Mini Cake

Today, my blog is 2 months old! Wow... In these two months, I have learned so much, cooked & baked my heart out & tried my best to put up not-so-sucky photographs.

There are some truly beautiful food blogs out there, but more importantly, I have realized that there are some AMAZING people behind each of those blogs. In these two months, I was able to witness the community stand and support a few fellow bloggers who were going through a rough patch, and it blew my mind. These people actually care! I have met so many awesome food bloggers, and I'm happy to say I've made a few friends. I am so happy to be part of the world wide community of food bloggers. It is an awesome community to belong to.

And I don't think there is one, single rude foodie out there! Everyone I have 'met' has been really, really nice! It makes so much sense. People who cook and eat such amazing food, cannot but be happy. Even my mood has improved exponentially since I started this blog. And I have been described by many as 'sullen'. :) It excites me to be able to share my love of cooking & baking, and to be able to see the same passion in others.

This is also my 25th post. Feels like a milestone somehow. Is that weird? So, to celebrate this double mini-milestone, I baked my blog a mini-cake.

I actually baked 2 whole cakes, but cut out two circles and frosted it to make it my mini-cake. Perfect for one. It doesn't look perfect I know. I have a long way to go with my frosting skills. But it tasted really, really good! As for the remaining cake, I have stashed it in my fridge, and there it rests and waits to be transformed into an awesome trifle pudding for my trifle-loving husband.

For the cake, I adapted a basic (but very yummy) yellow butter cake recipe from my red-and-white plaid checked Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: 11th Edition. I've been using this book for ages even though I know it is terribly outdated. I love this book because it has a lot of classic recipes.

For the frosting, I used my favorite Swiss Meringue Butter cream frosting, which can be found in one of my earliest posts, but added chocolate.

Yellow Cake
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk (I used yoghurt)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Grease and lightly flour two 9 inch round cake tins.
3. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until fluffy.
5. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating until well combined.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk/yoghurt, making sure you finish with the flour mixture.
8. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test.
9. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn the out of their tins and transfer the cakes to a cooling rack.
10. When completely cool, frost with your favorite frosting.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
6 egg whites
250g / 18 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz semi-sweet/milk chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted

Method
1. Combine the the egg whites and sugar & heat gently over a double boiler until the sugar is completely dissolved. The eggs should stay translucent & should not start to cook & turn whitish! To be safer, you could do this on a double-boiler. You can check if the sugar is dissolved by rubbing the mixture between your fingers. If it smooth, then take it off the heat at once.
2. Pour into a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until the mixture has cooled. Continue to beat until you have soft peaks.
3. At this stage, start adding the butter, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Don't add more than 1-2 tablespoons at a time.
4. Do not panic if the mixture looks awful & curdles. Keep beating it at high speed. You will find that it will suddenly come together to make a creamy, light buttercream frosting.
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat till incorporated.
6. Add the melted chocolate, and sifted cocoa powder and beat for a further 2 minutes until completely incorporated.

It was a small and tasty mini-cake that I very generously shared with my husband, who has supported me so much since I started this blog. I would also like to mention at this time, that I am so grateful to everyone who has visited my blog & left me a kind word of encouragement. It really brightens my day! :) I have learned so much from all of you & I thank you! I really wish I could share this cake with each of you!

For my 2 month milestone, I made a few changes to the blog as well. If you haven't already noticed, I have added 2 new pages - About The Harried Cook, and Recipes. You can see the tabs just below the header. I hope you take some time to check it out. Also, I have a new signature now. You can see it below each post. Do you like it? I do!

Am I making too big a deal for a 25th post? Should I have saved this for something bigger? Like a 100th post? I hope no one laughs.

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