Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Birthday Ardy!



My baby brother is already 21, and I made a birthday cake just for him! This cake was inspired by the lovely birthday rounds my parents used to buy at a Chinatown bakery in Downtown Los Angeles. From those nostalgic cakes, I adopted a thick coat of sliced almonds for the outer facets and a bed of fresh, plump strawberries for the filling of this double-layered cake. But instead of using the classic red gel for a hand-written message, I used purple fondant for cut-out lettering. And since my piping skills have yet to be born, I used fresh blackberries for an alluring finish. No time for taking quality pictures - I'm late to the birthday dinner!



Happy Birthday Cake
Source: adapted from RecipeZaar and Allrecipes

Ingredients
For the cake:
* 3 cups cake flour
* 1 tbsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1 1/2 c butter or margarine, softened
* 1 1/4 c sugar
* 2/3 c milk
* 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
* 4 eggs
For the frosting:
* 1 pint heavy whipping cream, chilled
* 1/3 c powdered sugar
* 1/2 lb sliced almonds
* 10 oz strawberries, stems removed and quartered
* 5 oz blackberries
* 2 oz fondant

Directions
* Heat oven to 350º.
* Grease and flour a 9x13” cake pan. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
* Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until fluffy.
* Beat in flour mixture, milk, vanilla, and eggs on medium speed until blended. Beat 2 minutes longer. Pour into pans.
* Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool ten minutes, remove from pans to wire rack, cool completely.
* For frosting, beat cream on low speed until thickened. Add powdered sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
* Cut the cake in half to form two long pieces of cake, and trim edges. Level the cakes by cutting off the rounded tops.
* Place one cake layer, cut side up, on serving plate. Carefully arrange a single layer of strawberry quarters to fit as many as possible. Top with 1/4 of the whipped cream and spread evenly, allowing cream to edge the sides.
* Gently place the other cake layer, cut side down. Spread entire cake with remaining frosting, making the top layer as even as possible.
* Spread a handful of almonds on your open hand, and quickly but gently press them to the sides of the cake until they are completely covered.
* Decorate with fresh blackberries.
* On a piece of parchment paper, roll out fondant and stamp with letter cutters. If the fondant sticks to cutters, remove by using a toothpick.
* Arrange letters on cake, being careful about the spacing. Keep cake wrapped and chilled until ready to serve. Serves 12.

2 comments:

Olive Tree said...

Hi, it's a very great blog.
I could tell how much efforts you've taken on it.
Keep doing!

tofuttirice said...

berrirific!