Short and Simple

I’ve been rather intrigued and fond about gradient or ombre designs on cakes for a while now. Last week, I was given the freedom to make a cake for a 10 year old birthday girl. I was told that she likes Pink and Purple, Butterfly and Dragonfly.

I was kinda occupied last week and didn’t manage to create a gumpaste butterflies. Hence, I only played with the colours and decided that simple is best. I’ve been seeing a lot of gradient design on cakes in Pinterest lately. Fortunately for us, a talented lovely baker did a video on how to create the design. Hence, I was really inspired to make the same. 

The design was quite simple to make. I just feel that it has a lot of wastage. But from my experience, I should be able to save more the next time I make this design.

Rainbow cake is becoming a rather popular demand in Singapore. I wonder how long the fad will last. It’s a very pretty cake but it is so time consuming to make. I’ve never really thought about selling it but it seems like it’s one of the hottest cake people are ordering now. I’m not really sure who was the creator of this special cake but for me, I got to know about this wonderful, unique idea from Whisk Kid. She’s another talented baker, photographer and writer. I love her pictures!

Getting to the main point about this post, I’m actually a firm believer of short and simple in every sense. But of course now I’m just talking about cakes decoration, for this post. I love simple cakes with clean, simple lines and chic at the same time. I love flowers but nothing too much. I’m more of a minimalist. It’s hard to market these kind of cakes in Singapore as grandiose and elaborated cakes are more of a norm here. However, I’m pretty sure more and more people younger generation will be more open to simple cakes soon.

Although it’s simple, the cakes should create an impact in some ways. It should be eye catching and very, very pleasing to the eyes. At the same time, it should taste marvellous too. My main concern lies in the taste more.  Sometimes, I wonder how people can just sell whatever they think they can do/make. I pride myself on the quality, quality of work/end product and quality of ingredients. I hope to educate people on why some of my cakes might be more expensive. One have to understand the thought, hardwork, passion and love that goes into one product.

Anyway, these is one of my favourite cakes that I did so far. I hope to come up with more ‘short and simple’ designs. I love the part where it looks so simple outside but when you cut it up, you will be greatly surprise by the cake. I wish I am able to see people's reaction when it happens.

Rainbow Cake

My mom was hinting to me whether I would be making a cake for my niece's 3rd birthday. I was just recovering from making a 3 tier 1s birthday cake from last weekend. But I guess I couldn't disappoint my own family and my niece. 

My mom mentioned that she wanted something with flowers. My niece is this vainpot who likes pink. She looks like the younger version of me. But I was a tomboy, unlike her. I didn't really like pink. I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Mighty Max. Hahaha... She likes Dora and Barney. 

Since I made a 2 pink cakes for 2 little girls previously. I decided to go with a white covered cake and I made a edible pink crown using gumpaste and patchwork cutters. For the cake, I decided to make the Rainbow cake that I've been wanting to make as really inspired by 2 of my favourite bloggers.. Sweetapolita and Whisk Kid. You should check out their blogs. Very inspirational. 

I realised kids only get excited blowing candles and seeing how colourful the cake is. So, it was a perfect opportunity for me to try making this cake. 

It turned out really pretty. I thought the colours would be too dark cos I was quite generous with the colour paste. I decided to play around with gliters too. I wanted to put glitters on the flowers but I was to tired running around and cleaning up all the glitters that I stopped at the crown and the butterflies. Anyway, I was so anxious, waiting for the time to cut the cake. I wanted to see if the 7 layers worked very well and whether it tasted as gorgeous as the cake.

The cake was layered with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I didn't dare to put too much buttercream in between because I was worried it wouldn't hold the weight of the fondant. But judging after cutting the cake, it was just nice enough for me. My sisters said it tasted yummy too. I was proud of this cake although I think there's some improvements I can do on the cake. 

Rainbow Cake (taken from The Whisk Kid)

White Cake (but not really)

2 sticks (226 g) butter, room temp
2 1/3 c (426 g) sugar
5 egg whites, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 c (426 g) flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 1/2 c (355 ml) milk, warmed for 30 sec in microwave to bring to room temp
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food coloring. Liquid will not be vibrant enough!

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Oil and line how ever many 9” cake pans you have (I have three and I just reused them). (I used 8" pans instead)

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter, then add the egg whites (I cracked them all into one bowl) and add them a little at a time. Add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Then, alternating between wet and dry, add the milk and flour mixture in two parts.

Divide the batter amongst 6 bowls (It's about 1 c each, but I did it by weight. Weigh your mixing bowl before you begin adding ingredients and then subtract the weight of the bowl from the final measurement after the batter is completed. Divide that number by six and add that weight of batter to each bowl), and then whisk a fair amount of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Keep in mind that the color of the unbaked batter will be the color of the baked batter. Pour into the pans and bake for 15 minutes each.

When you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cooling rack, in the pan, for ten minutes. Then flip, cover, and stash them in the fridge to cool quickly.


Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream 
(This recipe makes more than enough for me)

To fill and crumb coat:
9 egg whites
1 ¾ c (350 g) sugar
4 sticks (452 g) butter, room temp
2 tsp lemon extract

To frost:
5 egg whites
1 c (200 g) sugar
2 sticks (226 g) butter, room temp
1 tsp lemon extract

Cook the egg whites and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved (test by rubbing some between your fingers. If it's completely smooth, it's done). Pour into another bowl (a stand mixer is preferable) and whip on high speed until room temp. Then, on a medium-slow speed, add the butter, waiting until each piece is completely incorporated before adding the next. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer back to high speed and whip until it has come together, about five minutes. Add the extract, beat briefly and then use.

If the buttercream seems soupy after all of the butter is added and does not come together after whipping, refrigerate for 5 to 7 minutes and continue whipping until it becomes fluffy and workable.

Assembly
Stack the layers in your preferred order and fill and frost as you would any other cake.

Once frosted, the cake can be left on the counter without any problems, but feel free to refrigerate it. Just be sure that the cake is at room temperature when serving or the frosting will be hard, not smooth. (Cake is taste nicer/better at room temperature when cutting and serving)


~Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true~