#spring baking
I’M STILL HERE AND BAKING!
HAPPY SPRING! Things get so busy and crazy, I don’t always get the chance to bake just like before. I enjoy making cakes in general, but layer cakes usually require too much work. I’m a believer that practice makes perfect and since I rarely make a layer frosted cake, my kind of frosting is messy and all over the place. I stick to easy and no fuss like naked cake. I’ve seen a lot of naked layer cake from weddings to birthdays, they’re absolutely gorgeous! It’s one of those days where I daydream of making a beautiful cake.
One of the things that I look forward in the spring season are mangoes! We buy boxes of mangoes and eat them every single day. My Mom loves sponge cake and she used to make it all the time when I was younger. I quickly made this cake today for Mother’s Day. This cake is made of my Mom’s favourites; sponge cake, whipped cream and sweet mangoes! I used 3 6′ pan, they came out adorable!
Mango Sponge Cake
For the spongecake
6 eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
for the sweetened whipped cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Fresh mangoes
Directions
For the sponge cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray 3, 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest. Beat for about 10 minutes on medium-high speed, until the mixture becomes pale in colour and has almost tripled in volume.
Slowly add the flour and use a rubber spatula to gently fold it in evenly. Then add the melted butter and also gently fold. Divide the batter evenly among the 3 cake pans and gently tap the pans on the counter to release any large air bubbles.
Bake the cakes for 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the edges start to separate from the pan. Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
for the sweetened whipped cream
Place whipping cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fit with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and beat again for another minute. Transfer whipped cream to a piping bag fit with a large star tip.
Place one layer of cake on your desired cake plate, then pipe a ring of whipped cream along the edge and fill it in with more whipped cream. Arrange a layer of sliced mangoes on top of the whipped cream and repeat with the next cake layer.
I’m back! It feels so good to bake again. I couldn’t be happier and thrilled baking all day! I work 5 days a week and I’m doing a book challenge again, so instead of baking on the weekend like before, I read as much as I can on my days off. It’s crazy to think that it’s March already! My trip to Peru last month feels like a long time ago. I don’t know if I get the chance to bake again next weekend, so here are some delicious chocolate pudding!
How adorable are these? The original concept is from Your Cup of Cake’s Garden Carrot Cupcakes, then I saw a chocolate pudding version over at Erica’s Sweet Tooth. Since I haven’t made chocolate pudding before, I decided to make chocolate pudding from the scratch for the first time. I’m not a big fan of puddings and I was surprised how easy/no bake it is to make!
They’re too pretty to eat!
Book recommendations would be great!
Chocolate PuddingfromSmitten Kitchen
Ingredients
¼ cup cornstarch
½ cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 cups whole milk
6 oz good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For decoration
15 strawberries, rinsed and dried thoroughly
1, 12-oz bag of orange candy melts
Crushed Oreos or Chocolate crumbs
Directions
While the pudding sets, line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Place the candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30 second intervals, mixing well between each interval, until completely smooth. Dip each strawberry in the candy melts as far up to the green part as you can get it. Place the dipped strawberry on the wax paper. Once they’re all dipped, use a spoon to drizzle more orange candy for a striped look. Transfer the strawberries to the fridge for 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to set completely.
When the pudding is ready, sprinkle each cup with a layer of Oreo crumbs. Place a dipped strawberry in each, submerging the strawberry about halfway down. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
totally forgot to post my beltane cookies! put some cinnamon in the batter and the chocolate chips have cinnamon in them too! definitely let me know if you’d be interested in a more detailed post about the recipe/correspondences!
hope everyone had a blessed beltane!
