Tiny Cake Escape, Part Deux

If you happened to buy three tiny cake pans for the previous tiny cake featured, here is another use for them! I combined several recipes in this cake, and then divided the recipe in 1/3 so that if you are cooking for a small party, the proportions match. If you are cooking for a large party, just multiply proportions by 3.

Tiny Strawberry and Mascarpone Cheese Cake

For Cake:
6 T butter
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 C + 1 T sifted cake flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt, generous
1/3 C Mascarpone cheese
1 t vanilla
1/3 C sour cream
2 T cream or milk


For Glaze: 
1 pint fresh strawberries
1 C powdered sugar

For Buttercream Frosting: 
 1 stick of butter
1 package (16 0z) powdered sugar


To Make:

Cream butter and sugar. Sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Add egg to butter and sugar, and continue to mix on low. Mix together wet ingredients: Mascarpone cheese, vanilla, sour cream, and milk or cream. Add wet and dry ingredients to mixer, alternating, starting with dry and ending with wet. Allow batter to rest for a few minutes while you butter and flour your three tiny (5") cake pans. If you would like, you may also line them with parchment paper.

Fill pans 1/2 full of batter. Bake at 350 degrees, for about 15 minutes. Remember, these cakes are tiny, so keep an eye on them!

To make the glaze, place sliced strawberries and 2 T water in a pan. Boil for 5 minutes, until liquid is reduced. In a food processor, puree strawberries, and add powdered sugar. Combine until you have a thick glaze.

Make the buttercream frosting by whipping softened butter, powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt together in your mixer. 

After cakes are cooled, place on desired cake stand (remember wax paper!), and layer the cake, glaze, and Buttercream frosting. When all cakes are stacked, spread remaining strawberry glaze over the top. Slice some strawberries for garnish. Your tiny cake is ready to eat!


For part one, click HERE.

Guest Post with a recipe from Bridget Hunt

This delicious recipe is brought to you by Bridget of
"Tales of Me and the Husband: Plus 4 kids and a Gracie"

Bridget looking darling in the kitchen:

HOT AND CRUNCHY CHICKEN CONES

MANGO SLAW
1/2 cup diced mango
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T sugar
1 T water
1 small shallot, minced
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup cilantro
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 T fresh lime juice
salt and pepper
7 cups shredded coleslaw mix (I used prepackaged kind)


CHICKEN CONES
3 cups cornflakes
6 T slivered almonds
6 T sesame seeds
3 or 4 T sugar
1 1/2 T crushed red pepper
1 1/2 T kosher salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
all-purpose flour
6 boneless chicken breast halves, sliced lengthwise 1 inch thick
Vegetable oil for frying
6 10-inch tortillas


1. To Make Mango Slaw: In saucepan combine the mango, vinegar, sugar, water and shallot. Cover and simmer until mango is softened, 10 minutes.

2. Transfer mango mixture to a food processor and puree. Scrape into large bowl. Stir in mayo, cilantro, garlic, and lime juice. Season with salt & pepper, add coleslaw mix, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

3. To Make the Cones: Wipe out food processor. Add cornflakes, almonds, sesame seeds, sugar, red pepper flakes, and salt, and pulse until coarsely chopped. Transfer mixture to a large, shallow bowl.  In second shallow bowl, whisk eggs with milk. Fill a third shallow bowl with flour. Dredge chicken strips in flour, then egg, then roll in cornflake mixture.



4. In large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil (I used olive oil; recipe calls for vegetable oil).  Working in batches, fry chicken over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden brown, 6 minutes; transfer to rack in warmed oven (the frying part was the most time-consuming).  Set fried chicken on tortillas and top with mango slaw.  Roll up and eat right away.



Voila!  The final product. The slaw, in my opinion, really makes it. It has a sweetness to it because of the mango puree but cilantro, oh cilantro, makes it completely delicious. The chicken by itself has a bite to it from the red pepper flakes so if you don't like any spice at all, maybe half the red pepper flakes.

Make it.  You won't regret it.

The Tiny Cake Escape

Chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Ganache Glaze

This is the cake my mom requests when anything comes around: her birthday, Mother's Day, Groundhog's Day... :) I first saw it when I was in graduate school, watching the Food Network when I was supposed to be writing essays, as usual. It really caught my eye.

This year, I decided to get smart. As glorious as this cake is, I did not want to eat it for the next three weeks. Nor did I wish my siblings to accuse me, as they sometimes do, of wrecking their diets.

So I cut the recipe into a third of the original, purchased some tiny cake pans at Sur La Table, and got baking. The result was a Mother's Day gift that was not too little, not too big, but just right.
Here you see the naked little cake, just waiting to be slathered in Ganache. Ganache is a simple mixture of semi-sweet chocolate, corn syrup, and cream.

Wax paper is useful in keeping your pedestal clean. Just insert little strips under the sides of the cake. Don't put the strips too far in, or it will be hard to pull out when you are ready to present.

The temperature of the Ganache is very important. If it is too hot, it will melt the buttercream. But if not warm enough, it will not cascade over the side of the cake and make beautiful ribbons of chocolate that make the cake so unique.

The rosettes are so easy to make. All you need is a pastry bag, and the proper tip. A black and white cake is very elegant, so sometimes I leave off the green leaves and sprinkles. At this time of year, however, I wanted the cake to express Springtime and freshness.

When you pour the Ganache over the cake, it will fall over the sides like this. Sometimes, if it is not quite warm enough, you can give it a little push to get it moving.

I just love the effect of the creamy white next to the rich cocoa. I dipped my knife in water to smooth out the buttercream. When applying the buttercream to the chocolate cake, I actually used my fingers a bit, because they warmed the frosting and helped it spread more easily.


I found this adorable "tiny" cake pedestal at Crate & Barrel for a very reasonable price. The cake is going, going, gone! (Until the next holiday, at least. But it is perfectly fine to have it for no reason whatsoever.)

For Tiny Cake:
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1/3 Cup canola oil
1 egg +1 egg yolk
3/4 Cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 Cup sour cream
1/3 Cup hot water
1/3 Cup cocoa powder

For Buttercream:
1/2 lb butter, soft
3 Cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pinch salt

For Ganache:
1/2 Cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon corn syrup
1/4 Cup whipping cream

Method:
Preheat oven to 350. Oil 3 (5 inch) cake pans and line with parchment paper. In your mixer, combine brown sugar and oil. On low speed, add eggs. Let sugar, oil, and eggs mix while sifting together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.

In a new bowl, combine vanilla and sour cream, mixing well. Set this aside. In another small bowl, pour hot water over cocoa and stir until smooth. To the egg mixture, alternately add the flour and sour cream, starting and ending with the flour. Clean the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and add cocoa mixture. Divide batter evenly between the pans. Bake until lightly set, 20- 25 minutes. Cool cakes and drop onto waxed paper. Remove parchment paper and let cool completely. To make frosting easier, wrap in plastic and freeze for an hour at least.

To make buttercream, add all ingredients to mixer and whip until very smooth. Spread between the three layers of cake, stacking as you go. Reserve a small bit of frosting for decoration. Frost cake completely.

To make the Ganache, combine ingredients in a saucepan on low heat. Stir until the chocolate is just melted. Pour over cake while still warm, pushing over sides with a spoon to create falling effect.

Enjoy!



"Every day is special." ~Rachel Ashwell

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