Receta Party Menu – Chocolate & Strawberry Cakes
A Birthday party is incomplete with a Cake, and mine too had chocolate and Strawberry flavored cakes. Chocolate cake for the son and the strawberry cake for the daughter. Baked 4 cakes a day before the party and did the icing part on the final day of the party.
Ingredients for both the cakes were almost the same except the flavors and the chocolate. Normally I bake the cakes as soon as I mix the batter, but this time I tried the method of my friend Saranya. In spite of being a busy celeb down South, she loves to bake her cakes all by herself. During my last visit to her house I saw her mixing all the ingredients and baking in batches!
And to my surprise all the 4 cakes that she baked for New year eve did come out well. I tried the same method of hers and did the batch baking. The cakes came out well to my surprise
Ingredients;
- (for one Chocolate cake)
- 3 cups of All purpose flour
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1 1/2 cup of buttermilk
- 3 tbsp of Cocoa powder
- 1 cup butter or 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon power
- 1 tsp. Vanilla essence
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp. Baking soda
- A pinch of salt
Method: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon powder, baking powder and baking soda twice with a large sieve on a news paper or large plate.
Take a large vessel and add sugar and butter in it. Beat it till the mix look light and fluffy. Add buttermilk and mix it lightly.
Grease a round baking tin with oil and preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C.
Pour the liquid batter into the dry flour mix and mix it very gently. The batter should be semi liquid consistency and must make folds like a curtain when poured.
Pour the batter in the preheated baking tin and bake at 190°C for 25-30 minutes or till done. Check the cake by inserting a knife in it, if it comes out clean the cake is done.
Take out the baking tin and keep it on a wire rack for 20 minutes or more. Let it cool completely before taking it out.
I baked all the 4 cakes a day before and did the frosting and icing on the final day of the party.
Ingredients;
(for one strawberry cake)
3 cups All purpose flour
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of buttermilk
A pinch of salt
1 cup of butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup of fresh strawberry pulp
Strawberry essence
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Baking powder
Method: Follow the same method as above. Mix the strawberry pulp & lemon juice with the wet ingredients and then add it to the dry flour mix. If you wish you can add a few drops of pink color to get a feel of strawberry cake. As the pulp (strawberry will not make impart pink color to the cake).
For Icing
Ingredients;
2 cups of icing sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup of butter
1 tsp Vanilla essence
A few drops of pink color
Method: Mix sugar and butter in a large vessel and beat it till it becomes light and frothy. Add milk and vanilla essence to it.
Take out a little of white icing and mix cocoa in the rest of the ingredients. Again take out a little bit of white icing and add a few drops of pink color to it.
Spread the chocolate icing over the cake with a flat spatula evenly. Decorate the cake as you wish.
I did not plan properly for the frosting part on the final day and used chocolate frosting for both the cakes.
But the strawberry cake with chocolate frosting was the hot cake on that day and got over in no time.
Notes;
For 2 chocolate cakes double the quantity and bake the cake.
Bake the cakes a day before and store in a cool place. Or better wrap them in an aluminum foil and store.
Do the frosting the final day and refrigerate the cake for a few minutes for the icing to get set.
You can make the frosting also the previous day and refrigerate it.
Did not get time to take pictures of the cake slices, kept 2 slices of each cakes and did the same the next day. The chocolate icing became a bit dry in the picture for the same reason.
Check out the other recipes for the party here;
Party Planner for the Big Day