From the beginning of the month, I had zeroed on the Black Forest Cake for our anniversary. Come what may be, I wanted to make Black Forest. I love the flavors of the chocolate, cherry and whipped cream rolled into one, along with those chocolate shavings. Who doesn't? I was ready to dedicate my whole weekend into it. Then came the monthly challenge for the Eggless Baking group, which was suggested by Sowmya of Nivedhanam. What it would have been? Tiramisu!!! Dah, now I am confused. Should I lay my plans for the Black Forest cake to rest? Celebratory cakes cannot be made every now and then, right and Tiramisu was definitely a very good option. So there you go, I told myself, BFC is not going to die, it is just going to go on hibernation mode and this month, it would be the Tiramisu of course!!! So there I went ahead and planned the details.
The recipe provided by Gayathri was the basic - making saviordi, the cheese and filling. I did some variations. The saviordi would not be possible without eggs, the whole crunch of the biscuit comes from the eggs, so the other option I could go for was an eggless bisucit, similar to saviordi OR an eggless cake. I, being a lazy head, opted the easy way out - cake, of course! ;) We had to do the filling without any eggs used in it, so after googling around quite a bit, I mixed and matched my observations and came up with my filling. The making of the cheese was the best point. Even though I would admit I didn't do a really great job at it - I should have kept the cheese for 24 hours, but since I didn't have time, I could keep it only for 12 hours - the whole experience was really exciting. I guess I just move on and tell you how I went about it...
Please note: This is going to be a very photo intensive blogpost - my first ever I guess, where I went ahead and took so many pictures, so please bear with me! I hope you will enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed making this cake! :)
Eggless Tiramisu Cake
Makes a 9 inch cake
Step 1: Eggless Sponge Cake
Makes a 9 inch cake
Ingredients:
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| Spongy... |
150 gm flour
1 tsp baking soda
100 gm butter
1/2 can condensed milk
100 ml milk
100 ml yogurt
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease an 8 inch pan well and flour it.
Seive the dry ingredients together. Whisk the butter and yogurt till well incorporated. Add the flour mixture, milk and condensed milk in alternative additions and whisk till all is mixed without any lumps.
Pour the cake into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes till done. I baked my cake in the cooker as I don't trust my oven much!!! Cool the cake completely.
Step 2: Homemade Mascarpone Cheese
I prepared mascarpone cheese at home, as it was a part of the challenge. Seriously, this is the first time I am making cheese, so I didn't know what to expect. But I was really thrilled, because it did look and smell like cheese finally!!! :)
Ingredients:
500 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Place a large pan with water upto one inch on the stove top and bring it to boil. Empty the contents of the whipping cream into a small saucepan. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to the minimum and place the small saucepan on top of the water. Allow the cream to heat, stirring in between. It took around 15 minutes for the cream to become warm.
When you see it becoming warm, add the lemon juice and continuously stir. The thing with mascarpone cheese was that it would not curdle too much, all it did was become thick and coat the back of the wooden spoon thickly.
Meanwhile, arrange a deep pan with four cheese clothes in it. Pour the done mixture onto the cheese cloth. Allow it to cool completely. Cover it up with cling film, close the lid and leave it in your refrigerator overnight or 24 hours. I left it in the fridge for around 12 hours.
Ingredients:
1 cup (200 ml) warm water
3 tbsp coffee powder (I used Bru)
1 pack (250 ml) whipped cream
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
Add the coffee powder to the warm water. Keep aside.
Beat the whipped cream in a cold pan till it develops stiff peaks. Add the icing sugar and beat again. Finally add the mascarpone cheese, 4 tbsp of the coffee concoction and the vanilla essence and mix well to incorporate.
Ingredients:
Chocolate drops for decoration
Cocoa powder for sprinkling (I used Milo)
Method:
Cut the cake midway into two pieces. Brush generously with half the coffee mixture on one piece of the cake till well soaked. Add the frosting and spread across it. Place the other half of the cake on the top and brush the remaining coffee onto it till well soaked. Spread the frosting on all sides of the cake till well covered. Refrigerate the cake overnight for the flavors to set.
