Tag Archives: birthday cake

Black Forest Punk Rock

20 Thursday Sep 2012

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Punk Rock!!!

Black Forest Punk? Why not?
I like to combine what seemingly doesn’t fit together!

Black Forest Cake is a very traditional cake from Germany. A real classic. Something that definitely has to be “veganized”! Yes, many people think that German food and Veganism go as much together as… punk rock and the Black Forest area.
Let me tell you something: They definitelly go together! People didn’t even notice that my cake was vegan. 1 : 0 for vegan cake!

The Germans even have a special word for cream cakes like this: “Torte”. Yes, they love cream cakes. They hardly ever use icing, cream is much more common.

I usually don’t like the combination of fruit and chocolate… with just a few exceptions! This cake is one of them. Oh, it was my Mom’s birthday cake, by the way…

Ring of fire cherries!

Don’t be afraid:
Yes, you do need more then one day to make this cake. But it’s a cake you won’t make every week, so that’s fine! Don’t worry, it’s really easier then you might think!

Black Forest Cake 

Chocolate Cake layers

  • 2 1/2 cups (300g) whole wheat pastry flour (Gemany: Weizenmehl Typ 1050)
  • 6 1/2 tbsp (50g) cocoa powder
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract OR 2 packages vanilla sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml)
  • 1,5 cups (350 ml) water

Short crust

  • 1,5 cups (200g)  whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup (100g) margarine (Earth balance or Alsan…)
  • 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
  • about 3 tbsp water (as needed)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling

  • 1 glas canned cherries (25 fl oz / 750 ml)
  • just over 2 tsp agar agar
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 2-3 packages soyatoo
  • sweetener to taste

Day 1: Prepare the cake layers and the short crust
Mix all the ingredients for the cake layers in a big bowl. Don’t overmix!
Put the batter in an oiled pan (about 24 cm or 9,5 inches) and bake for about 40 minutes (350 F / 180 C)

Short crust: Mix all the ingredients for the short crust. Press the dough into the buttom of an oiled pan (24 cm or 9,5 inches). Bake for about 25 min (350 F / 180 C)

Day 2: Filling and decoration
Whip the soyatoo and add sweetener to taste. Put the cream in the refrigerator.
Boil the cherries (juice and fruit) with the agar  agar and corn starch for about two minutes (don’t use a microwave!). Let the filling cool down for a little while (it should not be firm yet).
Now you need a cake ring or the ring of a springform pan.
Place the cake ring on a big plate or baking tray. Put the short crust into the ring. This is the button layer. The cake ring should stand loosely around the short crust.
Put some cherry juice on top of the crust and let it cool down. Work slowly and wait until the juice get firm. This layer can be really thin (2-3 mm / 0,1 inch).
Now you can add your first layer of cream (about 1 centimeter / 0,4 inch).
Cut the chocolate cake you made the day before into two halves, using a big and sharp knive, so you have two round cake layers. Put the first cake layer on top of the cream layer.
Now you add the cherries. Place them on top of the chocolate cake layer. You can also add some of the juice if you want. Now there’s another cream layer. Fill in the space within the cherries with the cream. Add the second cake layer. Now your almost done! Cote the cake with the rest of the cream. Decorate the cake with chocolate flakes and 12-14 cherries.
Important: The cake tastes much better if you let it sit in the refrigerator for one night!

In the process: Decorating the cake!

Note: The traditional recipe calls for cherry brandy (“Kirschwasser”) – I just left it out cause I don’t like it… Feel free to sprinkle some cherry brandy on the cake layers if you want to.

This was a birthday cake – I definitelly won’t make cakes like this every day… Also, it was the first big cream layer cake I made – it’s easier than I thought it would be! And so yummy!

A (bad cell phone) picture of the different layers. There was not much time to take pictures of our food at the party and I didn’t want to cut the cake before serving…

Very Berry Vanilla Yogurt Cake

30 Thursday Aug 2012

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Finally: The cake from the header. Yes, I know, you had to wait quite a while for this. And some people have asked me about it. Well… here it is!

 

Don’t worry, he got his peace of the cake!
It was my birthday cake this year. I wanted a summery light and refreshing cake. A cake that doesn’t make you feel yucky after one peace.  As it was summer, it was obvious that there had to be a lot of fruit in this cake!

 

So, that was all I knew before I made the cake: A lot of fruit, some yogurt and a vanilla cream. Yes, I can work with that. The result: Very Berry Vanilla Yogurt Cake.
Creativity can be so yummy!

Very Berry Vanilla Yogurt Cake

  • 3oog / 1 1/4 cups / 10,5 ounces soy yogurt (I recommend to weight the yogurt)
  • 200g / about 1 1/4 cups / 7 ounces mixed frozen or fresh berries (I recommend to weight it)
  • dry sweetener to taste
  • 2 tsp agar agar powder or 2 tbsp agar agar flakes
  • 1 vanilla pudding mix (like Dr Oetker organic vanilla pudding. For Germany: Ruf Vanilla pudding)
  • 1 cup soy creamer (Germany: Alpro Cuisine) or canned coconut milk
  • 1 cup soy milk
  • 1,5 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs (or any other vegan cookie. “Zwieback” works, too)
  • 3-4 Tsp melted Earth Balance / Alsan

