Volkswagen Camper Van Cake

Last week it was our dear friend's, Kabi's Birthday. He turned 18 - again:) khmmm. For this grand occasion I created something special: his favorite car a Volkswagen Camper Van. He has the Lego version of this car so a few days before his birthday I helped myself to his little Lego figures (so I don't have to make them from sugar paste). I think it turned out great, especially as I was making my own templates on the go. During my research for this cake, I found it frustrating that page after page demanded money to check a simple template/tutorial (it is not that they invented anything new).....Anyway i hope you enjoy this free Volskwagen Camper Van Cake tutorial, step by step.

As usual I made a red velvet cake sponge, as I know that this version has good structure and it doesn't matter if you bake it two days ahead, since it just gets better a few days after baking. 

For the sponge
175g softened butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
pinch of salt
1 vanilla
165g plain flour
10g cocoa powder
8g baking powder
red food colouring * more on this topic in the Tricks and Recommendations 
1 cake board

For the butter cream
80g butter softened
180g icing sugar
20g cream cheese

For the filling
150g soft cheese
100g white chocolate
150g double cream
1 dream topping
70g dessicated coconut

To cover:
500g white icing
250g  black icing(black sugar paste)-I used an already coloured one, as I read in other blogs that if you try to add food colouring to the white icing you should work on it for quite a while to achieve a nice even black colour.....and I didn't had the time for that
250g red icing (red sugar paste)

To decorate:
Silver edible paint - optional
Green edible paint
Edible glue
Edible pen - optional
Ruler
Paintbrush
Spatula knife
Cake smoother

Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the butter and the sugar into a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs,vanilla, salt and half of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling. Add the remaining flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and give it a final mix.

Add the food colouring and mix well. 

Put the mixture in a 20X25cm prepared tin and bake it for 1hr and 15minutes, but check the sponge after an hour. If the skewer inserted into the center comes out clean then it is ready. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes than put it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the filling

Whip the double cream to stiff peaks, then add the cream cheese, melted white chocolate dessicated coconut and the dream topping and mix again. Put it into the fridge so it stiffens up a bit before applying.

With your cake leveler cut the now completely cold sponge in half horizontally, then cut off the edges on either side then in half vertically. This gave me two 11cmX20 cm rectangles (cut in half horizontally:

 

Put some cream on your cake board (you can see on the top right picture that the cream is peeking out from underneath the first layer). This cream will mend the sponge to the board so it won't move when you transport the cake.

Sandwich together all layers with the cream and put the cake into the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the filling to be hardened so you can shape it more easily.

Once the cake is cooled and a bit more solid you can start your carving: I used a knife to create the curved front and slightly curvy back. I also carved a small part of the top(creating to rooftop effect - once i have icing on the top you will see what i mean) off and removing a tiny amount of sponge from the bottom (all around)- I will explain later why.

 

As it was a fee style exercise I guessed where the wheels should be and carved out the wheels. We need this sponge for the actual wheels so try to remove that sponge part in one piece.

For the butter cream

Cream together the softened butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the cream cheese and mix again.

Spread the butter cream thinly on the surface of the sponges,try to smooth the cream with an offset spatula knife for a nice finish. Don't forget to cover the 4 little wheels with butter cream- but before you do that make the "whleel"-sponge smaller so even with the icing on top you can fit it back into the whole - NOT LIKE ME. 

Refrigerate until set to the touch and then spread the remaining butter cream over the cake to give a perfect finish.

Once you have two layers of butter cream on the cake (as smooth as possible) you can start applying the icing layers.

To cover

Be careful with the sugar paste as it drys out quickly so if you don't use it wrap it in cling film.Make sure your work surface is clean and dry before you kneed the black sugar paste until warm and pliable. Use some icing sugar to dust your work surface and roll out  a tiny amount of black icing. Cut an 5mm wide strip and cover the very bottom of the cake. As the car's body not supposed to touch the ground I cut a tiny amount of sponge off from the bottom. By covering it with black icing I hope to make the bottom invisible.

