Monday, February 27, 2012

Zebra Cake with Zebra Fondant Icing...and my Third Blog Anniversary!!!

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My Blog turns 'THREE' this month.
I started this blog to record my recipes online, as a hobby; which later turned to a passion and I never thought that I would reach this far.I must admit that the culinary journey has been quite interesting, exciting and a wonderful one which gave me an opportunity to learn and know more about various cuisines.
I would like to give a visual treat to my blog and all my readers and friends with a sweet post to celebrate the occasion.I made Farida's famous Zebra cake which is quite popular in blogosphere and also tried my hands on fondant for the first time.This is my first fondant experiment which turned quite nice and gave me enough confidence to work with fondant in future.Though I have adapted a simple zebra striped pattern to go with my zebra cake, playing with various colors of fondant and rolling in to various shapes is definitely a fun filled activity which I thoroughly enjoyed.One does not need to attend any cake decorating class to start with fondant,Trust me..!! when I could work with fondant I am sure even you can.I have mentioned few pointers for easy guidelines, in case you are working with fondant for the first time.Though I used a black color it did not turn out black and gave a shade of grey,I think I should added few more drops of black color.I referred Wilton's site for some tips. My S-I-L helped me while decorating it.I would also like to thank my little niece 'K' for letting me use her valuable Minnie mouse for the photographs.
Zebra Cake Recipe:
(makes one 9-inch round cake)
Recipe Source: Farida's AZcookbook

Ingredients:
2cups(300g) All-purpose flour
1cup(250g) granulated Sugar
1cup(250ml) Milk,at room temperature
1cup(250ml) Oil
4large Eggs, at room temperature
2tbsp dark Cocoa powder
1tsp Vanilla essence
1tbsp Baking powder
Method:
  • Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) for 12-15 mins.
  • Grease a 9" round tin with oil and dust it with flour evenly and remove the excess flour or line the pan with parchment paper.
  • Sieve flour with baking powder a couple of times until it is mixed well.
  • In a large mixing bowl,combine eggs(both egg whites and yellows) and sugar. Using an electric whisk or wire whisk beat the mixture until it is creamy and light in color.
  • Add milk,vanilla essence and oil to the egg mixture and continue beating until it is mixed well.
  • Now gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Try not to over beat the batter as this will remove the air pockets formed in the batter.
  • Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain and add cocoa powder into the other portion and beat well until it is well mixed.Make sure you sieve the cocoa powder before otherwise you will end up having the lumps in the cocoa batter.
  • Now comes the most interesting part of assembling the cake to get that beautiful zebra pattern.
  • Scoop 3 heaped tbsp or 1 ladle of plain white batter into the middle of the baking pan.Then scoop 3 tbsp or 1 ladle(same sized) of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter.You need not to wait until the previous batter spreads and also do not try to spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture.The batter will spread by itself and fill the pan.
  • Continue alternating the batters until you finish them.
  • Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until the cake is bake and pass the tooth pick test.If you insert a toothpick in the center of the cake it should come out clean.
  • Remove the tin from oven and let it cool for 5 mins.Run the knife slowly around the edges of the cake and invert the cake on to the cooling rack and turn the cake back and let it cool completely.
You can serve the cake as it is or you can dust it with icing sugar or you can can cover it with your favorite icings like butter cream,fresh cream or with fondant.
For eggless version follow my Eggless marble cake recipe and follow the procedure as of zebra cake.You need to divide the batter into two halves and mix in the cocoa powder in one half and follow the spreading process as of zebra cake.

Notes:
  1. You can serve this as a tea time cake with out fondant or any other icing.
  2. Just dust the cake with icing sugar or cocoa powder or serve as it is.
  3. I felt the cake was bit less sweeter,it all depends on the quality of cocoa powder.If it is dark bitter one feel free to add 2-3 tbsp more sugar to the batter.
Decorating with Fondant:
Tips : Wilton's website

Ingredients:
1 pack of ready made Fondant mix(we need just a portion of it for the recipe)
black edible food color drops to create stripes
3/4 cup butter cream icing(ready made or freshly made)

