HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

Welcome to Little celebration world! I am very excited for this post as I am making a butterscotch cake for my parents’ anniversary. Today is their 21^st anniversary and they didn’t prefer chocolate so I thought why not butterscotch? November is always a festive and celebrative month for us which I hope is reflected in the cake!

The cake:

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup oil

½ cup fresh room temperature curd

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Milk as required

Pinch of salt

½ tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp butterscotch essence

Directions:

. First, add oil and sugar to a bowl. Whisk it nicely till it’s well combined and fluffy. Now add the curd and the essence.

. Mix this also nicely

. Sieve the flour, baking powder and soda into the bowl.

. Then, mix it with the wet ingredients with the cut and fold method.

. If it forms a consistency of dough, then add milk slowly to form a flowy batter like this:

. If it is already flowy then no need to add milk as it depends on the curd you are using.

. Then grease a 7 inch cake tin( here I am using heart shaped tin) with oil and then dust it with flour. Pour the batter in this and bake it in a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes till a toothpick comes out clean.

Caramel sauce and homemade praline:

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp water

3 tbsp fresh cream

2 tbsp salted butter

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup peanuts and almonds

Directions:

. For the sauce, add the sugar to a non stick pan in an even manner.

. Pour the water over this and let it be on low flame. Don’t stir anything or else the sugar will overlap each other and they won’t caramelise evenly.

. Then, once it start to melt and change colour stir it gently by just turning the pan around(not stirring it with a spatula).

. Then, when it reaches a light red colour add the butter and cream and stir it continuously. It will bubble up vigorously and maintain a safe distance.

. Let it cool completely and the sauce is good to go. Here I am using store bought praline but for homemade, add the sugar to a non stick pan and let it it caramelise just like we did for the sauce earlier. Then add in the nuts and switch off the flame.

. Then, add it to a silicon mat or parchment paper and spread it over. Let it to cool completely and break it into pieces.

The cream and assembly:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp water

2 cups non dairy whipping cream

A glass of warm water

Directions:

. Here are the equipments that you might need to make the cake. You can do it without them but this make it too easy for you to execute.

. Chill the bowl in which you are whipping in, the whisk attachment, and the pallet knife in the freezer 1 hour prior. Also store the whipping cream in the freezer and transfer it to the fridge 6 hours before you have to make the cake. Make sure that your cake is completely cooled down before you frost it.

. Add sugar and water to a bowl and dissolve it. At this point you can add any flavouring that you might want to add to the sponge cake.

. Then place the bowl on top of an ice bath like this:

. Whip the cream first on low speed to activate the stabiliser and then on high speed. Make sure to whip it till stiff peaks form and the cream doesn’t fall off the spatula.

. Slice the cake into layers. Two if you are a beginner and three if you have experience. Place a cake board on the turntable and apply some cream on it. Keeping a cake slice on it, soak it with some sugar syrup.

. Then, place a bunch of whipped cream on it and spread it evenly to all corners with the knife. Spread some sauce and praline over this and then another layer of cream.

. Then repeat the process for all the layers. After the cream is spread for the top layer, scrape all the excess from the side with a card. It can be any plastic sheet or something not that flexible.

. Apply cream on the sides and spread it evenly with the knife. This is not the final coat it is just the crumb coat.

. You would see some cake crumbs on the side but that’s totally fine. On the top also apply some cream and make sure that the top is vaguely covered. Keep it in the fridge for half an hour for the layers to set.

. Then do the Final coat. For the final coat have a glass of warm water and a tissue paper or cloth next to you. For making sharp edges on the top make sure that you dip the palette knife inside the water and then clean it.

.keep this in the fridge again for 30 minutes for the top and sides to set.

. When I whipped cream I already saved some cream and kept it in the fridge so that it doesn’t melt. Take a piping bag and add any nozzle of your choice. Here I am using the Russian rose nozzle and star nozzle. After doing this add the leftover cream into two different piping bags. If you want you can even add colour into the cream before adding it in the bag

. Pipe the cream on the cake as you wish. This is the part where you get completely creative.

. Here, I am giving borders with star nozzle and making roses with Russian nozzle.

Keep it in the fridge for at least one hour before consuming it and then serve: