And so we begin...

Ok folks, here we go. My first official mini-cake blog post with recipe. I warn you now I have no idea what I am doing and take no credit or fault for successes or failures! But in terms of credit, I'm using a lot of other people's recipes and ideas and as a science-type person I will endeavour to give credit in all cases.

First off, I want to show you my mini-cake baking tool kit. These are all things that are pretty commonly found in a baker's kitchen, so no need to buy new supplies. I've baked all my cakes in an 8" (20cm) round cake tin, using a kidney bean tin as a round cutter. I've measured it and it is about 7cm in diameter, not quite 3" and it is literally the perfect size to get 4 mini-cake layers out or your 8" cake. If your cake is domed (I'll share a tip on how to bake flat cakes in a later post), you'll need to use a breadknife to level the top. And I use a paring knife with a flat blade to spread the frosting. And of course, you'll need beaters, preferably a stand mixer with a paddle and a whisk attachment.

Next we need a recipe. I looked around the kitchen and my eye fell to the fruit bowl. Lemons.

Perfect! I love lemon in baking and lo and behold, I also had poppy seeds. We were in business. I reviewed my favourite blogs and found a lemon poppy seed cake on The Cake Blog by Carrie Sellman https://thecakeblog.com/2018/02/lemon-poppyseed-cake.html. This recipe calls for cream cheese icing, but having no cream cheese in the house (in the middle of a global pandemic when running to the shop for one item is frowned upon) and having always wanted to try a Swiss meringue buttercream, I opted for the latter. Tessa Huff gives a great tutorial on her blog Stylesweet.com on making this particular frosting (https://stylesweet.com/blog/2020/3/14/how-to-make-swiss-meringue-buttercream).

So there we are, first cake made. The result was tasty and pretty, but I think my photography leaves a little to be desired! Hopefully that will improve....

LEMON POPPY SEED MINI-CAKE WITH SWISS BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

makes 2 mini-cakes (and off cuts for sampling!)

THE CAKE

¾ cup (90g) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

½ tablespoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

3 tablespoons milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ cup (55g) unsalted butter at room temperature

½ cup white sugar

1 egg at room temperature

¾ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease one 8" round cake pan and line bottom with baking paper.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together. Whisk in lemon zest and poppy seeds and set aside.

Place milk and squeeze of lemon in a bowl and set aside so it has time to curdle. This also lets the milk warm up a bit if it's straight from the fridge.

Beat butter and sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.

Add egg and mix on low until well blended. Mix in vanilla.

Add dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with milk, starting and finishing with dry ingredients. Mix on low and finally at medium for no more than 30 seconds.

Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 25-27 minutes, but check after 20 minutes, as the volume is a bit less than normal. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool fully. Remove baking paper.

SWISS BUTTERCREAM

2 large egg whites

⅔ cup white sugar

1 cup (227g) butter at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla

In a heat proof bowl, the bowl of your stand mixer or top of a double boiler, whisk together egg whites and white sugar. Place over a pot of quietly simmering water and heat, occasionally stirring until mixture reaches 160F on a candy thermometer and/or sugar has dissolved (I don't have a thermometer and do this by eye, but my results can be variable!)

Remove from heat and beat on high, with whisk attachment if you have it, for 8-10 minutes. Result should be a shiny meringue that holds medium-stiff peaks and has returned to room temperature.

Add butter, one small chunk at a time, allowing each to fully incorporate. Once the butter is all added, mix in the vanilla.

Add food colour at this point if you wish. If using a stand mixer, swap out whisk for paddle and mix at medium-high for 3-5 minutes and then on low for a minute to smooth out the bubbles.

ASSEMBLY

Place cake on a cutting board and create mini-cake layers by cutting 4 circles. Depending on the size of your cutter, you will need to go quite close to the edge to get the four. If your cake hasn't baked flat, use a bread knife to level the tops of the layers. Feed offcuts to impatient family members or enjoy them yourself!

Place one layer, bottom side down, on a plate and cover the top with a thin layer of lemon curd, raspberry jam, some of the buttercream, or whatever other filling you desire. Top with a second layer, bottom-side up. Repeat with other two layers to make a second cake.

Crumb coat with a thin layer of buttercream and place in fridge for 15 minutes. Frost with a thicker layer of buttercream and decorate as desired.

Store in fridge, but serve at room temperature.

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