Life can be simple: Black and White cake

This whole week has been so trying especially the bad haze situation where psi reading even hit 400 which was so shocking to everyone nationwide as it is the first time and I sure hope, it will be the last time to hit that kind of psi reading. Everything seems to be put on hold as a result of this - no outdoor activities, no exercise outdoors and you don't even hear anyone talking or laughing outside anymore as everyone just want to get indoors. Yes, it is that bad. Some of them call it the 'Silent Hill' syndrome. Funny as it may sound but it sure ain't funny if you are getting it :(

Anyhow, on a lighter note, I have been looking at my recipe books and trying to cook more since it's pretty hard to even try to get out to buy food. Yes, you would notice more recipes lately :) I have been wanting to bake this cake ever since my fellow CSB-ers raved so much about this recipe.

This month the Black and White cake won. Yes if you are wondering if you will see cake that is black and white, you are smart! Haha You will see it soon enough to realise why it is known as the "Black and White".

The ingredients are listed below in metric measurements especially for those who use metric just like me :) As usual, my modifications are stated in blue.

Note: as we encourage peeps to get this book, I'm not stating the method of how to bake here. Once again, the book we are baking from is "Vintage Cakes" from Julie Richardson and you can get it from Amazon, Fishpond and many other online bookstores or physical bookstores around you. Disclaimer: we are not marketeers for Julie and neither do we have any form of monetary gains from this. We just love to bake ;)

Cake Ingredients:

88g cocoa powder

2/3 cup hot coffee

115g sour cream

1 tbsp vanilla extract

187.5g all-purpose flour (I used cake flour - you may use pastry flour for softer cake texture)

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt
150g butter
150g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

See how the hot coffee seeps through the cocoa powder. I like how it looks!

And after you add in the sour cream and vanilla extract, voila!!

Ahem!! It just gets smoother, can you see?

Of course, after this, you will just leave it aside till you cream your butter and sugars. Then alternately with the flour mixture, you will mix this coffee-cocoa mixture and then, you can bake your cake into 2 8-inch cake pans at about 160 degrees (fan-forced oven) for about 35 minutes. Let cool before decorating.

Chocolate ganache:

295g heavy cream

226g bittersweet/dark chocolate, chopped or chips

If you have done chocolate ganache before, you would know how easy this is. In short, you just need to boil heavy cream till it simmers and then, pour it all over the chocolate. After letting the cream seep through the chocolate, it's time to whisk that chocolate into a ganache which will form after sometime.

Basic Buttercream:

6 egg whites

281g caster sugar (I only used 220g caster sugar)

453g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (room temperature)

2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I added additional 2 tsp pure vanilla extract for added vanilla taste)

1/8 fine sea salt

Honestly, this is one of the better buttercream recipes I've tried. A few others I've tried but turn out a tad disastrous. You may want to add this buttercream recipe to your usual favourites ;)

Basically, when you decorate this cake, you need to keep in mind that this is a Black and White cake so the black first then the white. But of course, you can always try the alternative ;) just like how one of the CSB had done. Guess who? :)

Before piling the black (chocolate ganache) and the white (vanilla buttercream), you see this pretty flat surface.

After all of those, you will get this.

Mr G had the chance to taste the cake scraps first. Within minutes, ALL the cake scraps were gone. I was like @@ okieeeeee (in my heart I was like Whoopee!!! Mr G is a chocolate fan and if he clears the cake scraps in minutes, that means this cake is definitely a winner!)

And then when we brought the cake over for our girlfriend's belated birthday, everyone was nodding their head in approval and savouring the cake, slice after slice. So that means the cake is good!! YAY!! Indeed, as the other CSB said, this cake is definitely a KEEPER!! Well, at least for me :)