butterscotch cake with chocolate glaze

What are the 'makings of good baker' ? Is that a thing? I know the rules. Be organised. Mis en place. Clean workspace. read the full recipe in advance.  I am not good at doing any of these. I'm impatient and I'm not always well organized.  I bake with whatever ingredients are lying around and I add things along the way that were never a part of the recipe. Of course it doesn’t always come out well. But that’s when the creativity kicks in. How do you repurpose a fallen cake ? What can you do with burnt caramel? I try my best not to waste ANYTHING and improvise, turning disaster into dessert.

This butterscotch cake with chocolate glaze evolved from a haphazard day in the kitchen and multiple recipe books open on the counter, youtube videos playing the background. The recipe looks complex, according to my mum, but after i convinced (read: forced) her to try it, she agreed that it is actually a bunch of simple things put together. It is time consuming though!

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In other news, my life in the kitchen feels like a microcosm (microcosm? microcosm!) for my life as an adult overall - a little haphazard and uncertain but also so fun and so rewarding. Besides the fact that i’ve gotten locked out of my apartment 4 times this past month and the smoke alarm sometimes goes off when i burn my toast - im not a morning person), I’m really getting better at being an adult. Adulting is wildly unglamorous. But its kinda nice too. It is… drinking out of real wine glasses instead of solo cups. But also, separating your laundry. :)

More later

RECIPE

For the cakes
160 g brown sugar
210 g flour + 1 tsp baking powder + 1 tsp baking soda + pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vaniilla
1/3 cup cream
200 g unsalted butter 

Frosting:  

Butterscotch sauce: 
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold water
1 cup ceam 

Buttercream: 

4 egg yolks

130 g sugar
1/3 cup water
300 g unsalted butter

Chocolate glaze
60 g dark chocolate
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp corn syrup
2 tsp scotch whiskey 

Prep: 
Pre-heat your oven to 180 ˚ C. 
Line 2 7-inch baking pans with parchment paper
Use a pastry brush to butter the pans and dust with flour. 
Measure out all the above ingredients and set aside. 
Ensure that the butter is softened and eggs are room temperature. 

Baking: 
Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. 
To make the cakes, first cream the brown sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, for about 3 -4 minutes, till it’s fluffy and lighter in colour. 
Add vanilla. Add all 3 eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again. 
With the mixer operating at very low speed, add the flour gradually. Let it mix in a little between each addition. 
Lastly, add the cream and beat again. 
The cake batter should now be a balanced consistency, not too liquid and not too thick. 
Divide the batter equally between the two pans and bake at the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes. 
Check for doneness : Dip a toothpick into the cake, it should come out clean. Or lightly touch the centre of the cake - it should be soft and should spring back. 
When done, take it out of the oven and let it cool on the rack for about 30 - 60 minutes. 
Once cakes are completely cool, remove from the pans gently, wrap in cling film and refrigerate. 

To make the frosting: 
First make the butterscotch sauce - in a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine water and sugar and heat. Do not stir. 
The sugar will melt and slowly begin to caramelise and turn golden. 
Swirl the pan around at frequent intervals and ensure that its cooks evenly
Be patient. This will take about 10 - 15 minutes in all. This part also requires careful attention, so don’t go off and do other things. 
Let the sugar syrup turn a deep amber colour. 
Immediately remove from the pan and very carefully add the cream. The mix will bubble up vigorously. 
Use a whisk to mix it in and add a pinch of salt. 
stir thoroughly for about 4 - 5minutes until a thick glossy butterscotch sauce is formed. 
Set aside to cool

For the buttercream - beat the egg yolks  in the bowl of your stand mixture thoroughly until pale in colour. 
again, heat sugar and water in a medium saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolves completely.Beat
Let it cook, stirring frequently, using a wooden spoon. 
Use a candy thermometer to test the temperature. 
When it reaches about 250 ˚, gradually and very carefully pour the sugar syrup into the bowl of the stand mixture. Keep the mixer of low speed and pour the syrup in a steady strream down the side of the bowl. When all the sugar syrup is poured in, increase mixer speed to high and let it whip. 
With the mixer still on, add all the butter, one cube at a time. Let the mixture whisk for about 5 - 7 minutes. You should now have light and fluffy buttercream. 
With the mixer on medium speed, add in the cooled butterscotch till the butterscotch buttercream is ready 

For the chocolate glaze  
Gently heat the cream and corn syrup on medium heat until it comes to a simmer
Pour it over the chocolate and whisk. The chocolate will melt from the heat of the cream. Whisk until smooth
add scotch and stir. 
Rrefrigerate for about 10 - 15 minutes. 

Assembling the cake: 

Place one cake on a board and spread a generous layer of buttercream all over the top. 
Gently place the 2nd layer of the cake on top. Cover the top and sides of the cake with a thin layer of buttercream.
Refrigerate the cake for about 20 - 30 minutes. 
Take the cake out of the fridge and spread another thick layer of buttercream frosting over the top and sides. 
Use a small offset spatula to even out the frosting and create a smooth finish.  
Refrigerate the cake again for about 20 minutes. A chilled cake will help the glaze to drip smoothly down the sides. 
Use a spoon to slowly drip the chocolate glaze on the edges of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. 
In the end, spoon the glaze over the centre of the cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it smoothly across the top.  
Decorate the top with sprinkles or leave it plain, like i did! 

