Snickers cake inspired by Brown eyed baker

This is an indulgent treat for valentine's day:
Three layers of moist rich chocolate cake, filled with caramel cream cheese buttercream and nougat-like filling.
Topped with milk chocolate ganache and drizzled with homemade caramel sauce.

Cake recipe from fondbites brownie cake:

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour – 1 cup
• Baking soda – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
• Butter – 100 gms, chopped
• Dark chocolate – 150 gms, chopped
• Flaxseed meal - 2 tablespoons dissolved in 6 tablespoons water and allowed to set for 5 min whisk this well before using
• Curd - 1/4 cup 
• Light brown sugar – 1/2 cup, tightly packed
• Granulated white sugar – 1/4 cup
• Honey – 3 tablespoons, I used honey
• Vanilla extract – 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degree C. Line up a 7 inch round cake pan with butter and butter paper.

2. Double boil chopped chocolate and butter until both have melted and combined well. Let cool. In another bowl, whisk flaxseed mixture and both the sugars.

3. Add honey, vanilla extract and chocolate sauce into the mixture and whisk until mixed well.

4. Sift flour, baking soda and salt and add it into the batter and fold just until mixed well. Do not over beat. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake in oven for 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Nougat like Filling:

• Sugar – 1 cup
• water – 1/4 cup
• Light corn syrup/honey/liquid glucose – 1 tablespoon, I used liquid glucose
• Fresh cream – 1/3 cup
• Butter – 1 tablespoon
• Peanuts – 1 cup, toasted

1. Add sugar and water in a saucepan and place on stove on high flame. 

2. Add honey.  Wait till it comes to a rolling boil. 

3. Stir it once and wait till the colour changes to amber. Lesser the colour, lighter the flavour. So wait till the colour changes nicely.

6. Switch off stove and stay away from the sauce pan, add the cream and it will start to bubble. 

7. Now add the butter and switch on the stove again. 

8. Let it thicken up a bit for a minute and then add the peanuts and mix well. Switch off stove immediately.

Caramel sauce from brown eyed baker:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups granulated sugar (400g)
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces (120g)
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature (240ml)
1 tablespoon fleur de sel (or any other flaky sea salt)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a heavy saucepan, with a capacity of at least 2 or 3 quarts. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat, whisking it as it begins to melt. You'll see that the sugar will begin to form clumps, but that's okay. Just keep whisking and as it continues to cook, they will melt back down.

Stop whisking once all of the sugar has melted, and swirl the pan occasionally while the sugar cooks.

2. Continue cooking until the sugar has reached a deep amber color. It should look almost a reddish-brown, and have a slight toasted aroma. This is the point where caramel can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds, so keep a close eye. If you are using an instant-read thermometer, cook the sugar until it reaches 350 degrees F.

(The lighting doesn't depict the color perfectly in the photo above, but if you look to the left side, you will see there is some darker caramel underneath - this was the predominant color at this point.)

3. As soon as the caramel reaches 350 degrees, add the butter all at once. Be careful, as the caramel will bubble up when the butter is added. Whisk the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the cream into the caramel. Again, be careful because the mixture will once again bubble up ferociously.

Whisk until all of the cream has been incorporated and you have a smooth sauce. Add the fleur de sel and whisk to incorporate.

5. Set the sauce aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes and then pour into your favorite glass jar and let cool to room temperature. You can refrigerate the sauce for up to 2 weeks. You'll want to warm the sauce up before using.

Caramel Cream Cheese buttercream:

For the Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 113g
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 120g
¼ cup salted caramel sauce
2 cups powdered sugar 220g

 Make the Frosting: Beat together the butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed for 5 minutes (I like to use the whisk attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer, but it's not necessary). Pour in the salted caramel and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to medium-low and slowly add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it has all been incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for an additional two to three minutes, until light and fluffy.

Assemble the Cake: If your cakes baked up uneven or have domed on top, level off the tops. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Cover with half of the nougat filling and then spread a couple spoonfuls of the salted caramel sauce over top to evenly cover the nougat filling. Top with a second cake layer and cover with the remaining nougat filling and top with caramel sauce. Place the final cake layer on top face-down. Frost the cake with the salted caramel frosting, finishing it as smoothly as possible. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour, until the frosting is set.

Make the Chocolate Ganache: While the cake chills, make the chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl; set aside. Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and warm until it just comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Begin whisking the mixture in the center, gradually working your way outward until the ganache is completely smooth. Set aside to cool, whisking occasionally, until it has thickened slightly, yet still a pourable consistency.

Garnish the Cake: Transfer the ganache to a 2-cup measuring cup. Slowly pour the chocolate ganache into the center of the cake, letting it push itself outward and flow over the sides of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes, giving the ganache a chance to set up. To finish garnishing, drizzle some additional salted caramel sauce over the top and side of the cake, and top with chopped peanuts. Keep the cake refrigerated, removing it from the refrigerator about 20 minutes prior to serving.

Decorating the cake: tips from Kitchen Kemistry - Cheryl's blog

To glaze a cake

• Thicken the ganache in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or even overnight. It is essential for the ganache to be cold before whipping.
• Using a hand mixer, whisk until fluffy and of pouring consistency. Add 2 tablespoons of warm cream to make the glaze. You may also add 1 tbsp of golden syrup (not corn syrup)/honey/maple syrup to get the glossy finish when poured on the cake.
• Place the cake on a cooling rack. The cake should be not be warm. When the ganache is warm and slightly thin, pour it over the center of the cake.
• DO NOT spread the glaze manually. Allow the glaze to drip and drizzle over the sides. Let it set. Remove the cake carefully without disturbing the dripped glaze and transfer to a serving plate. The glaze gives a mirror like finish.
• This glaze can be used to cover donuts, cookies, poured into tart shells and canape cases.

