Red Velvet Cake and Trifle

Now this is the most favourite cake in my household now .I used to wonder what all the fuss was about the red velvet , sure it is the prettiest looking cake and has a rather sexy name but didn't still think it was so great that is until I tasted the frosting and Oh My !!! what a frosting that is , I got the recipe from Joy of Baking , it is the yummiest frosting I have ever tasted . I tried a few different recipes of  red velvet cake a couple of times but found it a bit dry to my liking so I tweaked the recipe a bit to make it more moist , I am not bragging here ;p ,but this cake is so moist and light , it just melts in your mouth , even if it is just out of the fridge it is still moist and the frosting is simply the best so here goes..........

INGREDIENTS

100 gms butter softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 cups of all-purpose-flour
1/4 salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 yoghurt
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp liquid red food colour

for the frosting

200 gms cream cheese
250 mascarapone cheese
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup liquid whipping cream

METHOD

Cream the butter and sugars till pale and fluffy
Beat in the vanilla and eggs till mixed well.
Meanwhile sift the dry ingredients together
Mix all the wet ingredients together
Now add the dry ingredients in batches to creamed butter alternating with the wet ingredients.
Grease two 8 " inch sandwich tins and pour the batter in it .
Bake in a preheated 180 c oven for about 25-30 min or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean .
To make the frosting , in a large bowl add the two cheese and beat it till it softens .
Add the icing sugar to it and beat it again till mixed .
Now add the whipping cream slowly and beat it till stiff  .
To assemble the cake , cut each cake half .
Place a layer on the serving plate and add the frosting , add the next layer and repeat .
Frost the cake all over and chill for at least 2 hours .
Now serve and enjoy :D .

Now , I had made this in a small tin , so I had one more layer leftover and a little frosting too , so decided to make a trifle out of it and what do you know , it was really delish , with a layer of the cake , strawberry sauce (strawberries and icing sugar blended together) and fresh strawberries topped with the heavenly frosting . It was really pretty to look at ( I think strawberries make everything look good ) and heavenly to taste .

Strawberries and Cream Cake

Strawberries are my fav fruit and what better way to eat strawberries than having it with whipped cream . This is a simple vanilla cake with a strawberry filling and whipped cream frosting with even more fresh strawberries. It is very fresh, light and not overly sweet ,  just a perfect dessert for the summer so here goes.......................

INGREDIENTS

1 recipe vanilla cake

for the filling 

1 cup strawberries frozen or fresh
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

for the frosting

1 cup liquid whipping cream
100 gms cream cheese
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Fresh strawberries for decoration

METHOD

Grease and line two 8 inch sandwich cake tins .
Bake the cake in a preheated 180 c oven for 15-20 min.
In a saucepan , add the strawberries and heat it till the strawberries start to break , then add the condensed milk and mix it all up till it becomes a paste and turn off the heat .
Cool this mix a bit and add it onto one layer of cake .
Chill it in the fridge for a half hour.
Meanwhile make the frosting , add all the ingredients for the frosting in a large bowl and whip it till stiff .
Now add a little frosting  on top of the strawberry sauce and add the next layer of cake .
Now frost the entire cake with the whipped cream frosting and the fresh strawberries .
Chill the cake for an hour and enjoy .

Strawberry Milk Cupcakes

What a wonderful and hectic weekend I have had . It was cricket world cup fever in my house  and over every other Indian's house and after about 28 years of waiting our wonderful team made us proud and brought the cup back home . It was an incredible moment when the team won it and wowoowowo what a win that was , Kudos to the Indian team for giving us such a fine game .
Coming back to today's post , I had a wonderful time with my school buddies and had made these cupcakes for them and was very glad that they loved it , it is a simple recipe and quick to make too . This recipe is just another adaptation of my vanilla cupcake recipe so here goes.......

INGREDIENTS

100 gms unsalted butter room temp
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup strawberry milk
1/2 cup milk ( fat , low-fat , anything will do )

for the frosting 

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cream cheese
2 tbsp or more icing sugar
pink food coloring

fresh strawberries for garnish

METHOD

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
Add the eggs and the vanilla, beat it well
Sift the dry ingredients together and fold it in the mixture
Now add both the milk and mix it well
Pour into greased and lined muffin moulds and bake in a preheated 180 c oven for about 20 -25 min or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean .
For the frosting , beat the cream , icing sugar , cheese and pink food coloring till stiff .
Pipe swirls onto cooled cupcakes and garnish with fresh strawberries .