Cream cheese frosting

Here's wishing all the readers of Look Who's Cooking Too a very merry Christmas. May your day be filled with loads of good food and great company.

I shall be flambeeing my Christmas pudding which has been maturing right next to our wine collection and hopefully it would taste good, considering I steamed it for 7 hours. If not, I still have 2 more puds stashed away, thanks to Asda and Harrods. I would thoroughly miss the early morning Christmas service in church (cant go to a church here because public transportation comes to a standstill on Christmas day), the appam and stew at my grand moms, opening gifts and the rest of the day spent catching up with family and friends. Sigh!

 

I shall not dampen my spirits here, so leaving you all with this kick-ass cream cheese frosting recipe which I must say is my favourite so far and is an absolute keeper. I have tried different combinations and proportions but this is so far the best ever. The fact that there is no butter itself makes me wanna jump in glee, and anything with double cream is a hit. It is also the first time I have managed to pipe out the frosting which means the consistency was absolutely perfect. The other frosting method I have used, do work when there is no piping involved, and it was my go to recipe till I discovered this. So henceforth no more cream cheese butter cream or cream cheese-mascarpone frosting, just plan ol cream cheese and double cream. 

I made these velvets a couple of days back to gift some friends and neighbours and I'm kicking myself for not making more as Ro and I were fighting for the last cake. I also had big plans of posting a beef roast recipe, but then, laziness gets the better of me most of the time and so leaving you with perhaps the shortest recipe on LWCT. I just had to post it here for posterity. Once again, Merry Christmas and have an extra shot of boozy eggnog for me.

Recipe adapted from here (frosts 12 cupcakes)

 

Cream cheese- 226 gms, at room temperature (I used Philadelphia cream cheese)

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Icing sugar- 1/2 cup

Double cream- 2/3rd cup, cold

Using the paddle attachment of your free standing mixer or a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese till smooth and fluffy, for about a minute on medium speed.

Add the vanilla extract and sugar and continue beating till no traces of sugar is seen. (Is using any colour add at this point).
You can also add any other flavouring like coffee or Baileys or any other liqueur in place of vanilla extract. The consistency might slightly vary, so add double cream accordingly.

Change the attachment to a whisk and gradually add the double cream, whipping till the frosting is of  piping consistency. Do this on high speed but keep a close watch, as you don't want to over do the whisking and cause the double cream to separate.

Add more cream if your desired consistency is not reached. Mine was perfect with 2/3rd cups of cream.
Transfer the frosting into a piping bag and frost away.

Carrot cake

My mom makes the best carrot cake evah. I don't think I have enjoyed any other carrot cake as much as I've enjoyed hers. The ones that you get in Ottolenghi is a close second, although sometimes I hate biting into all those walnuts and coconut slivers. And the ones you get in bakeries and such, are somehow not moist enough and I hate the marzipan toppings they come with. So whenever I crave a good ol' carrot cake I resign to using mummy's recipe which never fails.

Ro hates a carrot cake where you bite into small pieces of carrots and says he cant eat a cake made of vegetables. So that's one of the reasons why I go back to making mummy's cake where she kinda makes a puree with the carrots and uses that in the cake. This makes it incredibly moist and you don't see or bite into carrot pieces, but still end up with a nice carrot flavour. But me being me, soon gets bored with the same ol' thing and I firmly believe in the saying 'variety is the spice of life.' So recently when I craved some carrot cake, I started going frantic searching for recipes online.

 

Needless to say, the search ended up in a plethora of recipes leaving me thoroughly confused. I wanted a simple recipe which used basic ingredients and was easy to put together. This recipe is just that and more because it tastes fabulous. I would have personally preferred it to be a bit more sweeter, but I still enjoyed the cake nonetheless. Ro for that matter couldn't even make out it was carrot cake until I told him it was and of course he made a fuss about it. But I was glad to see him going for a second piece after all that drama. The cake keeps well for a couple of days at room temperature in an air tight container, that is if you can manage to stay away from it.

I love the carrot cake-cream cheese combo. Well I like it more for the cream cheese, I must say. Its one frosting I absolutely love, and know to make and so it somehow makes its way through to almost all the elaborate cakes I bake. This time I didn't want to over do it with frosting since it was just for our use, and its more forgiving on the hips. So if you want to go all out, double the recipe, make it into a layer cake, dab loads of cream cheese (recipe here) and make a deal out of it. You will thank me for it, trust me :)

On a completely different note, I would love to thank my friend W for putting together the header for me. I bug him for all my doubts regarding logos and html codes and such and he's really good at it. The deal was I'd bake him some goodies in return for the header. A cake coming your way W :)

 

Recipe halved from here

Plain flour- 1 cup

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon- 1 tsp, powdered

Nutmeg- 1/4 tsp, grated or ground

Ginger- 1/2 tsp, powdered or grated

Granulated sugar- 1 cup

Vegetable oil- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

Eggs- 2 

Carrots- 1 1/2 cups, peeled and finely grated

 

Sieve/ mix together the first 6 ingredients into a bowl. Keep aside.

