White Chocolate Cake - Jenn

I volunteer at a charity shop and we found out that there is a rash of birthdays this week (including mine) so we decided to have a party!  I said I'd bring the cake, this is my go-to cake when I have to make one big enough to feed a horde.  Making the batter so easy that I do it by hand which means no washing up the stand mixer equipment, there's no creaming or folding so it's stress free and it's also really quick to mix up.  Since it's a white cake people aren't expecting the level of richness that all that creamy white chocolate provides.  While white chocolate doesn't have much flavour on its own it does impart something to the cake so everyone always asks what is responsible for the flavour, they know there's something special in it but they can't quite pinpoint it on their own, which means as the baker you get to brag about your creation.

It's based on a recipe from one of my favourite dessert TV chefs James Martin.  He's actually a full repertoire chef who has earned Michelin stars and all sorts of other accolades but I'm not very fond of his cooking on TV, I'm just a huge fan of his desserts.  He is a man who loves his desserts, you can tell most chefs on TV don't actually like desserts, but James does, a lot.  You can tell he loves them when you start looking at his cake recipes, this cake recommends serving 10 people at a whopping 770 kcals and 50g fat per slice!  There's no "light and refreshing end to your meal" with James Martin.  I've never managed to slice this cake into less than 18 servings and I've reduced the amount of butter and sugar and it's still a beast of a cake that deceptively cuts into narrow slices that are still huge when you lift them onto plates.  When I start cutting down on things like fat and sugar in a recipe and serving smaller portions than recommended you can rest assured that the original was decadent beyond all manageable capacities.


White Chocolate Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 160^C (140^C for a fan oven)

In a double boiler over simmering water put

170 grams unsalted butter
140 grams white chocolate broken into pieces
250 ml milk (you can use low fat or skim milk - look at the first two ingredients, it's not losing richness)
1 tsp vanilla
leave it until everything melts - no stirring, you'll mess up the chocolate

While you're waiting for the melting, grease and flour two 8 inch (20cm) round layer cake tins and wrap with cake strips (I'll explain later).

In your mixing bowl, measure out

250 grams self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) for extra oomph against all the fat
250 grams sugar
pinch of salt
whisk them up so they're evenly mixed

Once the liquid ingredients are melted take them off the heat and let them cool a little bit, then give it a whisk so that it's all smooth.  Then mix in

2 eggs lightly beaten

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and whisk until smooth.

Then pour half the batter into each pan and pop in the oven.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.  I switch  the pans about 2/3 of the way through the cooking time to bake them more evenly.  Leave to cool before icing.

I frost the cake with cream cheese icing because it's lighter than butter-cream icing and the slight tang of the cream cheese cuts against the richness of the cake, I decorate with fruit for the same reason.

Cake Strips
I used to have problems with this cake rising too much as it bakes and getting some crazy mountain action going on in the middle of the cake (think pyramid on a round base, really yes).  At first I thought I could get away with not adding that extra bit of baking soda but it came out unpleasantly heavy in texture, so the batter needs that extra oomph.  But I  wasn't going to cut 40% of the cake away to get a flat top on the layers, if you spend this much on chocolate for the cake you're serving the whole thing, so I did a bit of research into getting cakes to rise evenly and found this old trick that was probably used before oven temperatures could be regulated more accurately.  If you wrap the pan in a wet strip of old terry towel and secure with a safety pin it'll keep the outside of the pan a little bit cooler at the start of the baking time so the sides don't set too early in the bake.  The first time I tried it I sat in front of the oven watching the cakes the whole time completely terrified that they'd catch fire, they didn't, and they worked a treat, the cakes came out much more level.  You can buy cake strips made from high-tech insulating fibres that you don't have to dampen (they're all fancy with velcro to fit them round your pans) but if you have an old towel that you're going to throw away and some safety pins and a pair of scissors you can experiment for free!

Chocolate Fans

Did you notice that the recipe calls for the funny amount of 140 grams of chocolate?  Since I had to buy it in bars I bought 200 grams, which meant I had 60 grams leftover.  I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate for eating so I thought I'd use it for decorating the cake, I drew up a little schematic of a stylized fan and placed it under a strip of baking paper then used it as a template to pipe out some white chocolate fans - simple to do but retro-chic impressive to look at!  If you're wondering where the long strip of paper came from, when I have to cut off an edge of baking paper to fit in a pan I save it and then either use it for lining the upright edges of baking pans at another time or for little projects like this.

Icing Technique

If you've been on pinterest you'll most likely have seen this technique from Lisa at Sockerrus, check out her blog for instructions, it's in Swedish but it translates easily with google, although her pictures explain it all very clearly.  Her decorating skills are far superior to mine and I love looking at her cakes.