Method:
  • Take a big orange sized fondant dough and knead the fondant dough until it is smooth and shiny for roughly around 4-5 mins.
  • Take a lemon sized fondant dough and add few drops of black color to it and mix well and knead to a smooth dough.
  • Spread a tbsp batter of butter cream in the center of the serving plate and fix the cake over it.
  • Now slowly cover the cake with a thin coat of butter cream icing all over the cake.
  • Roll the kneaded white fondant dough into a big round of 1/4 inch thickness(remember it should be big enough to cover the cake completely).
  • Slowly lift the rolled fondant and cover the cake and press it slightly so that it will hold on the cake.Using the pizza cutter or knife cut around the edges (where the cake ends near the plate) and remove the extra fondant.
  • Roll the black colored fondant into a thin round of 3-4 mm thickness and cut into random stripes of different length and size and width using the pizza cutter.
  • Stick the cut stripes applying water on one side of the strip on the cake(white fondant) creating the zebra pattern.
  • Cover the bottom portion of the cake with small pebble sized balls made out of fondant.

60 comments:

Kavya said...

Wow! Looks amazing!

suma said...

Congrats on your blog turning 3 Pratibha! Farida's zebra cake is one of my favorite tea-time cake recipes, great idea to do a zebra fondant icing! Did you make your fondant?

Raks said...

Wonderful zebra cake, perfect for the occasion, loved the fondant icing too! Wish ur blog many more anniversaries ...

Anonymous said...

Congrats to u and ur blog baby....wish you both many more anniversaries..zebra cook looks perfect, soft and yummy....whole cake looks so classy

San said...

Heartfelt congratulations prathy! That's an adorable zebra cake to celebrate your milestone. Keep it coming.

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

congrats on the 3yr milestone...
love the cake... and amazing fondant work - doesnt look like 1st time work...

Rekha shoban said...

wow!!beautiful zebra cake...perfect icing..keep rocking dear!

chef and her kitchen said...

@suma...I used ready made fondant for this suma...I wish I could make my own fondant one day

Gayathri NG said...

Congratz dear and u have a collections of delicious recipes and keep on rocking dear...
Perfect treat to celebrate, looks amazing and great job!!

Sangeetha Nambi said...

OMG ! Its tempting me :(

Sumi said...

looks great Prathiba..happy anniversary to your blog

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

congrats on ur blog anniversary and wish many more to come. Cake looks simply fantastic andnice effort pratiba

Anonymous said...

Awesome perfect cake for your 3rd blog aniverssary. I loved the fondant iccing.. Congratulation Dear...

cookbookjaleela said...

Congrats , amazing czebra cake

Faseela said...

wonderfu....wonderful....wonderful....prathiba u have done it so perfectly....
Congrats dear

Myvegfare said...

congrats parthy!, great going girl, beautiful zebra cake, I love the strips, I made this cake too, very long back, for my H's office party, Yes this cake is so famous, your creativity is beautiful with those strips!, beautiful clicks.., love to see more recipes from you

Fictitious Fashion said...

This looks delicious hon!!! One question- I don't want to touch eggs :D .. I don't eat them.. so what can I use instead of cakes?

The cake looks beautiful anyways :) <3

chef and her kitchen said...

@ Fictious Fashion..you can follow my eggless marble cake recipe and follow the process in this zebra cake..here is the link..
http://thechefandherkitchen.blogspot.in/2012/02/eggless-marble-cake.html
..I hope this helps

Ramya said...

Congrats on the anniversary:-) The cake looks adorable! Awesome!

Rashida Shaikh said...

Zebra cake looks so classy.
Wish your blog many more anniversaries.

Hamaree Rasoi said...

The strips have made it look beautiful...I have never worked with fondant. But may be after your encouragement I can try :-)Wonderful post to celebrate 3rd blog anniversary. Good work Prathy

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Padmajha said...

Fabulous cake Prathiba :) and you have celebrated the blog b'day in style.Congrats dear and wishing you many more happy blogging years :)

Kanchan said...

Perfect for the occasion, loved the snaps. Congrats !

Tina said...

What a perfect and neat cake dear..Soooo beautiful..Congrats for ur blog anniversary...

Unknown said...

Congrats and wishing you for many more...professional looking zebra cake with fondant icing

Padhu Sankar said...

Lovely fondant icing! Looks awesome

Suja Manoj said...

