French Vanilla Sour Cream Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

A few weeks ago I was catching up on all the latest entertainment gossip, as one does and I was reading about the wedding of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds and I found out they had a French Vanilla Sour Cream cake, which sounded amazing! So from then I was recipe possessed and I had to make THE perfect cake! The first time I attempted baking one, it was disgusting, but I tried again and I am happy to say I have found my staple vanilla cake recipe. It is moist and had the perfect density and leaves no crumbs when cut. Give this a try it is super-duper easy and you're bound to have most of the ingredients at home! Now I did make two variations of this cake in the same weekend for two birthdays, one with Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream and one with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. If you do prefer your cake sweeter, sticking with a traditional buttercream is always a winner!

French Vanilla Sour Cream Cake

190 grams butter

270 grams caster sugar

3 eggs

270 grams plain flour (sifted)

2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste/ vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

pinch salt

250 mls sour cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C and grease and line cake tin/s. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy

2. Add eggs gradually whilst electric mixer is still on.

3. Turn mixer to a lower setting and over three additions add a third of the sour cream followed by a third of the flour until all gone.

4. Increase speed to medium and add remaining ingredients and leave to mix for around 4-6 minutes.

5. I divided my mixture into three and baked each cake in a 9inch tin for 20 minutes or until skewer comes back clean or cake springs back.

Now I confess I didn't take photos of the cake making process this time, because I was worried it wouldn't work out again, BUT, I did take photos of the SMB (Swiss Meringue Buttercream) in action since it was much more difficult than the cake. This is maybe a simplified version of the SMB found on Sweetapolita.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

250 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)

120 grams caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste / vanilla extract

2 egg whites

1. Add caster sugar and egg whites to a heatproof bowl over simmering water.

2. Whisk until sugar has dissolved into the egg and the mixture has been warmed to an approximate temperature of 60C or 140F.

3. Transfer mixture to electric mixing bowl and fit with the whisk attachment and beat for around 3-4 minutes. The mixture should be bright white in colour and quite stiff.

4. Ensure the bowl has cooled down enough before proceeding. Divide the butter into 8 small blocks and ensure mixer is on medium speed.

5. Gradually add the butter, one block at a time, ensure each block has been thoroughly mixed through before adding the next.

6. NOTE, mixture will begin to look curdled and that is completely normal by around block number 5 of butter.

7. Once all the butter has been included, add the vanilla (or desired flavouring) and leave to mix for 4-6 minutes. The buttercream will gradually go from curdled and chunky, to glossy and smooth, just keep mixing!

8. Once complete add desired colourings and flavours, for my first cake, I added some fresh rapsberries and for the other, the juice of one lemon and some yellow food colouring.

9. SMB is a great frosting to pipe with and smooth and I used it in between the layers of the cake for a subtle creamy flavour.

(Please note SMB is best served at room temperature and not refrigerated)

Looking curdled

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Chocolate Biscuit Slice/Bar

I have made this easy-peasy sweet on many occasions and it is always a hit! This is the one recipe people always ask me for. It is simply a variation of the humble Hedgehog slice.

Chocolate Biscuit Slice / Bar

750 grams milk chocolate
250 grams butter
1 packet of Marie or Rich Tea Biscuits (Lightly crushed)
2 eggs (well beaten)
1 cup of chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup of chopped raspberry lollies or any favourite lolly/sweet
200 grams white chocolate

Method

1. Line a lamington tray or shallow tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Put biscuits into a bag and lightly crush them, I normally wrap a tea-towel around the bag and give it a few hits with a rolling pin. (The key is to still have some large chunks)
3. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat until combined and take off heat.

4. Add beaten eggs and mix well.
5. Add nuts, sweets/ lollies and broken biscuits to the mixture and combine.
6. Spread mixture in tin and make the top as smooth as possible by using a spatula. Allow to chill for 30 minutes.

7. Spread melted white chocolate over chilled mixture and if you're extra adventurous you can make some fun patterns or add grated chocolate or desicated coconut.
8. Chill overnight, and then cut with a sharp knife and serve.

 Happy Caking! xxx

Chefette's take on Nigella's Chocolate Fudge Cake

I have had soooo many family birthdays' lately which has meant lots of baking. Ever since I have gotten into baking, I have been searching high and low for a really delicious chocolate cake recipe, and I have never found one... until now. This recipe is going to be be staple chocolate cake from now on. I found this Nigella Lawson recipe here and I only changed one ingredient and gave the cake four layers rather than two, and it was DEE-LISH!!! So if you need a special cake to ring in the New Year and celebrate 2013 then I can highly recommend this! Now I did do a bit of research with regards to substituting the various sugars in this recipe, but the molasses in both the muscovado and golden caster sugar are essential in bringing out the chocolatey goodness. I also sprayed this cake with some golden sugar shimmer spray which is now my favourite new cooking gadget!

* Recipe has been taken from nigella.com *

Chocolate Fudge Cake

For the cake

400 gram(s) plain flour

250 gram(s) golden caster sugar

100 gram(s) light muscovado sugar

50 gram(s) cocoa powder

2 teaspoon(s) baking powder

1 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon(s) salt

3 medium egg(s)

142 ml sour cream

1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

175 gram(s) unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

125 ml vegetable oil (Nigella used Corn Oil)

300 ml water (chilled)

For the fudge icing

175 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

250 gram(s) unsalted butter (softened)

275 gram(s) icing sugar (sieved)

1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

2. Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins, I used four to get my layers.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl or measuring jug whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. 

4. Using an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and oil until just blended, then beat in the water. 

5. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins.

6. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

175 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

250 gram(s) unsalted butter (softened)

275 gram(s) icing sugar (sieved)

1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

1. To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it - or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.

2. In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy (again, I use the KitchenAid here) and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy.Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.

3. Sandwich the the cakes together with the icing, and then ice the top and sides too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.

Happy caking and baking

xxx