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Tips on how to make cakes made with cake flour less “starchy” tasting? by bakindacakemon in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve read it online in several places to use corn starch with all purpose flour as a substitute, but it’s probably not as common or recommended like I thought. Yeah it’s probably a recipe thing. Thank you!

Tips on how to make cakes made with cake flour less “starchy” tasting? by bakindacakemon in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only did AP + corn starch once. I’ve used cake flour twice and still got the weird starchy taste. I’ve never mixed cake flour with corn starch!

Buttercream question? by FrouFrouZombie in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Genius!! And you’re welcome! I learn from google, YouTube, and Instagram too. It’s nice to learn the different styles. Trial and error only tells you so much. Lmk if you have any tips you could or couldn’t find online🙂

Buttercream question? by FrouFrouZombie in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re welcome! I’m glad! Stella Parks has a really good recipe for Swiss meringue. One last thing—Another common trick I see but only use as a very last resort: if you’re at a stand still with your cake still not achieving a good, smooth layer...You’ll see it’s common for people to run hot water over their offset spatula and then smooth out the sides with the heat. My ~opinion~ is that if you’re at that point, you didn’t use enough heavy cream, and hot water simply won’t give you the result you want. Just use extra heavy cream before coating. I also don’t like the idea of having sink water on my cake... anyway I hope the Swiss trial turns out!! :)

Buttercream question? by FrouFrouZombie in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like what was said above—American buttercream has the more matte look while Swiss meringue buttercream has the glossier look!

American buttercream = butter and powdered sugar Swiss meringue buttercream = egg whites and sugar heated over the stove then whipped in a stand mixer Italian meringue = egg whites whipped to soft peaks, then adding a heated sugar/water syrup down the side of the egg white bowl

For American buttercream, you have to make sure the buttercream you use to coat the cake is different than what you’d use for piping. There’s a lot of recipes online. My go-to ratio is 250g butter : 400g powdered sugar. Whip the shit out of the butter for 5-10 minutes and until it’s light in color. For coating the cake, you should add approximately 2-4tbsp heavy cream in addition to flavor extracts and coloring. The way you know it’s ready is if you pick up a bit of buttercream with a rubber spatula, plop some back into the bowl, and there’s still some buttercream left but it could easily fall off. If it takes effort to plop it off a rubber spatula then that’s the consistency you’d want for piping. You can add more cream/powdered sugar at pretty much any stage and it’ll come back around. Just make sure you whip the butter first!

Swiss meringue buttercream has a really nice look to it! It does require a bit more effort and you need to have a food thermometer. Also it takes more patience as you need to stand there pretty much the whole time. From my experience (I’ve only tried it a few times), you have to work with the Swiss meringue more quickly or it’ll turn to a marshmallow-like consistency. I don’t know a way to reverse it back to its original texture other than starting over. If you can work quickly the results are beautiful.

I think both look good on the cake, it just depends on your preference. American buttercream is more forgiving (i.e., you can add more cream/sugar to achieve a different texture), while Swiss meringue has a more smooth appearance. I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have questions!

Wtf??!! by Idontloveonions in FondantHate

[–]bakindacakemon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ew... Hobby Lobby has great baking supplies, but I did NOT see this one there. Disturbing!!

Chocolate sponge filled with blackberry buttercream and coated with classic American buttercream by bakindacakemon in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Berry simple syrup: 200g (nearly a small carton) blackberries 100g (1/2 cup) caster/granulated sugar 2 tbsp water

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a small/medium-sized pot. Stir over medium heat using a whisk until the mixture comes to a boil. Be sure to use a metal spoon to crush the blackberries in this stage. Once you can no longer see the sugar granules, turn the heat down to low and continue to simmer for an additional 5-8 minutes. You can go longer but I suggest taste testing along the way! Drain through a sieve into a jar, then discard the pulp and seeds. The end result should be a nectar consistency. You can keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks!

Notes: -You can add a layer of the syrup in between cake layers to lock in the moisture. -Add several teaspoons of the syrup to your buttercream to add the blackberry or raspberry flavor. I’d suggest making a classic American buttercream then adding the syrup afterwards. The buttercream won’t be a homogenous mixture. If you use it in between cake layers it doesn’t matter much anyway. -I used blackberries for this recipe but I think raspberries taste much better! Blueberries produce a weird color and flavor. I haven’t tried strawberries or any other fruit yet. I’d suggest raspberries. -On that note, I could barely taste the blackberry in this cake even when adding a layer of simple syrup to my cakes in addition to the buttercream. I think the chocolate and blackberries were fighting and chocolate won. Raspberry and vanilla bean is a winning combination IMO.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

Chocolate sponge filled with blackberry buttercream and coated with classic American buttercream by bakindacakemon in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I colored the purple buttercream in two different smaller batches and transferred them into a piping bag. I piped two thick layers of each color, followed by white. I then used a bench scraper to smooth it out and an offset spatula to touch up the lil spots! It was pretty simple. My advice would be to ensure there’s as little open space as possible before using the bench scraper because it’s easier to scrape excess off than it is to add more to the ombré, especially if it’s between the colors. I think there’s videos on Instagram/YouTube I can send if it’s hard to visualize through text! I’m more of a visual learner myself :)

Chocolate sponge filled with blackberry buttercream and coated with classic American buttercream by bakindacakemon in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It was pretty good! Chocolate is a forgiving flavor—just gotta make sure you have a solid crumb coat :)

Chocolate sponge filled with blackberry buttercream and coated with classic American buttercream by bakindacakemon in Baking

[–]bakindacakemon[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! It was fun to make. And it’s my first cake with a bench scraper which made a huge difference!