13th July 2012, my late father's 57th birthday.
This year, his birthday was a little different from the previous years. My family and I decided to host a small gathering in his memory. Everyone contributed and did their part in bringing this party together and I must say, we never worked better as a team, as a family. Mom, sis and kakak Pam made all his favourite food (including five-spice duck, purple spinach soup, his favourite Sarawak noodles and cornbeef noodles), while big brother went to buy some food from his favourite restaurants (Sam Yu and Jaya Palace).
I was given the opportunity to make his birthday cake. And it came to me in a dream (literally!), blue ombre cake, since blue was his favourite colour.
So this one's for you, papa. Because without you and mom, I wouldn't have had a better life. I love you, and we will meet again one day.
Cake
Ingredients
- 650g self-raising flour (or 630g all-purpose/plain flour + 2 tbsp baking powder)
- 1 tsp salt (you can add a tad bit more for a cake that is less sweet)
- 340g unsalted butter, room temperature (you can cut your butter into smaller cubes for it to soften faster)
- 540g caster sugar
- 9 egg whites, room temperature
- 2 cups milk or buttermilk
- 1 vanilla bean stalk, center split and scraped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- food colouring (any colour you like!)
- food liquid whitener (this is used to whiten your batter as it is originally pale yellow in colour and will affect your end results if it's not used)
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and line 5 cake tins (I used a 20cm cake tin) if you have 5, I don't, so I just did each layer one by one.
2. In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium/high speed for about 3-5 minutes, until it is pale and fluffy.
3. Lower the speed, add egg whites gradually, mixing until fully incorporated.
5. Alternating between flour mixture and milk mixture, add to butter mixture. Mix gently until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
6. Weigh the whole batter and divide it by the number of layers you want to make (I used 500g for each layer as I had 1kg of batter and wanted to make 4 layers).
7. Pour batter into individual bowls. Add liquid whitener into each bowl and mix gently.
8. Pour cake mix into prepared cake tins, even the batter out and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cake is cooked when an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes, transfer to wire rack to cool completely (I placed them in the fridge after cooling so that it is easier to ice).
9. Repeat with other layers.
Buttercream Frosting
Original recipe : http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/
Ingredients
- 340g unsalted butter, softened (1 cup butter = 113.4g butter)
- 9 cups confectioner's sugar (icing sugar), sifted
- 3/4 tsp table salt
- 3 tbsp vanilla extract
- approximately 3/4 cup milk or heavy cream (depending on the consistency you want)
Steps
1. Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.
2. Turn your mixer to lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) and add sifted sugar until sugar has been incorporated with butter.
3. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.
If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.
Steps
1. Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.
2. Turn your mixer to lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) and add sifted sugar until sugar has been incorporated with butter.
3. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.
If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.
Never beat your buttercream for more than 7 minutes in total.
To fill and coat the cake :
I watched Donna Hay demonstrate her method of icing a cake on Masterchef Australia and that helped me alot. Try to find the video or catch it on tv if you can!
Make sure you have a cake that is cold, and icing that is warm (soft) to ice the cake easily.
1. Place the bottom-most layer on a cake board and place it on a cake turner. Ensure that it is on the centre of the cake board.
If your layers are uneven, even them out using a breadknife/chef's knife, or a cake leveler if you have one.
2. Brush away any crumbs on the layers using a pastry brush (you want the cake to be clean so you don't drag any crumbs while you are icing it).
3. Measure out the amount of icing you use for each layer (I used 1 cup of icing for each layer) to get even layers.
4. Place the icing in the middle of the cake and spread it outwards with left and right motions using a spatula (this comes with tons of practice).
5. Repeat with all the other layers.
6. Use remaining frosting to coat the top and sides. I didn't have enough buttercream frosting (hence the visible cake from the outside). :(
7. Top with anything you like. Fruits, edible flowers, gumpaste flowers, etc. Be creative!
Hard at work.
Finished product!
Not too shabby frosting for a first time. :D
Outside. Strawberries already sweating. :(
Inside.
Cleaner-looking version of the inside.
Enjoy!