Now you can roll out the white icing (approx. 350g-400g) on the work surface (dusted with icing sugar) to 3-4mm thickness to cover the van. Carefully lift over the centre of the cake and lay onto the butter cream layer. Dust your icing smoother with some icing sugar and rub the icing gently over the cake. Don't rush this part as it will make the whole cake awful if you make a mistake at this stage.

On the edges smooth with one hand and keep lifting the icing with the other (I am sure there are plenty of Youtube videos available on this technique).Use a sharp knife to trim the edges and the spaces for the wheels.Save the trimming for other decorations. 

Now you can see the top better:by carving a small edge off from the top it creates a roof-top effect. 

Using the remaining of the black icing cover the 4 wheels and craft 2 number plates.

Using white icing prepare the accessories: 4 small rounds for the alloy, 4 wheel bolts, 2 handles, 4 big lights, 2 small lights and a surf board.

   

Support the Surf boards to end, so it takes up a curved shape once it is dry. I used my edible glitter paint to personalise the number plate and paint some of the head lights and wheel bolts.

Now comes the hard part: to create the iconic curved icing for the van. I used a piece of paper, a scissor and a pen.....I took me about 10 minutes until i was happy with the shape but in the end I got my template. Once I was happy with the curve I cut out the spaces for the whleels. The front wheel should be totally visible while the back wheel should be half covered (only if you can fit in your wheels properly......I learnt a lot from this project).

  

Push the wheels into their place (carefully as the icing is probably still soft), then with edible paint glue on the two cut out red panels (one at the time). Try to be careful so the panels don't sink (leaving a red gluey patch exposed),supporting the panels with a palet knife from the bottom until the glue sets (it takes about 2-3 minutes).

Until the red panels totally set I prepared the grass on both sides. Simply roll out some white icing and cut a wave in the middle. Place the two parts on either side of the van and trim off the ends hanging off from the board. I used some edible glue on the board just to keep the grass intact. With a paint brush create some grass effect. You can also prepare some road markings if you wish. 

I have to apologise as I got too excited at this point and totally forgot to take more pictures.

Roll out some black icing and using your ruler cut out 4 long strips (all the same height). It is totally down to your preference but i cut two blocks for the front - securing all parts with edible glue - 4 "blocks" to the sides and I left the back windscreen as i long strip.

Using your white icing cut out two long narrow strips for the bumpers (one on the front one on the side) and three more strips for the roof rack. Now all you have to do is glue on the lights and number plates and using your edible pen create the Volkswagen symbol. I tried and failed to do this from icing so that is why I opted for the pen.

It is very important that after you finished with your cake you leave it on room temperature so all icing hardens up (otherwise it will melt down if you put it into the fridge like that).

Until the last moment - when I presented the cake - I left it in the fridge because of the coconut filling. 5 of us only managed to demolish half the cake, mind you we just finished a massive Thai dinner. 

   

Cappuccino Cake

I haven't baked for a while, but now I am back in the kitchen:) I found a great recipe on  the bbcgoodfood website and this is one of the few recipes I haven't modified. The cream is truly wonderful, but you have to use a very good quality coffee  to get the favours just right.

Cappuccino Cake

Ingredients

250 g unsalted butter, softened

250 g light soft brown sugar

300 g self-raising sugar

4 eggs, beaten

50 walnuts, toasted and finely chopped

100 ml very strong coffee (made fresh) cooled

Frosting

500 g mascarpone

3 tbsp light soft brown sugar

100 ml very strong coffee (make fresh) cooled

cocoa powder to decorate

Heat the oven to 180C. Butter 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper. Beat butter and sugar together with electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the flour and eggs in one go and keep beating until evenly mixed.

Fold in the walnuts and the coffee. Spoon the mix into the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until golden and well risen.

