Lemon Drizzle Cake (Guest Post)

Often, I would bake cake for others. To my surprise, this Lemon Drizzle Cake was baked for me by a 14 year old girl Ms. Rhea Shah.

I know she is a good competitive swimmer and an artist. (In fact she won couple of medals last month, in CBSE swimming championship and her painting decorates my living room) But, never knew she could bake a pretty good cake! I like the moist texture, sponginess, lemon flavor, taste and the cake deserves to be post here.

When I asked about posting @ MCK, she happily agreed to do so. I am sure; you will also enjoy this strong lemon scented sugary cake! Now……. Over to Ms. Rhea Shah………..

What you will need -

3 large eggs      ;       1 cup of all purpose flour       ;       ¾ cup of unsalted butter at room temperature    ;       ¾ cup of caster sugar            ;        1 teaspoon of baking powder    ;               2 lemons           ;        2 tablespoons icing sugar

Directions – 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Beat your butter and sugar together till it becomes a pale yellow color.

Zest both the lemons into the bowl and beat it together along with the flour, eggs and baking powder.

Pour the batter into a tin, and bake it for 30-45 minutes depending on the oven. Bake it till a skewer inserted comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, get started on the lemon drizzle.

Take 2 tablespoons of icing sugar in a bowl. And squeeze out lemon juice from one and a half lemons, the same lemons you got the zest from.

Mix both of it together.

Once your cake is out of the oven, take a knife and poke holes in the cake after that pour your lemon drizzle on the cake preferably while the cake is still hot.

That’s all, the cake is ready!  

B/White Cup Cake with B/W Frosting

A cake baked for a single serving is known as cup cake. In general, cup cakes are not decorated (without any frosting). But, I want to make with frosting because; it’s for a special occasion. Yes, my Son’s B’day ! (He is big enough and not interested in cake cutting, like me ! :-) )

As usual, for my vegan friends, can find the Egg substitutes form Tips & Tricks Page.

Ingredients required for cake :  1 cup of All purpose flour       ;   2 Eggs    ;      ¾ cup of Sugar (Powdered)      ;    1 tsp of baking powder    ;     1 tsp of Vanilla essence   ;     100 gms of Butter   ;    2 tsp of Coco Powder     ;    ¼ Cup of  Skimmed milk

Ingredients required for Frosting: 1 cup of Whipped Cream    ;     1 tsp of Icing sugar   ;  ¼ cup of semi sweet chocolate (melted & cooled)

Cake Making Procedure:  Mix the flour and baking powder and keep aside. 

Blend well the powdered sugar and butter in a bowl using kitchen aid at medium speed.

Add vanilla and egg to the butter mixture and again blend about 2 minutes. Then add milk and blend further about 2 minutes and add flour little by little till the batter formed well. 

Divide the batter into two equal parts and add coco powder to one portion, mix until it fully cooperated. Now, we have two batters, one in while color (without coco) another in brown (with coco).

In muffin tray (prepared by paper or aluminum cups) pour the 2 tbsp of white batter and 1 tbsp coco batter, on top of white batter. Bake at 180°c for 20 min on a pre-heated Oven. Allow the Cup cakes to cool.

For frosting, Beat chilled Whipped cream gently till soft peaks. Add icing sugar, vanilla essence to the cream and beat again until stiff peaks are just about to form. Over beat may lead the cream become lumpy, like butter. 

Divide the cream into two equal parts and add melted chocolate to one portion and fold gently (do not mix) 

Now, we have two portions of cream. One in while color (without chocolate) another in brown (with chocolate).

Spread about 1 tbsp of white frosting on the cup cake and add 1 tbsp of chocolate frosting cream on top (of white) and swirl with tooth pick and transfer to the fridge for about 20 min.

Bakers Day Special : Checker Board Cake (6 layers)

I wanted to surprise my Niece, on her birthday with a Six layer Checker board cake. But, for the first time, I am trying six layers. Earlier, I did 2 and 3 layers.

Checker board pattern is basically an arrangement of Vanilla and Chocolate cake. The arrangement is a key aspect of Checker Board Cake.

Since, it’s a Birthday Party, wanted to enhance with Rich Chocolate glaze (she also like chocolates like me) and Heavy Cream icing.

So the making process is, needed to bake 2 cakes (Vanilla and Chocolate) with the height of 3’’ because, later need to cut into 3 layers each so that we get 6 layers Checker board. Then enrich the cake with cream Icing and Chocolate Glaze.

Let’s bake the Vanilla sponge cake : Required Ingredients are 2 1/4 cups All-purpose flour  ;   3 tsp of Baking powder    ;   1 1/3 cups of Granulated sugar    ;  1/2 tsp  of salt     ;    115 gms of Butter    ;    1 cup  of milk  ; 1 tsp of vanilla essence  ; 2  Eggs 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients. Add butter (cut into small cubes) few cubes at a time and mix until the batter appears grainy with a sand-like texture.

Add the eggs one at time and blend well. Slowly add the milk and the vanilla essence.

Transfer the mixture to a greased 8" (~20 cm) round cake pan and bake at 180°C for 30-35 or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow it to cool.

Similarly, bake an 8” (~20 cm) round chocolate cake with the height of 3’’. Pleases refer my chocolate cake recipe.

Now, Stabilized Whipped Cream Icing :   2 ½ cup  - heavy cream   ; 1 tbsp  of  icing sugar  ;  1 tsp   - vanilla essence  ;  2 tsp   - corn starch  

In a saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom. Stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature.

For chocolate glaze :  170 gms of semisweet chocolate   ;  1 cup  of  heavy cream

Place chocolate in a bowl. In a saucepan, heat cream over medium-high heat until just simmering, and pour it over the chocolate. Let mixture stand 5 minutes and then stir until smooth. Let stand at room temperature about 10 minutes before using.

Now, we reach an important stage of arrangement in order to get a checker board pattern.

Cut both the 8" (~20 cm)round cakes in to 3 layers and carefully cut into 15cm diameter and further into 7cm  diameter. Refer the below figure for details.

Click on the image to Enlarge

Do not forget to spread the Stabilized Whipped Cream in between the layers before stacking.

Finally, use the chocolate lavishly to glaze the cake and refrigerate for an hour and decorate with dark chocolate shavings.