Congrats dear,this is so pretty,awesome job..love it

chitraj.hegde said...

wow..First of all congrats on ur 3rd year completion.....and the cake looks perfect....does not look like ur made this fondant for the first.....as it has a royal and professional look...well done...nice zebra cake with fondant...

www.mahaslovelyhome.com said...

Awesome cliks as always.....looks yummy n soft n fluffy dear.........

Maha

www.mahaslovelyhome.blogspot.com

Kaveri Venkatesh said...

The cake looks awesome...The zebra patterns look so beautiful...also liked the grey and white color combination...Congratulations on your blog anniversary...Wishing you many more such milestones to come

Spandana said...

Wonderful Zebra cake, and suck a perfect fondant icing.. love the pattern. wishing you many more happy blogging years!!

Sravs said...

Gorgeous cake !! Very efficiently done !! Looks so pretty and beautiful!! Congrats dear !! Keep Rocking !!

Ongoing Event - CC-Dish For Loved Ones

Laavanya said...

Congratulations on your 3 year blog annivesary! The zebra cake looks just perfect.

Anonymous said...

super delicious cake.....congrats on your blog....keep posting more recipes and celebrate more anniversaries ....in place of coco powder we can use nestle Nesquik chocolate powder....thanks for sharing ....keep rocking....

Sensible Vegetarian said...

Congrats on your 3rd anniversary. Looks fantastic.

Sobha Shyam said...

Congrats on ur blog anniversary :) what a great way to celebrate it..fabulous cake n lovely clicks !!

Join the Just "4" Fun event :)

Suma Gandlur said...

Congrats on the blog anniversary and wish you many more.
That's an amazing presentation.

Square Meals said...

Happy Birthday to your Blog. The cake looks amazing..nicely done :-)

Aparna from Square Meals

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Wish you many many more anniversary and milestone Prathy..what a beautiful cake to celebrate the anniversary ? Awesome. Keep up ur great work:)

Anusha said...

prathiba the cake looks wonderful :)i love the fondant simply perfect

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Congrats Prathiba...Wiah your blog many more anniversaries. Cake looks awesome... love the fondant.

Plateful said...

You are a genius, Prathiba! The cake looks amazing, can't believe this's your first time with fondants wow!

Congrats on your blogiversary! Rock on!!

Deeps @ Naughty Curry said...

congrats on completing 3 years... what a great milestone! the cake looks breathtakingly beautiful...

notyet100 said...

Happy blogversary cake looks so good,,,,wish ya many more milestones,,,

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Congrats...Zebra cake looks super and ur work with fondants is fantastic...

Deepti said...

Awesome cake! love the decoration, icing and the texture looks great.Good work!

Swathi said...

Congrats on your blog anniversary, Zebra cake with zebra fondant icing looks beautiful and delicious.

Ambreen (Simply Sweet n Savory) said...

Congratulations dear on your blog's third anniversary and wishing you many more! Elegant and beautiful cake, that is a masterpiece!

Rachana said...

Congratulations on your blog's 3rd b'day. The zebra cake looks lovely, and the icing is just too good.

Soundspicy said...

wow..Cake looks so tempting and yummy..Congrats on the blog's 3rd anniversary!!

Unknown said...

Congrats and beautiful cake Prathybha.

Ambika said...

OMG Prathy!! That is such a gorgeous cake, loved the fondant pattern on the top!

Shoba Shrinivasan said...

lovely cake tehre prathiba. I was excited to work with fondant as you can see how versatile it is. Amazing!

Shobha

Amina Creations said...

wow... zebra cake looks fantastic... perfect.... wish you plenty more anniversaries....

Archana said...

Wow this is beautiful. a perfect cake.Just like in the bakeries. Love it.
Happy anniversary dear. May you have many more

Anonymous said...

Congrats....Your blog is very attractive and eye catching. I belong to ur same community..and nearby ur place ...I just love ur blog. Ur style of writing is very simple to understand.

chef and her kitchen said...

Hi Anon...Thanks for your lovely words....nice to know that u r from same place n same community.It would have been great if you had mentioned your name.

buy eve account said...

GREAt! That was really amazing.

Sean Ahner said...

Wow the cake looks very delicious! Its very fantastic design. Perfect for my son birthday party.

Sean Ahner said...

Its so amazing , It is kinda cute but I really like it. I hope I could taste this one.

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Prathy

 
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