Layer one : Cake

Layer 2: Caramel Buttercream + Caramel sauce

Layer 3: Cake

Layer 4: Caramel Buttercream + Caramel topping with peanuts

Layer 5: Cake

Layer 6: Caramel buttercream on top and sides

Ganache roses border on top with red hearts sprinkles and shells on bottom like indulge

I heart you written on cake with ganache and the heart should be filled with stripes with caramel sauce and alternate ganache

Can also drizzle extra caramel sauce on top

Cake should look like snickers cake from BEB:

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/04/11/snickers-cake/

Vanilla cake with fresh cream and apricot preserve filling and a basketweave and rosettes on top

Vanilla cake will be this one:
http://www.divinetaste.com/archives/eggless-vanilla-cake-with-chocolate-buttercream-frosting/

Ingredients:

225 gm (8 oz/ about 1 ½ cup + 2 tbsp) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate
1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk
110 gm/1 stick butter
200 ml (7 fl oz/ 3/4  cup) milk
4 tbsp yogurt
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract

Method:

To make the Cake:
Grease and line the bottom of two 8” round cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment/butter paper. Preheat the oven at 150 degrees centigrade.
In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a spoon and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. In a bowl assemble the butter and the condensed milk and beat (with a hand mixer or a wire whisk) until the mixture is combined, about a couple of minutes. Mix in the yogurt and beat again. Pour in the milk and vanilla and beat until the mixture is well mixed.
Stir in the flour mixture and mix with a spoon, whisk or the legs of the hand mixer before starting to beat again. This will prevent the flour from getting dispersed outside the mixing bowl. Beat until the mixture is uniform and smooth and there are no lumps. This shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes with an electric hand mixer/beater. Be careful not to over beat as this tends to make the batter stiff which might result into a harder textured cake. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for an hour at 150 degree centigrade.

My own vanilla buttercream recipe for frosting:

1 cup butter (225 g)

275 g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Sift the icing sugar thrice and then weight it out

Beat butter until creamy and pale in color

Add the essence

Add the sugar and beat on low until mixed and then beat on high until smooth

Fresh cream frosting:

Ingredients:

600ml fresh cream (milky mist)

3 teaspoons corn flour

6 tablespoons granular sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method:

To about 150 ml of the fresh cream, add the corn flour and the sugar and mix well.

Refrigerate the remaining 450 ml of cream.  Also keep a bowl and beaters in fridge/freezer to be chilled

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and simmer for just a few seconds (until the liquid is thickened). Scrape into a small bowl and cool completely to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla.
Beat the remaining cream just until traces of beater marks begin to show distinctly.

Add the corn flour mixture in a stream and continue to beat until soft peaks are formed.

Best when used immediately.  But you can also store refrigerated for a few hours.

Make the cake, refrigerate it 

Do the buttercream frosting - remove cake from fridge and fill the cake and do a good crumb coating. When filling the cake remember to put sugar syrup on the cake, put a dam of piping, but some buttercream on the cake and then pipe in the jam on top before placing another cake layer.

Refrigerate the cake until crumb coat sets and does not stick to the finger when touched.

Remove the crumb coated cake and do the whipped cream rosettes and basket weave on the cake in a chilled room.

Cake should look like this:

V Day Alfajores

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:
260g all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
225g butter
60g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick. Using a lightly floured 2 inch (5 cm) round cookie cutter, cut out rounds. Place on the baking sheets and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes. (This will firm the cookies so they maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for about 7 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack. Shortbread cookies with keep in an airtight container for about a week.

Make one can of dulce de leche

Alfajores: Take two shortbread cookies and sandwich them together with a heaping teaspoon of Dulce de Leche. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with confectioners sugar. Can be covered and stored for a few days in the refrigerator.

Makes about 24 Alfajores cookies.

Should look like below but i want to pipe hearts with jam or outline with dulce de leche and fill with jam inside.  Should use the most brightly colored jams.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/AlfajoresRecipe.html - one of the rare recipes that i did not have to tweak to make eggless.

BlackForest cake

I wonder why i never thought to try this before - it's a classic after all.
May be cause i never thought it was possible to do this at home.
Hmmmm...

These were the recipes i used:

Chocolate Sponge:
Barbara bakes as used in my chocolate delight cake.

Whipped Cream frosting:
As used in my rosette cake but without stabilized cream.

I drained and chopped the cherries from a can and used the cherry syrup with a 1/4 cup of sugar as directed in JOB's black forest cake recipe
http://www.joyofbaking.com/BlackForestCake.html

I baked the cakes in 2 8 inch pans and they had a good height.  Nice thick layers.
Could even be used to make two layers and make it four layered cake.

Improvements:
1. I was not satisfied with the taste of the chocolate sponge.  It was not chocolatey enough for me or rich enough either.  I used cup measurements this time and i think that made the difference.  For the chocolate delight cake, i made the same sponge and it tasted so good that time.  But I weighed the ingredients then.
2. I used too many cherries and they were a little better.  Next time i should stew the cherries in sugar syrup for some time and use the sugar syrup to soak the cake as well.
3. I did not stabilize the dairy cream - may be that is why it became a little runny as has never happened previous two times that i used it.  I should absolutely stabilize it next time.

The pics of the aspired cake and mine:

The aspired cake is Veena Shakti's from a pic posted on HBG:
I think appearance wise my cake was not bad... although of course i can improve.  The off white colour is because i use diary cream and not the non diary whipped cream.  And the specks of brown on my cake are from the real vanilla powder :-)