Decorate with the chocolate drops and dust the cocoa powder on top. Serve cold!!!
Notes:
1. I forgot to chill the bowl and the beaters before beating the whipped cream. Therefore, my cream didn't whip to the fullest. I had used fresh whipping cream, but then I came to know that for climate like we have here (humid), it is always best to use non-diary whipping cream. So next time, I will do that!!!
2. I levelled the frosting on the cake the next day, as the frosting had not whipped to the fullest and was slightly runny. But the next day, it was quite tight and easier to flatten.
3. I thought my cake was quite low on the sugar side. So next time I make it, I'm definitely going to add at least 50% more sugar!!! However, nobody complained, the cake was gobbled up in no time!!!
4. I still had almost a cup of frosting left after doing the full cake, because my middle layer was quite thin. I used it for decorating a pudding, the recipe which will come up after sometime!!! :)
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| Had to put this to ensure my B does not put his hands into it!!! Hehe... |
Step 2: Homemade Mascarpone Cheese
Makes slightly more than one cup
Recipe by Baking Obsession
Recipe by Baking Obsession
I prepared mascarpone cheese at home, as it was a part of the challenge. Seriously, this is the first time I am making cheese, so I didn't know what to expect. But I was really thrilled, because it did look and smell like cheese finally!!! :)
Ingredients:
500 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Place a large pan with water upto one inch on the stove top and bring it to boil. Empty the contents of the whipping cream into a small saucepan. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to the minimum and place the small saucepan on top of the water. Allow the cream to heat, stirring in between. It took around 15 minutes for the cream to become warm.
When you see it becoming warm, add the lemon juice and continuously stir. The thing with mascarpone cheese was that it would not curdle too much, all it did was become thick and coat the back of the wooden spoon thickly.
Meanwhile, arrange a deep pan with four cheese clothes in it. Pour the done mixture onto the cheese cloth. Allow it to cool completely. Cover it up with cling film, close the lid and leave it in your refrigerator overnight or 24 hours. I left it in the fridge for around 12 hours.
Step 3: Preparing the frosting
Ingredients:
1 cup (200 ml) warm water
3 tbsp coffee powder (I used Bru)
1 pack (250 ml) whipped cream
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
Add the coffee powder to the warm water. Keep aside.
Beat the whipped cream in a cold pan till it develops stiff peaks. Add the icing sugar and beat again. Finally add the mascarpone cheese, 4 tbsp of the coffee concoction and the vanilla essence and mix well to incorporate.
Step 4: Assembling the cake
Ingredients:
Chocolate drops for decoration
Cocoa powder for sprinkling (I used Milo)
Method:
Cut the cake midway into two pieces. Brush generously with half the coffee mixture on one piece of the cake till well soaked. Add the frosting and spread across it. Place the other half of the cake on the top and brush the remaining coffee onto it till well soaked. Spread the frosting on all sides of the cake till well covered. Refrigerate the cake overnight for the flavors to set.
Decorate with the chocolate drops and dust the cocoa powder on top. Serve cold!!!
Notes:
1. I forgot to chill the bowl and the beaters before beating the whipped cream. Therefore, my cream didn't whip to the fullest. I had used fresh whipping cream, but then I came to know that for climate like we have here (humid), it is always best to use non-diary whipping cream. So next time, I will do that!!!
2. I levelled the frosting on the cake the next day, as the frosting had not whipped to the fullest and was slightly runny. But the next day, it was quite tight and easier to flatten.
3. I thought my cake was quite low on the sugar side. So next time I make it, I'm definitely going to add at least 50% more sugar!!! However, nobody complained, the cake was gobbled up in no time!!!
4. I still had almost a cup of frosting left after doing the full cake, because my middle layer was quite thin. I used it for decorating a pudding, the recipe which will come up after sometime!!! :)
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| Wanna slice?? :) |