Best Yellow Layer Cake

In the kitchen with Anita Gupta

Let me start off by saying that I had huge amounts of fun doing this segment of my guest event with Anita whose brain child is Maliha Creations, a much sought after wedding cake company besides other kinds. Anita's smile is so infectious and it was great and inevitable that we would strike a wonderful rapport almost instantaneously :) 

She moved around her kitchen her wondrous cake to create - The mango curd, the meringue buttercream and the yellow cake came along as we chatted over a cuppa chai while our 2 yr olds played, and she ran out to pick up her child from school etc.. I helped a little here and there - Cakes from the scratch are unchartered territory to me and I was too diffident to offer much help - Mango curd and fondant which were mere terms that I'd read and heard of through her emails and website to me now took on form and shape and it was indeed a most enjoyable, learning experience.  Her kitchen has some of the neatest cake making gadgets and gizmos and she had a cupboard full of colors and cutters that my little one would have loved to delve into, had she known! heck it was like an artist's studio and she gets to have fun while working hard at the thing she like to do best - How wonderful is that? I think know since I am doing just that right now :)
Okay, so the icing on the cake for me, literally, was that Anita packed the cake up for me to take home with me - With 2 cake- ravenous teens and a little one showing every sign of the same, I could not put up anything, except a token resistance! But the good news is we got to share this with fellow towner and super blogger, Priya Ramakrishnan of Elaichii's family as they had invited us over for a l-o-v-e-l-y dinner :) And the unanimous verdict on the cake was - HEAVEN - We had 4 teenagers hovering from the get go, a slightly younger cake enthusiast and two toddlers -Need I say more? let's not even talk about the adults :) The first cut was a bit sad to make but the melting Oh my God after the first bite was worth every cut and slice thereafter :)

She, like all of us do has her favorite websites from where she takes some ideas for her own baking - She decided to make the Best Yellow Layer cake or the Classic Yellow Cake from Smitten Kitchen. Please click on either link to get to the recipe. Anita shared with us her  recipe for the Mango curd and the Italian Meringue buttercream given below. If you are on Facebook and would like to see more pictures of the process, please click here

Mango Curd
3 cups mango puree (available at Indian grocery store…or you can make it with fresh mangos and sugar but the mangos should be in season and sweet)

9 eggs

¾ cup butter

1 cup sugar

Zest and juice of 1 lime (or more if desired)  Can also add cardamom in place of lime for a more exotic touch

In large saucepan,  place butter and mango  and heat on medium high until butter melts and bubbles form on the side.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and lime juice and zest.

Once butter has melted and the mango mixture is warm, slowly add it to the egg mixture, whisking the entire time.  This is to temper the eggs, so they do not turn into scrambled eggs.  Once the entire mango mixture has been incorporated into the eggs, place back into saucepan and return to heat, whisking constantly.  After 10 minutes the mixture will thicken considerably.  It should coat the back of a spoon. 

Place a fine mesh strainer over a clean bowl and pour the curd through the strainer.  This will take a while and will remove any eggs pieces that have cooked.

Italian Meringue Buttercream

10 egg whites in clean mixing bowl

2 ½ cups sugar

2/3 cup water

6 sticks butter

Flavorings (zest, vanilla extract, alcohol, chocolate, etc)

Mix egg whites in stand mixer until they start getting to soft peak stage.

At same time start heating sugar and water in saucepan over high heat.  Clip a candy thermometer on the side of the pan.  Heat until mixture reaches 240 degrees (soft ball stage).

With mixer running on medium low, slowly pour hot sugar syrup into the egg whites, being careful not to get syrup on whisk attachment.  Be VERY careful…the sugar syrup is extremely HOT and difficult to remove if it gets on skin.

After all syrup has been added, slowly increase speed and let the mixture mix on high speed until the bowl is cool to the touch.  Switch to a paddle attachment and slowly incorporate all of the butter in TBS increments.  If mixture looks curdled after all the butter has been added, do not worry.  Just keep mixing on high speed until it looks fluffy and light.  At this time add a pinch of salt and any flavorings.

Sending this to Mharro Rajasthan and US Masala's Book Marked Tuesday Recipes