Perfect Recipe

Christmas Cake Pops

Ingredients:

Cake:
1/2 and 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 and 1/4 tsp salt
3/8 cup vegetable oil
1/2 and 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 and 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 and 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 and 1/4 cups hot water

Buttercream:
4-ounce(110g) cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2-pound (225g) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate coating bark ou candy melts
Sprinkles, for garnish

Directions:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and dust with cocoa powder; tap out any excess; set aside.
Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Transfer bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, beat in oil, buttermilk, vanilla, eggs, and hot water, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish, reserving any remaining batter for another use, such as cupcakes. Bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before inverting to remove. Let cool completely on rack before using.

Buttercream:
Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.
With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as necessary.
Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute.

Cake Pops:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Trim about 1/2 inch from the perimeter of the cake. Working in batches, crumble cake into the bowl of a food processor; process until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a large bowl and add 1 cup of frosting; blend together using the back of a spoon, until well combined, 5 to 10 minutes. Roll mixture into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch balls; transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with parchment-paper-lined aluminum foil. Transfer to refrigerator until chilled, about 2 hours or to a freezer for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt chocolate in heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Remove cake pops from freezer. To make lollipops, insert a lollipop stick into the bottom of each cake pop. Let chocolate set, 15 to 20 minutes.
Dip the cake pops into the chocolate and place right-side up on prepared baking sheet or stick lollipop sticks into a Styrofoam square. Let dry completely.

Santa Hats
Hats: Red Candy Melts and White Candy Melts
Fur: white sugar crystal sprinkles
Balls: white coated expresso beans, gumballs, yogurt covered peanuts will work
Paper Lollipop Sticks

Make the Hats: Make a cone shape instead of a ball. Put in the freezer until firm. Then, holding the top part of the hat, dip the bottoms in white candy melts, insert the lollipop stick and set in a styrofoam block to dry. Once dry, dip the tops in red candy melts so that it meets where the white ends. Gently place the balls to the top of the hat while still wet. Let them dry. Then, use a toothpick to generously dab more white candy melts all around the bottom of the hat. While still wet, sprinkle the sugar crystals on.

Blueberry Pudding

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberry
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
Milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Place the blueberries in the bottom of a 25cmx25cm glass dish and sprinkle with a little sugar (about 2 tbsp I think it’s good).
In a bowl, mix the cup of sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.
In a measuring cup, place the melted butter, eggs, vanilla and add the milk until you complete a cup. Mix it.
Incorporate the dry ingredients with a spoon and pour the batter over the blueberries.
Bake for about 55 minutes, or until surface is lightly browned.Serve warm with ice cream.

Black Forest Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 large eggs
1 cup semi-sweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup buttermilk

Chery Syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp Kirsch/kirschwasser
250g fresh pitted and halved cheries

Toping and Filling:
2 and 1/2 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp Kirsch/kirschwasser

Directions:

To Make the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans.
Into a bowl sift together the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking soda. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the sugar, butter, oil and vanilla for 2. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat. Fold the melted chocolate until just combined. Add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk, beat for 2 a 3 minutos, until just combined. Pour batter into pans, smoothing the tops, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans 5 minutes. Run knife around edge of pans and invert onto racks to cool completely.

To Make the Filling and Topping:
Beat cream, sugar and Kirsch until it holds soft peaks.

To Make the Syrup:
In a saucepan combine the sugar and water, bring to a simmer, stirring, and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and stir in Kirsch. Add the cherries and let it rest for 30 minutes. Strain the syrup to separate the cherries and set aside.

Assembling the Cake:
Invert one layer of cake onto a cardboard round, brush with some of syrup and spread 2/3 of filling over it. Spread some cherries over it, and invert second layer of cake. Brush top with syrup and spread remaining whipped cream over top and sides of cake reserving and garnish (maybe you’ll need to make more topping, just make the recipe again). Sprinkle top of cake with chocolate shavings and let cake stand, covered and chilled, for at least 3 hours and up to 8 hours. Store cake in refrigerator.

Chocolate and Banana Cake

Ingredients:

100g plain chocolate
100g unsalted butter , softened
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs , beaten
175g all-purpose flour
2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa
3 or 4 large bananas , peeled and mashed

Topping:

6 tbsp chocolate powder
12 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp butter
1 and 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

For the cake:

Heat the oven to 160°C. Butter and line the bases of 2 x 450g loaf tins with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or in a small glass bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until smooth and remove from the heat.
Cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg, beating well between each addition. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold in using a large metal spoon. Add the mashed banana and chocolate and mix well.
Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and top each with the streusel. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack, then wrap in baking parchment or foil.

For the topping:
Mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it boils. Pour it over the cake when is still hot.

Marbled Meringue Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
5 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup hot milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
5 drops vanilla essence

Filling:
½ can condensed milk
500 ml milk
½ can heavy cream
3 egg yolk
3 tbsp corn starch
5 drops vanilla essence

Syrup:
¾ cup water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp rum

Topping/Meringue:
2 cups sugar
1 cup hot water
4 egg whites, beaten

Chocolate Topping:
6 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick spray, two 7 inch (18 cm) round pan.

Cake:
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs until smooth and creamy. With a spoon, gently add the flour e the other ingredients. Place the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan to cool completely.

Filling:
In heavy saucepan, dissolve cornstarch in milk, add the condensed milk and the egg yolks. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Turn off the heat and add the heavy cream and vanilla. Let it cool completely.

Syrup:
Boil the sugar and water. Let it cool and add rum.

Topping/Meringue:
Put egg whites in bowl of electric mixer. Beat on high until soft peaks form. In heavy saucepan, caramelize the sugar until liquid form. Add hot water and let it boil until smooth and bubbly. With the electric mixer on, slowly fold the caramelized sugar into egg whites, beating until gets warm and light brown.

Chocolate Topping:
In heavy saucepan, mix all the ingredients and cook until it boils. Spread the melted chocolate over the meringue (after assembling the cake) and use your imagination to create the design you want.

Assembling the cake:
Place one layer on a cake stand or serving plate. Top half the syrup and the filling. Place another cake layer, spread the remaining syrup. Frost the top and sides with the meringue. And on top of meringue spread the melted chocolate.