Leave the cakes in their tins for 5 mins before turning onto a wire rack. Sweeten the coffee with the sugar and sprinkle 4 tbsp over the sponges. Leave to cool completeley.

While the cakes cool make the frosting. 

Tip the mascarpone into a large bowl and beat in the remaining of the coffee until smooth and creamy. Use about half of the frosting to sandwich the sponges together then using a palette knife spread the rest of he frosting over the top of the cake. Decorate with dusting of cocoa powder.

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cake

I offered to bake a cake to our BBC Children in Need Charity bake sale. I choose the cake I made for Halloween as it is sturdy, easy to slice, can be on the cake sale table for long and ok to transfer.......and it is delicious(the main thing). I also love chocolate and orange together, but I slightly altered the look of the cake so it would fit for sale. 
Recently I adapted a new look and prepared the cakes in my new 12 slices Zila Cake mould.
If you want to see the Zila range or buy some, you can do it here: Link to buy Zila Cake Mould

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cake

For the sponge
150 g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
175 g butter at room temperature
175 g golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1-3 tbsp milk
100 g 70% dark chocolate, melted and cooled

For the cream
300 g soft cheese
zest of 2 oranges
juice of 1.5 orange
3-5 tbsp icing sugar
200 ml double cream
1.5 tsp powdered gelatine
orange food colouring

For the decoration
1 Terry's Chocolate Orange
50 g dark chocolate
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp butter

Heat the oven to 180 C. Butter and base line your 23 cm round cake tin with baking parchment.

Put all the cake ingredients except the chocolate in a  large bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture, then fold in the melted chocolate. Add a little more milk if the mix is too stiff- it should fall easily from a spoon.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Cool the cake than cut in three with a cake leveller.

For the filling, mix all ingredients in a big bowl except the double cream and the gelatine.

Heat the double cream in a heavy based pan to boil. Take off from the heat and add the powdered gelatine and mix well to dissolve any lumps. Cool down the mixture to room temperature  then add to the orange mixture. Work together the two mixture and add the food colouring(the amount you need depends on the brand, so use as recommended) and put to the fridge to harden a little.

When the cake is cooled and the orange mixture is solidish, spread one layer to the bottom sponge, sandwich on top the other sponge layer and spread another layer of cream on top.
For the chocolate icing, melt the chocolate with 3 tbsp of milk then add the butter. Spread on top of the cake, than pipe on the rest of the orange cream.
Finish off with the Terry's Chocolate Orange slices.

Enjoy:)

Ps: if you not familiar with the Terry's Chocolate Oragne, here it how it looks like:

Embroidered "Russian" Cream Cake in Kalocsai Style (Kalocsai mintás Oroszkrém torta)

So...I haven't baked anything for a while as I was on holiday. We went back to Hungary for my brother's wedding and enjoyed the sunshine while we can:). During our stay one thing I come across time to time is the popularity of the embroidered clothes. Embroidery has a huge tradition in Hungary (even I used to do it with my grandmother when I was younger) but over time it become less and less popular...But it is 2012 and the embroidered clothes are back in fashion, specially the "Kalocsai" style, so I thought to make my own version of it: on a cake. The cake underneath is the traditional Hungarian "Russian" cream cake(Oroszkrém Torta)... although it has nothing to do with Russia. Between the two world wars the famous Oroszi Bakery invented this cake, but later it was know by the shortened name which translates to Russian in Hungarian....but it is a real Hungarian speciality. Sorry I should have put on red ribbon, but it was 11pm am and I didn't have any at home.