And it’s ready to serve !

Sacher torte for world chocolate day

Happy world chocolate day! To celebrate, here are some random musings about chocolate that I tend to have while browsing pinterest, cooking, or generally just living. 

For me, chocolate is extremely nostalgic. I think the first time I saw chocolate as not just chocolate but CHOCOLATE was while reading Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory as an eight year old. I’ve never wanted to eat chocolate more. Until I saw the film. 

Chocolate pudding was the highlight of my childhood. It was one of the limited selection of desserts that did the rounds on our dinner table over the week and I preferred it so much over vanilla custard, fruit cream, stewed peaches, which were few of the others. When i started baking, a couple of years ago, I saw a recipe for ‘chocolate pots de creme’ and I realised it’s nothing more than the chocolate pudding from the 90s! I will always call it chocolate pudding, the more honest, more humble name for the fancy pots de creme. 

Now, I’m a dark chocolate over milk chocolate person, I dream of godiva truffles and ghirardeli 70% chocolate bars and not willy wonka ones, I’m a huge sucker for liquor in my chocolate, or coffee, or sea salt. My mom’s 2-minute chocolate cake is still my favorite but this is a close second.

A sacher torte is essentially a rich, 2-layer chocolate cake,  with apricot jam in between and a dark chocolate glaze on top. YUMMY. A friend sent me some homemade apricot jam and so I gave it a shot! I’ve made many chocolate cakes in my life and I can’t say i’ll ever not like a chocolate cake to be fair but this one really…takes the cake ?! 

You decide - here’s the recipe: adapted from Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Ingredients: 

For the cakes: 
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
150 g flour
200 g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
140 g unsalted butter
A jar of apricot jam 

For the chocolate cream glaze: 
250 g bittersweet cooking chocolate
1 cup cream

Process: 

Preheat your oven to 180 ˚ Celcius and line two 7-inch cake tins with greased parchment*  
To make the cakes, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside. 
Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla & eggs. Beat again. 
Mix the cocoa powder and boiling water in a bowl and stir until smooth. Add to the batter. 
Lastly, with the mixer on low speed, add the flour one spoonful at a time. 
Divide the batter equally in two pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. 
Let the cakes cool before inverting onto a wire rack. The cakes will be very tender so be careful and gentle. 
Take one layer of the cake and spread apricot jam on top. Place the second layer on top of the bottom layer. 
Place the cake on a wire rack with a tray underneath. 

To make the glaze, melt the chocolate over a bain marie or in 30 second spurts in the microwave. Add the cream and whisk until smooth. 
Gradually pour the warm glaze on top until it fully covers the cake. Decorate with raspberries, cherries or leave as it is. 
Let it cook on the rack and then refrigerate until ready to serve - or eat right away! 

Peach cobbler

Summer in delhi feels like one of two things: Either you’re baking inside an oven or melting in the humidity. There are also exactly only 2 good things about summer.

Vacations. Lucky for me, I got to get out of hot , hot delhi and spend a week in Simla and then Thailand. New things I’ve eaten this month: Mango sticky rice, Rambutan, eggplant gyozas and a tiramisu magnum bar. You might have seen lots of this on instagram, in addition to pictures of me drinking beer (a rarity!!) and kicking sand around on the beach.

Coming back home to delhi would’ve been a huge downer if it wasn’t for Ben overreacting to my homecoming. Close second to seeing ben is the only other great part about summer in Delhi - the ripe juicy summer stone fruit. My fridge is stocked with the juiciest alphonso mangoes, himalayan cherries, peaches, apricots, litchis and watermelon. p o s s i b i l i t i e s.

Here is a summer dessert wishlist of sorts: Vanilla ice cream with frozen litchis. Mango Ice cream. Cherry muffins. Watermelon popsicles. Apricot jam. Cherry pie. Peaches and cream. 

Last year, I made a peach cobbler for Better Home and Gardens Magazine (july 2016 print issue). Delicious, fuzzy, juicy peaches, baked with a crumble on top and eaten warm with ice cream of choice of course (I’d recommend ginger Ice cream)!  

Here is the recipe, guys!

For the peach filling:

450 g sliced peaches
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cointreu
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the crust:

1/2 cup flour
60 g butter
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder 3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp almond meal

1 pint Ginger Ice cream

Process:

Place the sliced peaches in a saucepan over low-medium heat. 
Add the lemon juice, sugar, cointreau and vanilla extract.
Stir constantly and cook until the peaches are soft.
Pour the peach mixture into a baking dish and set aside
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Stir well.
Mix in the flour, baking power and almond meal and combine with a spoon, until a sticky dough is formed.
slowly add in the milk and mix until fully combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter on top of the peaches in the baking dish.
Continue until the peaches are covered with the batter.
Don’t worry if there are any gaps. 
Bake for about 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.
When done, remove from oven and let it cool
 Serve with a scoop of ginger ice cream