In another bowl beat together, with a wire whisk or wooden spoon, the sugar and vegetable oil till well blended.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture and mix well so that no traces of flour is seen. 

Finally, fold in the grated carrots.

Line a 12 hole cupcake pan (or cake pan) and pour the batter in, till about 3/4th full.

Bake in an oven preheated at 175C for about 15 to 18 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean.

Take them out of the oven and leave aside to cool for five minutes after which you can transfer them on to a wire rack till completely cool.

While they are still slightly warm, roll them in caster sugar or dust some powdered sugar on top for added benefit.

 

Notes: I would probably add 1/4 cup more of sugar because I love a sweet cake. In this case I'll probably avoid rolling/dusting sugar once the cake is done.

I used the fine grater on my grater box which yielded really fine carrot slices and once the cakes were done, you couldn't find traces of carrots (which was a good thing, if you ask me). The process is a bit more tiresome, but if you don't mind pieces of carrots in your cake, then go ahead and grate it bigger or whichever size you prefer.

I used mini bundt pans and got 6 of them. I had to bake it for about 20 minutes though

If you like walnuts and raisins, add about 1/2 a cup of coarsely chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup raisins along with the carrots and fold it all together.

If you are frosting the cake, do so only after the cakes have completely cooled down.

Also, you wont be able to store them at room temperature if using cream cheese frosting. Store it in the refrigerator and use it within 2 days, after which the cream cheese goes bad.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

I think every food blog should have a red velvet cake recipe...what say???? I know I want one and trust me I've been at it for so darn long. The Hummingbird Bakery here in Notting Hill got me hooked on to the lil red darlings about a year back and since then I have been trying to recreate it at home. Five times and I've never been successful. Have tried different recipes, different brands, different procedures, but never have I managed to get that red colour....that I am so deeply in love with. I know using food colouring is not the best, but what the hell...once in a blue moon you crave some red velvet goodness and its OK to indulge, I guess!

So anyhoo, after all those disaster episodes I finally decided to use a ready mix..yes, I'm a cheater..a good one at that, because I couldn't for the love of me find a red velvet cake mix in any of the supermarkets here in London and so I wrote to my cousin in the US, who happened to be visiting me, to bring me the original Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake mix. He did and boy was I glad. If you cant make em, buy them...that motto kinda works great with me, you know :)

I was waiting for an occasion to make it, but my baby (read Ro) was nagging me saying I never make cakes (ya rt!) for him. So finally I decided to give this mix a go and I was so happy when I saw the red colour appear when I mixed it all together. I forgot how amazingly easy ready mixes were. I even thought out loud, that I should go back to being a Betty Crocker ready mix fan. It makes life so much more easier especially if you have any intention of filling and frosting it. The cakes were ready in no time and they were so spongy and soft and doing the job of the original red velvet so beautifully.

Now what is red velvet without the traditional cream cheese frosting? So I finally put my cupcake decorating class to good use and for the first time my cream cheese frosting came out perfect...it was the right consistency to spread and to pipe, something I always managed to screw before I was shown how to do it. A lot of you wrote in asking for tips from that cupcake decorating class. This is one of the proportions I learned for the cream cheese frosting and hence forth I think I'm gonna follow it and be a happy gal.

I am not giving you the cake recipe simply because I didn't make it from scratch and the recipe that I have been following haven't been yielding good results. So here is the cream cheese frosting recipe.

Cream cheese- 175 gms

Mascarpone cheese- 175 gms

Icing sugar- 83 gms

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Mix together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and using a paddle attachment beat on low speed till they are all just combined and then on medium speed for about a minute or two max till you gain the required consistency. Don't over-beat it because once the icing becomes loose, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Trust me, I KNOW!

Once thing I learned while making a layer cake is to weigh the batter equally for a consistent cake size. That way you wont end up with 2 different sizes.

I also find that after doing a crumb coating for the cake, placing it in the refrigerator for about 15 to 20 minutes helps while doing the final layer on top.

Cupcake decorating class

I was on the look out for a cake decorating class here in London and that's when I came across the class at Bea's of Bloomsbury in Holborn. I have had so many failed attempts at making butter cream and cream cheese icing that I realized unless someone showed me how to go about it- procedure and consistency wise- I wouldn't succeed. Trust me, this is talking from experience...I have wasted icing sugar, cream cheese and butter by the truck loads because I goof up quite often when it comes to frosting. 

Bea...one of the sweetest people I've met is a pastry chef and owner of the quaint lil tea shop called Bea's of Bloomsbury and her basic class on cupcake decorating was all that I was looking forward to. She even let a friend join in absolutely free of cost, making up for rescheduling the class. We got there at around 5.45 and was totally made to feel at home. Bea brought over a plate full of cupcakes for us to dig into and we did, shamelessly, rather! The red velvet with cream cheese was brilliant and so was the vanilla with passion fruit frosting. So after we had our mouths full we cleaned up, put on our aprons and Bea gave us a small introduction about herself, her transformation into being a pastry chef and what her class would cover. She conducts different classes at her restaurant, details of which are on the website and I assure you, it would be absolutely worth it, if ever you want to give it a shot.

