rosa

Anonymous said...

It looks so moist and delicious and you decorated it beautifully! Gorgeous!

Shabs.. said...

Thats a wonderful cake ria.....well decored....loved reading the write ups...I too had the same experience with the cream not whipping up when i was trying to show off my cooking skill to my parents to impress them, an d the cream wud spoil it all, how irritating isnt it?.
I also used to pester my mom to eat the food that i cook...She has the habit of enjoying only the food that she cooks!She wud reluctantly taste my food, and when it tastes good, she asks for the recipe...afterall....
I wud definitely make this cake and let u know once i try.Cos its that good. But cud u tell me how u put the chocolates on the sides of cake so perfect?...with spoon?

Divya Kudua said...

Lovely cake Ria..looks so pretty and as you said,the cream has made it oh-so-moist.I am bad at cake decorating and cant imagine dressing it up so well..:).

foodcreate said...

Outstanding! :Delicious and looks so mouthwatering!

Thanks for sharing your cake recipe:)

Welcome~~~
http://foodcreate.com

Have a Great Day!

Finla said...

The cake looks so so delcious and beautiful, i am sure you father was delighted to have the cake.

Meghna said...

It looks so delicious !!

Lori said...

This sounds great! There is something about "lemon cloud" that just puts a smile on your face. It has to be good with a name like that. :)

Varsha Vipins said...

hehe ..nice post da..n that cake looks sin!!..I tell ya..u need to courier me some when you reach US..:D

Ann said...

good Job! I'm sure your dad was so proud! I haven't had success with this recipe. I made it once and the cakes didn't rise. So I had a delicious, but flat little cake. It still tasted good - who can resist all that chocolate. i don't know what went wrong, I think maybe my sugar was not fine enough.

Malar Gandhi said...

Father's day wishes to you and your father. He must be proud of you...you have made an awesome creation for him! Lovely cake and clicks.

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow......awesome way to celebrate father's day....cake looks extremely gorgeous and yum....

Ria Mathew said...

Thank you all so much! Shab I hope you got my reply :)

Ria Mathew said...

Zaara- I'm sorry to hear that :( Are you sure that the baking powder you used was fresh? I don't think sugar could have been the culprit... Just check the expiry date for the baking powder. And do let me know :)

Just try this otherwise... take a glass of water and put a pinch of baking powder in it and it it fizzes instantly it means the powder is fresh! Else...straight into the bin :)


Glad it still tasted delicious! :)

Ann said...

Hey - thanks for the tip! I tried your test - the bp did fizz in the water, BUT lo and behold the expiry date is for next month July. So maybe it's in its dying stages ;-)!!

Recipeswap said...

What a great looking cake.

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