blue birthday cake

this - is elder semu. he's on his mission here in perth right now and i would be lying if i said that he wasn't one of mine and doug's (and maddie's of course!) favourite missionaries. as most of you people reading my blog should know by know, we are members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. most commonly known to most people as mormons. if you don't know about us and want to know more then ask me! or click here and we'll organise for someone like him to come and tell you more. promise.

anyway - back to elder semu. today was his birthday and he and some of the other missionaries in our area came to have dinner with us and i made him a cake. an awesome cake. something i hadn't actually tried before - and i was rather proud of myself when it actually worked.

i found the cake here - via pinterest (michelle if you're still reading my blog i know you'll want to try it so the link is for you!!) and decided to give it a go. only i opened the link and discovered that as per usual the entire thing was written for someone living in the good ol' us of a. so i googled - and googled and then googled some more. until finally i had worked out the entire thing and had it in the oven.

so - for you all - here it is!

(with my aussie variations so you can all go and make one!!)

blue velvet cake

via adventurescooking.blogspot.com

1 and 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted

(equal to a cup measure with 2 tablespoons of cornflour, filled to the top with plain flour then the same with a quarter cup only 2 teaspoons corn flour then fill with plain flour)

1 and 1/4 cups ultra-fine sugar

(caster sugar)

11 egg whites, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 oz. blue food colouring

(1 x 50ml bottle of blue "queen" brand colouring)

1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh not frozen

(i only used 1 cup - i bought a 250g punnet and that was 1 cup - i am actually thinking i'll leave them out altogether next time, not because it wasn't good - but because they are hard to find in australia and when you do they are freaking expensive!! - the cake actually had a blueberry syrup as well - which i kicked out altogether - it was becoming far too expensive for me with all these blueberries!)

preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. (190 deg celcius - 170 for a fan-forced oven!) in a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the cocoa powder. in a large bowl, beat together the egg whites, vanilla extract, cream of tartar and salt until they begin to hold soft peaks. (warning! this will froth up and take ages to get soft peaks!!) then beat in the remaining 3/4 cups sugar and the blue food coloring until the mixture begins to hold stiff peaks, about 4 minutes or so. (again - a long time. be patient!)

slowly fold in 1/4 cup of the flour mixture at a time. use a spatula and take care not to stir the mixture, just keep folding until all of the flour mixture is incorporated. pour one cup of blueberries into the batter and fold them in as well. pour the batter into two well-greased 9-inch cake pans and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. (yes - 30 minutes - perfect!)

while the cake is baking, make the cream cheese frosting recipe below. once the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. shake the pan a little bit to loosen the grip of the cake, then place a plate on top of the pan and, wearing oven mitts, flip it over so that the pan is on the top and the plate is on the bottom. gently remove the pan and place the plated cake layer in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. repeat this process with the second cake pan as well.

once the cake layers and the frosting have finished cooling, place the bottom cake layer onto the display surface, (i.e. a cake stand or pretty plate that you will serve it off of), and begin evenly frosting the top of the bottom cake layer. then, center the second cake layer on top of the bottom cake layer so that they line up perfectly. now frost the sides and top of the cake so that the entire cake surface is frosted and no cake surface is visible through the frosting. place 1/4 cup of the frosting in the center-top of the cake in a dollop. (this must be why i had leftover frosting!!) take the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries and arrange them on top of the dollop in the center of the cake. serve at room temperature. (after taking crazy amounts of photos!)

 

cream cheese frosting

10 tb butter, softened

(150g butter)

16 oz cream cheese

(450g cream cheese)

3 cups powdered sugar

(3 cups icing sugar)

4 teaspoon vanilla extract

mix the cream cheese, vanilla and butter together until they are completely combined. add the powdered sugar and mix until blended. refrigerate for 15 minutes to help solidify the texture before icing cake.

final comments? well - it was the first in-depth cake i've ever made and i have to say it went quite well. the blueness was a tad frightening, but fun to cut into and show off - so i am pretty sure i would give it another go - maybe in different colours even once the blueberries are gone? who knows? stay tuned. x