Have a break - Have a Kit Kat (Cake)

As you all know, I've begun baking recently. And amid all the crazy work schedules and weekends spent at parents', there's hardly any time except those evenings when I suddenly find myself full of energy, looking up pages and pages of recipes and as usual getting super confused over what to bake!

And then, first time bakers like me need guinea pigs to try what we make. And the perfect opportunity arrived. R's housewarming and S' company's 5th anniversary. I didn't need a better motivation as I found myself plenty of guinea pigs.

This tried and tested (by others) kit-kat cake seemed to be the perfect beginning! I kept it simple - vanilla (and a dash of coffee) cake with a spicy chocolate ganache and an array of kit kats and gems (M&Ms for the NRIs). Simple as it sounded, I was nervous, almost memorized the recipes and kept thinking a million times as how this would eventually look and taste.

I adapted the recipe from here. I didn't change anything, except for the baking time, knowing very well how my oven behaves. I also loosely covered the cake with foil to avoid too much browning and to cook evenly (else the center doesn't bake)

This recipe yielded two 6" round cakes (2" tall) and 12 cup cakes. The cake and 6 cup cakes went off to S' office and 6 cup cakes went to R's house warming.

Vanilla cake

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Method:

Step 0: Pre-heat the oven to 170 C

Step 1: Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Step 2: Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft.

Step 3: Add the sugar and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. I used my whisk and hand-beat this mixture. I would have beat it for around 10 - 15 minutes.

Step 4: Beat the eggs, 1 at a time.

Step 5: Add flour and milk alternately (beginning and ending with flour) in 3 additions and beat slowly. At this stage, I also added some coffee (instant coffee mixed with hot water).

Step 6: Pour in a parchment lined cake pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes.

I baked 2 cakes like this and also did 12 cup cakes with the same batter. 

The 2 cakes were layered with a layer of ganache and some crushed nuts, decorated with kit kats on the sides. 

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

Fresh cream - (I used milky mist) - 200 ml
Chocolate - 350 gm (I used Morde compound)

Method:

Step 1: Finely chop the chocolates and place in a bowl.

Step 2: In a heavy bottomed pan, add the cream and let it boil. Ensure the gas is on low flame. It took quite a while for me as the pan was real heavy and the cream was heating through slowly. This is fine, so long as the cream doesn't split. The cream has to boil and bubble for a minute or so.

Step 3: Pour this cream over the chocolate and leave it for a min.The heat from the cream will melt the chocolate.

Step 4: Slowly mix the cream and chocolate using a spatula until the chocolate is completely melted and mixed with the cream.

Step 5: At this stage, you can add some flavoring if you want. (I added some chilli powder :D )

Step 6: Cover with cling and set aside. I was going to cover the cake only the next morning; I let it sit at room temperature.

You can put it in the fridge if you are going to use it later. This will keep well for a few weeks.  You can whisk it well before decorating or just use a spatula and spread it. Either way this is delicious - it's chocolate after all! I just slathered the ganache on the cake and cup cakes. I am still learning the techniques.

And these cakes and cup cakes traveled with me to Bangalore and behaved quite well during the course of the journey and later.