Tag Archives: birthday cake

Cream cheese and fig jam cake

Posted on October 19, 2016 | Leave a comment

I am not a routine friendly person, i live daily challenges to dig out new things. I admit i easily get bored so i am in a constant search to enjoy new experiences, to reconnoiter unexplored places and indulge in new flavors.

But sometimes i find myself following a lovely routine, i call it family customs (it makes me feel better) especially when it comes to celebrations. Whatever are the circumstances, i never miss baking birthday cakes. It should be homemade, full of love and thoughts!

This year, for my husband’s birthday cake, fig was on my mind! I know fig and cream cheese will pair nicely together. Why not fig jam?! I remember when i was a kid, i used to love eating the classic cake that mom used to bake after spreading a thin layer of homemade jam. And i still do whenever i am at my parents place, mom does the best homemade jam!

The best recipe for basic white layered cake is here:

1 1/3 cup flour (sifted)
1/2 tsp baking powder
8 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
100g melted butter

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 4 shallow baking dishes of 8″. If you’re not willing to make 4 layers cake, you can simply cut the recipe in half for 2 layers or 3/4 for 3 layers.

Mix flour and baking powder. Set aside. Place eggs and sugar in an electrical mixer and whisk on high speed for 10 minutes or until thick and triple in volume. Gently fold in the flour mixture then the butter. Do not over mix.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until sponges are springy to the touch and come away from the sides of the baking dish. Remove and let it cool completely.

Whisk 500ml heavy cream with 300g cream cheese and 1/2 cup icing sugar until stiff peaks form.

Spread one sponge with jam and second one with cream cheese, and repeat with the other two! Top the fourth one with the cream and decorate it with flowers or simply figs.

I wanted a festive fall look. I love these tones of colors, makes me feel happy and warm. Couldn’t wait until we cut it and taste it. And we did! I got lots of compliments and yumms. I think i will be doing it more often. It became one of my favorite cakes that doesn’t have chocolate but gives you the pleasure of it!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

Pineapple cake and pineapple flower DIY tutorial

Posted on October 12, 2015 | 2 comments

The joy of baking a cake for a special occasion shows that simple things in life are the best, a personal touch makes things memorable. Despite the difficulty of having a time on my own with a newborn, i insisted baking Antoun’s birthday cake myself. This is how we are used to celebrate and i won’t change this routine.

A pineapple cake sounds perfect, we all love pineapple at home. To prepare the batter we need:

3 cups flour sifted
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted and softened butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare 9″ baking dish (greased and floured).

In an electric mixer, whip butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time adding the vanilla with the last egg yolk.

Add the flour and baking powder in small amounts, alternating with the milk and pineapple juice, mixing on low speed until the batter is well combined, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Let it cool for at least one hour. Meantime lets prepare the frosting.

3 cups heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cream cheese (left at room temperature)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In the bowl of the electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 of the powdered sugar and whip until stiff peaks form or your cream will be runny when decorating. Scrape into a separate bowl to whip the cream cheese with the remaining 2/3 cup powdered sugar and vanilla. Fold the mixture in the whipping cream.

Now the cake is ready to be decorated. You will need 300g of pineapple chunks (caned) for the stuffing. Divide the cake in two layers, drizzle from the juice of the pineapple can on both layers for a moist texture before putting the cream and pineapple chunks. Cover the whole cake with the remaining cream.

To make it look festive and up to the occasion i decorated the top with fresh pineapple, looking like flowers. It’s very easy to make them, follow the fool proof scheme step by step :

Slice off the top and bottom of the pineapple and peel it. Pop out the seeds on the sides. Slice the pineapple very thinly so that the slices are almost translucent. Lay them on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper. Bake at 150°C to dry them out slowly. Timing will vary, i worked with a baby pineapple so i didn’t need more than 10 minutes before i transfer them to a muffin tin so that the edges curve upward in the shape of a flower. I let them sit to cool this way to retain the flower shape.

Add some of the pineapple stems to give it a realistic look. Enjoy the heavenly taste of this mouthwatering cake.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

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Posted in dessert

Tagged birthday cake, cream cheese frosting, dessert, food blogger, jaymmy, lebanon, marmite et ponpon, pineapple, pineapple cake, pineapple flower tutorial, qatar, recipes

Decadent chocolate cake

Posted on March 4, 2015 | 5 comments

If you think i am exaggerating when i say this is the best basic recipe for a chocolate cake, try it and prove me wrong! I am sure you will be checking this recipe over and over and over….

If you remember my spectacular chocolate cake with red fruits i did a year go, you will find that this is the same recipe of the chocolate cake, but this one with nutella butter frosting.

Trust me with or without frosting, ganache or fruits, it’s a staple chocolate cake for all the occasions and times.

To bake the cake you need:

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup, unsweetened cocoa powder
11/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tbsps instant coffee powder
1 cup hot water
2 large eggs

Preheat oven on 180ºC. In a large bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and mix well with the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the center and add the milk, oil, vanilla essence and eggs then mix. Finally add the hot coffee melted in the cup of hot water.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Start checking from 35 mins onwards.

I should mention that my little baker helped me to prepare this cake!

For the frosting you need:

200g nutella
200g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp granulated sugar

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, then vanilla and pinch of salt and mix until combined.

Add nutella and beat until fluffy. When ready to use stir in the granulated sugar without over mixing, it will give you a light crunchiness effect later when savoring the cake.

I used 1M Wilton tip to create the swirls, and decorated it with some cherries. You can replace the cherry with strawberry or chocolate sprinkles if you want.

I put it couple of hours in the fridge before serving. But guess what?! the next day was even better!

By the way, this was my birthday cake (last week) but i didn’t find the urge to post it, I was enjoying reading and over reading, everyday and many times for the whole week, the surprise post my husband did.

Again thank you babes for the beautiful unexpected surprise! Love xx