Mix Graham crackers and Earth Balance in a bowl. Use your fingers to press the mixture evenly into the buttom of your plate.
Now prepare the Vanilla Cream: Prepare the Vanilla pudding according to the instructions, but use half a cup of creamer (or coconut milk) and half a cup of soy milk. Pour the pudding on top of the crust and let it cool down in the refrigerator.
Time to prepare the yogurt layer! Blend the mixed berries. Put the blended berries in a pot and boil them up with the agar agar (don’t forget to stir a lot!). Finally, mix the yogurt and the warm berry mixture in a bowl. Add sweetener to taste (you cold either use stevia, xylit, cane or coconut sugar. Don’t use liquid sweetener cause the yogurt might get thick if you do) Pour the yogurt berry mixture in your pan on top of the vanilla cream. Let the cake cool down in the refrigerator (it takes about 6  hours for the agar agar be completely thick. Don’t remove the cake from the pan before completely cooled down.)
Once the cake is firm and cooled down, you can remove it from the pan and decorate it! Be creative! (Remember: Being creative can be really yummy!)

I think my little friends have discovered something in my kitchen…

And here’s a piece of the cake with both it’s layers.

Just to give you an idea what it looked like!
You can use any kind of yogurt and any kind of milk you want. However, I’d recommend to weight the yogurt and the berries. Weighting the ingredients is more exact and will yield to the best results when using agar agar.

Have you ever made a vegan yogurt cake? (Or: Have you ever made a yogurt cake in the first place?) You should! It’s fun and it’s delicious!

 

Pink Princess Cupcakes

19 Thursday Jul 2012

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A forest of frosting. That’s what my friend called these pictures.

A forest of PINK frosting!

So you can easily guess what was the girls and what the boys ate at the party…

Not a single guy dared to eat a pink cupcakes… well, they missed out on something great. If you ever want to keep your cupcakes from your boyfriend or other male people, you know what to do: treat them to a pink frosting!

Princess of Forest Frosting Cupcakes

  • 1 3/4 cups (220g) flour
  • 3/4 cup (150g)sugar
  • 1 cup  / 240ml almond milk
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) oil
  • vanilla extract, vanilla sugar or bourbon vanilla powder (I use vanilla powder)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • dash of salt

As simple as it could be: mix everything together with a hand mixer, fill in a muffin pan lined with paper cups and bake at 350 F for about 20 min.

Forest Frosting

  • 1 cup margarine / vegan butter
  • 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • Vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
  • a few drops of red food color OR 1 tbsp strawberry puree

First mix the margarine with your hand mixer or food processor until creamy, that add the other ingredients. Mix until smooth!

In order to apply the frosting, you can simply use a ziplock bag with a hole. It’s as easy as it could be.

Put on your crown and be the Princess of Forest Frosting.

Level up!

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

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Busy days! I’ve been making a birthday cake, pink cupcakes (tomorrow’s post) and my first homemade seitan sausages…! The later ones are not pictured (yet) cause they taste way better than they look…

Oh, talking about looks! I’ve actually never decorated a cake the fancy way. Until now, cake decoration was arranging fruit, cream, nuts or chocolate on a cake. I’ve never used fondant! Actually, living in Germany, I think that’s the “American way of cake decoration”, even though people start using it here more and more, too. Those copycats.

However, you can’t just walk into a store and buy fondant here! You’ll have to be creative and do it yourself. Okay, I was a little lazy. I used almond paste (marzipan) instead. That again is not so readily available in the US. I know you can find in big grocery stores though, sold in tubes or cans.
Almond  paste might be the German fondant. It’s tastes more like almonds, of course and it’s less sweet.

So, that’s what I did. Using natural  food colors and almond paste!

Yes, it is nerdish. It’s supposed to be. Look at the sweet little dragon! And please take into account that almond paste is much harder to form and more sticky than fondant and natural food colors aren’t as bright.  Plus it’s my first cake of that kind… I like it. Fluffy cake layers filled with a chocolate butter cream. I ate way too much cream while making and filling the cake! It’s worth it.

One more. Because I like it.

Level up! Kill the monster, steal the treasure, stab your friends. Something like that. Not those friends who can make cake though.
I guess I’m lucky…

Here’s the recipe!

Fluffy cake layers

  • 300g (2 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
  • 50g (1/3 cup) corn starch
  • 150g (3/4 cup) sugar
  • ca. 450ml (2 cups) almond milk
  • Vanilla extrakt or vanilla sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Mix everything together using a hand mixer or food processor! Line a backing pan (I used a 20 cm / 8 inch ) with baking paper. You can grease the bottom but you should line the side of the pan cause the fat can prevent the cake from rising or pull the cake down again when melting.
Bake for about 25 min at 350F (200C).
Check the oven in between, every oven is different!

Let it cool down completely until you cut it into two halves.

Filling

  • 1 cup / 200g margarine or vegan butter
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
  • confectioners sugar

Mix the butter and the cocoa with your hand mixer. Add confectioners sugar. I didn’t measure the confectioners sugar. Actually, there is no perfect amount. Just add enough to make the cream a little thicker and as sweet as you like!

Let the cream it in the fridge for one night.

Fill your cake and decorate it, using either almond paste, fondant, natural food colors, vegan whip… or just leave it plain!

Guard the cake from hungry monsters (do you remember those old lego dragons?).

This is how my cake looked from the inside. It’s just a cell phone pic, but there was no other opportunity to make a better picture at the party, cause the cake didn’t last for too long! (Oh, and please don’t worry about birthday cakes not being overly healthy. It’s just once a year! And all the fun while making and eating it will totally make up for that!)

Yummy.