The class started off with Bea showing us how to make the perfect, silky smooth chocolate ganache, followed by taking us through the processes of getting the perfect Italian butter cream consistency and then of course my favourite, the cream cheese frosting methods. We were then taught how to make cones with butter paper, fill it with melted chocolate (white and dark), fold it and draw designs, write out names etc etc. Once that was perfected, Bea showed us how to fill, hold and use a pastry bag to frost cakes and cupcakes. Then came the best part, we were given an array of cupcakes to decorate on...with Bea showing us some easy piping ideas and decorating methods throwing in quite a lot of interesting tips for storage, colouring and fixing issues which I thought was incredibly useful. She laid out about a hundred different sprinklers with various themes, glossy glitters, shiny dusts and fancy flowers...all for decorating. I literally went crazy decorating and so did the others. She cleared any doubts we had and asked us to take our own sweet time decorating the cakes...so yes we were at Bea's of Bloomsbury till around 9pm  decorating, laughing, eating and having a jolly good time. I left the shop happy, high on sugar and with 2 boxes full of cakes decorated by yours truly. So hopefully the next time I bake a cake, I wouldn't be stuck when it comes to frosting and will remember all that Bea taught us. Here are some of the cakes I perfected, and some I destroyed :)

Vanilla cake with raspberry icing

Vanilla cake with vanilla icing

Celebrating Pinktober, the National breast Cancer Awareness Month with this raspberry butter cream frosted cupcake.

Red velvet with cream cheese frosting

...and these are some I did after I lost my patience

(from left to right: blueberry frosting, cream cheese, vanilla, chocolate ganache)

Caramel sandwich cake with cream cheese frosting

We were invited to a friends place for dinner over the weekend and I wanted to take something sweet for the couple, who had just completed a month of wedded bliss (bliss now..lets see for how long that is eh?). So after contemplating on a lot of options, going over and over about it with Ro and finally being shooed away saying, 'make anything and it will be fine,' I finally decided to make a Caramel cake. Now that was a task, because i don't have any patience and so was a bit skeptical about making the caramel syrup which i have managed to screw up lots of other times. Saw a bottle in Waitrose, but decided against it. Over confident, yes my exact thoughts!

And of course i had to frost it, that too cream cheese and nothing less. The last time i tried a cream cheese icing recipe, it all went for a toss with the consistency wrong and the taste nothing close to what it was supposed to be like. This time however, i was adamant I wouldn't screw up and to my surprise I didn't :)

The cake was incredibly moist and I was completely floored by how awesome the frosting tasted.

For the Caramel syrup:

Granulated Sugar- 1/2 cup

Water- 1/2 cup (really hot water)

For the cakes:

Powdered sugar- 1/2 cup

Plain flour- 1 cup

Soda powder- 1 tsp

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Condensed milk- 1/4 cup

Butter - 100 gms (at room temperature)

Eggs- 5 medium

Making the syrup:

In a heavy bottomed pan, on medium heat, caramelize the sugar. Once the sugar starts melting, it will change to a golden brown colour. Keep it on further till you attain a dark brown colour and it begins to lightly boil. At this point, pour the boiling water and stir for a further 2 more minutes to make sure all the caramel is melted and you get a smooth syrup.

Take its off the flame and keep aside to cool. You would have about 3/4 cup of caramel syrup.

Sieve together the plain flour, soda powder and baking powder. Keep aside.

Cream together the butter and powdered sugar till light and fluffy. You can do this by hand or using a mixer. I managed to do a decent job using a wire whisk.

Add the condensed milk to this and mix well to get a slightly stiffer consistency.

In a freestanding mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs till thick and double in amount.

Add half of the beaten eggs to the butter- sugar- condensed milk mix and combine well.

In goes the flour mix. Combine till nice and smooth.

Add the rest of the egg mix and fold in, without deflating it too much.

Add the cooled caramel syrup bit by bit and mix till its combined evenly.

Pour the batter into two greased sandwich tins and bake in a preheated oven (175C) for 30 to 40 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

Cream cheese frosting:

Philadelphia cream cheese- 1 tub (200gms)

Butter- 100 gms (at room temperature)

Powdered sugar- 600gms

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

In a free standing mixer with a paddle attachment cream the cheese and butter till smooth. Add the powdered sugar bit by bit till they are all blended well.

Keep the mixer on medium high and blend for a further 5 more minutes till light and fluffy

Assembling:

Place one cake on a cake stand or plate and generously spread some frosting on top.

Place the second cake on top and do the same. Dab some on the sides too if you want, but the sandwich cake didn't require me to do so.

Add some sprinkles if you like and you are good to go.

Notes: You can bake the entire cake and then slice it in half and do the filling also, in which case it wont really be a sandwich cake.

The caramel stage is very crucial. Keep an eye on it and be careful not to burn it. Take it from someone who's made that mistake:)

You can add some caramel sauce to the frosting instead of vanilla for that extra zing.

I refrigerated the cake for a while so the frosting was in tact. I suggest you do this if its particularly hot weather.

Verdict: My friends called up the next day to say the cake tasted really yum. I'm just gonna ahve to take their word for it and consider it a keeper :)