The controversy of cake

March 4, 2010 5

Cake! What a very controversial thing. What’s supposed to be this delicate delight reserved for the rich and raunchy (think Marie Antoinette) is often nothing more than a couple of layers of dried out sweet bread wrapped in even more sickly sweet frosting which leaves one feeling desperately disappointed! Now then, I’m not speaking of the latest coffee shop creations that show off layers of chocolate mousse and dripping sauces. No, those lovely things are fully fledged deserts, according to me, no longer in the “cake” category!

Despite all of this, every cook (including this one) still has a strange desire to bake a cake. It’s something we simply have to do. If we succeed in creating a feather-light taste sensation that melts in the mouth we can carry on with our lives and sleep easy for the next couple of nights, if not, it haunts us and we become part of the sweet bread statistics… what a terrible fate!

So, with a lot of help from a lot of people, I set out to do my bit for the cake creation. I wanted to create something unique while still relying on the tried and trusted of those before me. I decided on a red-hidden-centre-chocolate-creamcheese-frosted-cupcake-creation! In every possible way, a mouthful! It just had to be something that was light, creamy, surprising and just a joy ride from the first to last bite!

And this is what I worked with:

For the actual cake part, I used a butter cake recipe (with a few slight additions) by the one and only Mrs S de Villiers, author of the incredible Cook and Enjoy. This lady is truly a legend! It was only after paging through her Cook and Enjoy (Kook en Geniet) that I truly realised what it meant to leave a legacy.

Butter Cake (adapted from SJA de Villiers)

170g butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
3 eggs
2t baking powder
125 ml milk
3t red food colouring
salt

Beat butter and sugar until creamy, add eggs and milk.
Sieve dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.
Add the food colouring and mix again.
Divide the batter evenly between the “holes” of your muffin pan.
Bake at 180 ºC for approximately 15mins. If the cupcakes start to look delectable, test one with a sharp knife (stick the knife into the cupcake, if it comes out clean, your creation is done).

Mousse
The hidden centre needed to be something controversial, delectable, smooth and just down-right yummy… Enter Moir’s Instant Strawberry Mouse with real berry pieces (available in most RSA supermarkets – follow instructions on the pack to the letter), worked really well, except that you need to keep it refrigerated all the time or becomes difficult to manage.

The frosting always had to be more than just icing sugar with butter and water! I found the most amazing chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe on www.cupcakeproject.com which worked like a charm! I was licking the bowl like a 5-year-old again; I just live for moments like that!

My Favorite Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe (adapted from The Cupcake Project)

230g cream cheese at room temperature
1 tablespoon C butter at room temperature
2 cups sifted icing sugar (You can decrease this amount if you don’t care about it being as stiff for piping or use more if you want it really stiff)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
Mix in cocoa powder.

Process

The process to follow goes a little like this, you need to first bake your cakes, make your mousse and let it chill and also finish the frosting before you start building and decorating the actual cupcakes. You’ll need to work fast and uninterrupted, hence having everything ready before!

Once you’ve baked and cooled your cakes, use a teaspoon to dish out the top of your cupcake. Preferable one full scoop, keep this scoop of cake because you’ll use it again later.
Fill the new hole in the cupcake with a teaspoon full of mousse and place the top of the scooped out cake back on the cupcake (on top of the mousse).
Have your chocolate cream cheese filled piping bag ready and start decorating that beautiful red little thing, be as creative as you want, making sure that you cover all evidence that there might be something inside… it’s a surprise!