For the sponge:

6 eggs 

6 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp plain flour

For the cream:

1 Vanilla Pudding- you can buy them in polish shops *more on this product in the Tricks and Recommendations

4 dl milk

4 tbsp sugar

0.5-1dl rum

100g raisins

4 dl double cream

1 big tsp gelatin 

For the topping:

1 shop bought marzipan or royal icing

1 tbsp milk

60g butter

120g icing sugar

food colouring, edible gel pencil

But the traditional coating for this cake is whipped cream. for that you will need

2dl double cream 

1 tsp gelatin

Preheat the oven to 180C. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks. Still mixing add the egg yolks, 2 at the time, mix well between each addition and do the same with the sugar. Shift in the flour and carefully fold the flour into the mix until it is well incorporated. Don't rush this step, as if you break up the volume you created with the whipping, your sponge will be tiny and won't rise.

Pour it into a prepared 23cm cake tin and bake for 15-25 minutes or until golden brown and the inserted skewer comes out clean.

Leave it to cool, then slice it to three parts. I found that the cake leveller doesn't work with this kind of sponge, it is better if you use a big bread knife.

In the meantime you can prepare the cream as it needs chilling before filling.

Pour 3 dl of milk into a heavy based pan with the sugar and bring to boil under a medium heat. Mix the rest of the milk (1dl) with the pudding/budwyn powder to avoid lumps. When the milk is boiling, pour in the other milk and stir continuously. In 1-3minutes it should thicken and be custard like. Add in the raisins and leave it to cool.

Dissolve the gelatin in 0.5dl boiling water. Whip the double cream to stiff peaks and add in the dissolved gelatin- water.

Mix together the whipped double cream and the cooked "pudding", then add in the rum. Well the amount of rum you put in is up to you, but it shouldn't be overpowering, but it is nice to have the hint of rum in the cream. 

Rest the filling in the fridge until it starts to thicken so the gelatin starts to work.

When the filling is stiff, you can assemble the cake: sponge-cream X3, and finish it off with some cream. Traditionally you would finish with some whipped cream, but I wanted to practise my "embroidery" skills.

Therefore I rolled out the marzipan with some icing sugar, and covered the cake. Sadly you won't have a perfectly smooth cake, as the filling makes the cake soft....not the consistency for cake cover, but if you gentle you can have a nice enough flat surface.

I printed some motive from the Internet, and pace some baking paper on top to draw the replica image on it. I cut round the baking paper image and tried to transfer it on top of the marzipan. Roughly draw the edges, then lifting the paper...try to draw it...then back, lifting the baking paper...draw a line...so it took a while, but I get there in the end. I didn't have the exact picture just roughly the main lines. 

Then I prepared the butter cream icing. Mixing the soft butter with the icing sugar, if it is too stiff add 1 tbsp milk. Then I divided the butter cream and added the colouring. I made: yellow, orange, purple, blue, light green, dark green, pink, pale pink, red, deep red....

Then you just have to fill the "colouring book" with a small brush. In the end I added the ribbon, but it really should be red as that is the traditional colour for this type of motive....and if we are at that note, royal icing is better as it gives you white background, but I prefer the marzipan taste:)

And the inside is:

By the way the wedding was great and here is a photo I made on the Big day:

Dobos Torte/ Dobos Torta

This cake is my mother's favourite, so on her last day I made this torte for her to take home in the suitcase. By the way the cake survived the journey without any defect. I will give you a short description of this cake, as this is one of best know Hungarian cake.

Dobos Torte/ Dobos Torta

So first some history on the cake itself:

"Dobos torte  (pronounced [ˈdoboʃ], Hungarian: Dobos torta) is a Hungarian cake named after its inventor, a well-known Hungarian confectioner, József C. Dobos (1847–1924) in 1884. It is a five-layer sponge cake, layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with thin caramel slices. The sides of the cake are sometimes coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts or almonds but the original cake is uncoated, since it was a slice of a big cake. Dobos' aim was to make a cake that would last longer than other pastries, in an age when cooling techniques were limited. The caramel topping helps keep the cake from drying out. The cake is also often called 'Dobos-torta' or 'Dobostorta'.

