Happy 3rd Birthday to my blog! I am so excited that the little journey I began 3 years ago has brought me to this place in life. Though this year has been a little slow with respect to the number of recipes posted, it has been a wonderful year. The highlight of it is the Indian Food Bloggers Meet. I was able to meet some food bloggers who I have come to regard as some of my closest friends (and a little sad to have missed some of them).
When it comes to a birthday, there has to be a cake. I wish I could tell you that I am a big Star Wars fan and this cake is a dedication to that love. But no, the star wars fan is a my 5 year old son. And this cake was baked way back in July for his birthday. I traveled to India a couple of days after his birthday and never got to post it for you.
If you have followed me through these 3 years, you would know how scared I was of baking. Let alone bake a bread or a cake, I would not even switch the oven on to roast some vegetables. Though I am far from being a Star baker, I have atleast overcome my fear for baking. Its all thanks to my family and friends. I still remember all the friends who wrote to me with tips and encouragements when I had baking disasters. So this cake is a dedication to my 3 years of blogging and all things I learned.
The ideas have been borrowed from different sites that I browsed though.
I made a 9*13 rectangular cake and 9" circular cake. Made the batter together and divided into to pans in 2 : 1 ratio. I have used 6 eggs here. Usually for a 9*13 sponge I use 4 eggs and for 9" cake I use 2 eggs.
Ingredients
For Cake Batter
Softened Butter at room temperature 338 gms
Sugar 338 gms
Self Rising Flour 413 gms
Baking Powder 3 tsp
Eggs 6
Milk 6 tbsp
Vanilla Extract 2 tsp
For the Frosting (gives you a very thin layer of frosting)
Softened Butter at room temperature 375 gms
Icing Sugar 750 gms
Method of Preparation
When it comes to a birthday, there has to be a cake. I wish I could tell you that I am a big Star Wars fan and this cake is a dedication to that love. But no, the star wars fan is a my 5 year old son. And this cake was baked way back in July for his birthday. I traveled to India a couple of days after his birthday and never got to post it for you.
If you have followed me through these 3 years, you would know how scared I was of baking. Let alone bake a bread or a cake, I would not even switch the oven on to roast some vegetables. Though I am far from being a Star baker, I have atleast overcome my fear for baking. Its all thanks to my family and friends. I still remember all the friends who wrote to me with tips and encouragements when I had baking disasters. So this cake is a dedication to my 3 years of blogging and all things I learned.
The ideas have been borrowed from different sites that I browsed though.
I made a 9*13 rectangular cake and 9" circular cake. Made the batter together and divided into to pans in 2 : 1 ratio. I have used 6 eggs here. Usually for a 9*13 sponge I use 4 eggs and for 9" cake I use 2 eggs.
Ingredients
For Cake Batter
Softened Butter at room temperature 338 gms
Sugar 338 gms
Self Rising Flour 413 gms
Baking Powder 3 tsp
Eggs 6
Milk 6 tbsp
Vanilla Extract 2 tsp
For the Frosting (gives you a very thin layer of frosting)
Softened Butter at room temperature 375 gms
Icing Sugar 750 gms
Vanilla Extract 2 tsp
Black and Blue Food Colour
Black and Blue Food Colour
Method of Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F).
2. Prepare the cake tins by greasing the bottom with some butter, line the bottom with a parchment paper and dust with some flour. Keep aside.
3. Beat together the eggs, flour, sugar, butter and baking powder until smooth in a large mixing bowl.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins. I divided into to pans in 2 : 1 ratio.
5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 35-40 min (I baked for 37 min) for the rectangular cake and about 25 min for the round cake, or until golden brown, shrinking away from the sides of the tin and springy to the touch.
6. Leave to cool a little and loosen the sides of the cake, then lift the cake out of the tin. Cool on a wire rack.
7. Once cooled, store it in the fridge overnight. This will prevent the cake from crumbling when you try to cut it.
8. To make the butter cream frosting, add the butter to a stand mixer. Give it a mix till it is softened.
9. Add the sugar a little at a time and mix till it is combined and is nice and creamy. Finally beat in the vanilla extract as well.
Assembly
1. Take the 9 * 13 cake and cut 2 " strips from the longer side. So you will be left with a square of 9 * 9 and 2 strips of 2 * 9. The square portion will be the body of R2D2 and the strips will be his hands.
2. Cut the circle cake into 2. One portion will be the head.
3. Take the other portion of the circle. Divide it into 4 equal portions. (Quarter of a circle and then half of that). So you will have 4 pieces.
4. Cut off the pointy ends of all the four pieces. Also cut a sides of one piece. You will end up with pieces as shown below. They will be used for his legs.
5. Assemble the pieces as shown below.
6. Apply a thin coat of the frosting to get the crumb coat. If possible refrigerate the cake again or just let it sit at room temperature for an hour for the coat to set.
7. Separate about 1/4 of the cream and add very little black colour to it to get a grey shade. Use it on the head.
8. Use the rest of the frosting on the body.
9. Use a paint brush and paint the blue bits on with blue food colour. You can also use from rolled icing or marzipan to do the blue bits.
7. Once cooled, store it in the fridge overnight. This will prevent the cake from crumbling when you try to cut it.
8. To make the butter cream frosting, add the butter to a stand mixer. Give it a mix till it is softened.
9. Add the sugar a little at a time and mix till it is combined and is nice and creamy. Finally beat in the vanilla extract as well.
Assembly
1. Take the 9 * 13 cake and cut 2 " strips from the longer side. So you will be left with a square of 9 * 9 and 2 strips of 2 * 9. The square portion will be the body of R2D2 and the strips will be his hands.
2. Cut the circle cake into 2. One portion will be the head.
3. Take the other portion of the circle. Divide it into 4 equal portions. (Quarter of a circle and then half of that). So you will have 4 pieces.
5. Assemble the pieces as shown below.
6. Apply a thin coat of the frosting to get the crumb coat. If possible refrigerate the cake again or just let it sit at room temperature for an hour for the coat to set.
7. Separate about 1/4 of the cream and add very little black colour to it to get a grey shade. Use it on the head.
8. Use the rest of the frosting on the body.
9. Use a paint brush and paint the blue bits on with blue food colour. You can also use from rolled icing or marzipan to do the blue bits.
Please note that the cake had a very very thin frosting. If you need more, please make more buttercream.
wow roshni well done awesome work :) n thanks for sharing step by step pix :)
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