Dobosh or Dobos Torte (type of cake) was first introduced at the National General Exhibition of Budapest in 1885; Franz Joseph I and his Empress Elisabeth were among the first to taste it. The cake soon became popular throughout Europe as it was different from all others. It was simple but elegant, as opposed to the multi-layer, flaming cakes of the age. Its other secret was its use of fine butter cream, which was very little known at the time; cake fillings and frostings were usually made with cooked pastry cream or whipped cream. The chocolate butter cream and the batter of the cake were both invented by Jozsef C. Dobos.

Dobos Torte is known everywhere in the world and there are more than one hundred recipe variations. It is a commonly made torte in the upscale hotels, restaurants and pastry shops of the world."

So according to the description on Wikipedia it is a 5 layer sponge cake(+the top), but my recipe states 6+1..so I will go with that one...but the end of the day it doesn't really matter if it tastes nice.

For the sponge
8 eggs
170g granulated sugar
150g plain flour
50g butter, melted cooled down to room temperature

For the cream
3 egg yolks
200g sugar
25g plain flour
250ml milk
100g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solid)
350g butter at room temperature

For the top
100g sugar

Before you start the sponge you have to prepare the chocolate cream as it needs to cool down completely.

In a pan heat up the milk. In a bowl mix together the 3 egg yolks and the sugar with an electric mixer then add in the flour. Slowly (to avoid lumps) add the warm milk to loosen the mix, then transfer the mix to the pan that you heated the milk earlier. Add the chopped dark chocolate and under low heat melt the chocolate and thicken the mixture. When it is rich and creamy set it aside and leave it to cool completely.

Separate the yolks from the whites. In a big mixing bowl whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt to stiff peaks than add the sugar and mix it again. Add the egg yolks and the butter and mix it again.  Fold in the shifted flour(in 3 lots to avoid lumps). 

Preheat the oven to 170C. 
Now you have two options. Either you draw 20cm circles on to baking paper and spread the 1/7 of the sponge mix on it....this is what I did for years. But this year I invested into two 20cm baking ring, so all I have to do is line a flat baking sheet with baking paper, place the ring on it and pour 1/7 of the sponge mixture on it.
Bake each sponge for 10 minutes or until pale gold in colour.

I guess this is the hardest part for me: to divide the mixture to get exactly 7sponges...and all sponges to be the same thickness. Usually I use lots of baking paper when I do this cake as I leave to rest all 7sponge on its lining.

In the meantime you can prepare your filling. Cut the butter to squares and mix in the cooled, room temperature chocolate cream until well incorporated. 

Now you can start layering the sponges with the cream but leave one sponge out for the top caramel layer.

For the caramel layer heat the sugar in a pan over medium heat. The most important part is just shake the pan as the sugar melts, but never stir. If you stir the sugar you break up the sugar crystals and you will get a rock hard caramel which will be inedible...unless you have metal teeth.

Pour the caramel over the 7th sponge(you should place your sponge on a chopping board, so if the caramel run off the sponge you don't have to replace your worktop) and spread it with a spatula knife. With a big oily or buttery knife cut the top to the desired number of triangles...try not to burn yourself. This is the hardest part, as working with the caramel is tricky and the caramel layer will the centrepiece of the cake...so if you ruin it...well anyway the taste is the most important.

When it is ready you can place the triangles on top of the cake. Keep it in the fridge.

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

I have read through many Rhubarb Upside Down Cake recipes - all with tons of sugar-so I decided to make my own version, specially I had lots of rhubarb. Due to the new layering technique I used double the rhubarb amount and I was able to use up all my stock (hurrah- I hate to bin any food). The end result is rather fresh and tangy (not perfect looking), but married up with a dollop of ice cream it was perfect.

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

For the topping
1kg rhubarb 
190g sugar
60g flour
zest of 2oranges
2 tbsp butter

For the batter
125g plain flour 
140g sugar
60g butter
120ml milk
1vanilla pod
1 tbsp baking powder
1egg

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Clean the rhubarb and cut them to 3cm pieces. I placed them straight into the tin to see how much more I need. After the trimmings it weighted 920g based on a 23cm spring form tin.

Place the rhubarb pieces with the sugar orange zest and the flour into a bowl and fold them together, try to coat every rhubarb with the mix. If you would prefer a sweeter rhubarb topping, put 50g extra sugar into the mix.

Arrange again the rhubarb pieces into the tin, (probably you will need a little less rhubarb because of the baking paper+flour coating) and sprinkle on top the floury mixture that didn't stick on side of the rhubarb pieces. 

Learning from my mistake, leave some space at the side of the tin, so when you put on the butter it would leak to the bottom and this thin pastry part would hold together the cake better when finished.

Place the butter on top of the rhubarb, and put it to the oven and bake it for 5-10minutes until you prepare the batter. 

For the batter mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, vanilla seeds and the milk with an electric mixer. When everything is well incorporated add the egg and mix it again.

Pour on top of the rhubarb and bake it for 40-60 minutes or until the inserted wooden skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool for 5minutes, then Turn upside down onto a serving plate. Best served when it is still warm with some ice cream.

Hints and tips

If you don't want to fiddle around with the standing rhubarb pieces, just halve the metrics for the topping (still use the same butter quantity) and simply put the rhubarb into the tin...no need arranging them.

Chocolate cake with secret filling

I made this cake for my friend's birthday. Really I just wanted to try if I can create the secret filling effect or not, without the special tin. Clearly you don't need the tin as it is quite easy to do without it.

Chocolate cake with apricot and curd cheese filling

For the cake

175 g unsalted butter, softened

125 g soft light brown sugar

100 g caster sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1 vanilla pod

175 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

50 g cocoa

75 ml buttermilk

75 ml boiling water

For the filling

150 g Curd Cheese/ Quark * more on this at the Tricks and Recommendations

1 vanilla pod

1 tinned apricot

150 ml double cream 

2 tbsp icing sugar

For the chocolate genache

125 ml double cream 

100 g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids)

15 g liquid glucose

25 g unsalted butter 

30 g dark chocolate for the shavings

For the sponge: preheat your oven to 180C.

Cream the butter with both of the sugars until pale and light. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time.

Add the vanilla seeds.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa into the mixture and mix until almost combined. Add the buttermilk and boiling water and continue to mix until smooth.

Divide the mixture between 2X20cm sandwich tins. Bake on the middle shelf of your reheated oven for about 20 minutes or until well risen and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cakes to rest in the ins for 2 minutes and then ease out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling whip the double cream to soft peaks, add the curd cheese, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix it again.

1 cm form the rim of the cake (all around) make a 1 cm deep cut. Spoon out the excess middle part of the sponge, where the filling will go ( you can eat it with some extra filling if you have some leftovers:)). Spread the curd cheese filling to both hollow part until almost level. Add a layer of apricot to the bottom layer, then sandwich with the top layer.

For the ganache: Bring to boil the cream in a heavy based pan over medium heat. Take off the heat and add the chocolate and the liquid glucose and mix with a whisk to smooth cream. Add the butter gradually to the cream while whisking.

Pour the ganache on top of the cake and with a spatula spread it over the top and side of the cake.

For the top decoration either use a vegetable peeler to make shavings from a chocolate, scatter on top of the cake

or

if you want the long shavings as I did:

Melt the chocolate over boiling water in a a bowl. When it is melted, spread on a flat surface(ideally marble......jeah I know) or kitchen worktop, or any flat surface by a spatula in thin layer. Leave the chocolate to completely cool down and harden.

Ideally you would transfer your chocolate to the freezer for a few minutes to chill, unless you spread it on your work surface like me. When the chocolate is solid, using a long sharp knife start scraping the chocolate, placing the knife at an angle to the chocolate surface. Place the shavings on top of the cake and chill for a couple of hours.