DAD Cake

I'm a day late for Father's Day, which is what happens when you work in the industry, but today I made a Father's Day cake. I used yesterday's lemon cake recipe and cut one round in half to form two 'D's' and the other I cut into an 'A' shape. Then I placed them on a baking sheet. Rather than frosting around them all in in between all the little crevices, I opted for a 'polka-dot/star' pattern. I used my signature cream cheese frosting (goes really well on a lemon cake). I kept some white, added a little cocoa powder to some to make it chocolate, and tinted the rest in a few different shades of blue, my father's favorite color. Then I used star tips to pipe randomly onto the cake. I thought it was a fun, simple, and pretty way of frosting it!

Best Cream Cheese Frosting

I've just recently nailed a recipe for the best cream cheese frosting; and the best part is it is probably the easiest recipe too. It makes a cream cheese frosting that is not too heavy, not too sweet, the perfect consistency for frosting and filling a cake, and a great texture for coloring and piping. It requires just two ingredients and no measuring!

Best Cream Cheese Frosting
2 blocks cream cheese (500g) the blocks I used were each 250 grams, so this recipe requires a total of 500 g cream cheese, but I'm sure one pound would work the same. Be sure to use the 'brick' cream cheese and not the soft ones sold in tubs for spreading on bagels I actually used 'light' cream cheese (reduced fat) for this recipe with no issues
1 bag icing/confectioners' sugar (1 kg) I sifted my sugar directly into the bowl as I usually do with frosting as I like them as smooth as possible, but it may not be necessary depending on the brand of sugar. You can also presift it into a separate bag and then just pour into the bowl from that bag.

Cut the cream cheese into cubes and allow to soften to room temperature.
Using a stand or handheld electric mixer (or a lot of muscle) beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy and no lumps remain, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.

Gradually (about one cup at a time) add in the sifted icing sugar and mix until fully incorporated.

Alterations below will change the flavor and consistency of the frosting as desired. Please keep in mind the color may also change. Although cream cheese is not pure white, the frosting turns out quite white in color so adding vanilla extract or carrot juice will certainly modify the color!

To Flavor It Up
add any of the following at the end
Extract (vanilla, almond, lemon)
Zest (lemon, orange, lime)
Spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg)

To Thin It Out
if a thinner glaze is preferred to a thick frosting, simply add a liquid from the list below and mix to the desired consistency.
Juice (lemon, orange, lime)
Juice for color (cherry, carrot, beet)
Coffee
Milk or cream

Frosting can also be tinted any different color!

Carrot Carrot Cake

I've actually made quite a few carrot cakes in my time, but here is a classic one. The carrot cake is just a plain one - no additions of walnuts, raisins, coconut, pineapple, or anything else. It is moist and tasty. The cream cheese icing is the best one I've made yet. And I opted for a classic, four layer, modestly decorated version.

Carrot Carrot Cake
2 cups packed grated carrot
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup oil
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated (white) sugar 
3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon(or your favorite spice, or omit)
1 batch best cream cheese frosting (see tomorrow's post)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round pans.
Mix together the carrot, applesauce, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir in the sugar, then the remaining dry ingredients. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until cake tests clean. Cool in pans ten minutes, then gently unmold onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Slice each cake in half horizontally. 

Place one layer down on a plate or cake board. Spread with an even layer of cream cheese frosting.*
Repeat layers until all are used. Then completely frost the top and sides of the cake.**
For the carrots and decorations, divide the remaining icing in three, keep one portion white, color one portion light green and the remaining portion light orange.

To decorate my carrot cake, I used an icing comb to create lines on the side of the cake.
I added a white shell border around the bottom using an open star tip.
I added alternating white rosettes around the top - big and small.
Then I piped carrots using a plain open round tip, and the greens using a leaf tip.
Just for a little more color and decoration I used a drop flower tip to pipe orange flowers on the side of the cake and a grass tip to add some green grass. 

* With a tall, heavy, rich cake like this I personally do not like to put a lot of icing in between layers. I think there is enough icing on the top and sides of the cake and with the decorations. Therefore I put enough frosting just to keep the layers together. However, some bakers recommend layers of 2:1 cake to filling or even 1:1 with lighter cakes.

**Depending on how good you are at frosting cakes you may need to do a layer of 'dirty icing' before frosting the final layer. 

Cream Cheese Yogurt Glaze

This is the frosting I used for my hummingbird cake. It is more of a glaze, and that's why is perhaps looks a little soft or runny on the cake. It is definitely not meant for piping and decorating. It's got a nice, light cream cheese flavor and a silky smooth texture. It only takes a few minutes to whip up. The cream cheese flavor and smooth texture is enhanced by the addition of a little Greek yogurt - which also makes this glaze a little lighter. Be sure to use Greek yogurt, as regular yogurt is too thin. Vanilla yogurt would probably work for a slightly different flavor. 

Cream Cheese Yogurt Glaze
1/2 block (125 grams or 4 ounces) light (reduced fat) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
2-4 cups icing (confectioners') sugar

Beat the cream cheese and yogurt together until smooth. Gradually mix in the icing sugar sugar until of desired consistency. If it becomes too thick, it can be thinned out with a little more yogurt or some milk. If you want it to be thick, start off with a little less yogurt. My measurement for icing sugar is pretty vague, because I never measure, I just go by consistency. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Yesterday I told you about the Pumpkin Carrot Cake that turned out amazing! However, I was not at all a fan of the cream cheese frosting. I am not sure what went wrong; if something was done wrong, or if the recipe was just plain wrong. Because the recipe yielded enough to thickly fully frost, fill, and decorate two bundt cakes, and I only required a thin coat of frosting for one, I scaled down the large recipe by 1/4 for a reasonable size. Could this have made any difference in the final result? Also, time did not permit to allow the cream cheese and butter to fully come to room temperature beforehand, so the microwave was used as a little cheat. 
The proportions of cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, and vanilla seemed right, and real butter and vanilla were used. But in the end, the icing turned out way too thin. Even after doubling the amount of icing sugar, it was still too thin. This frosting should be thick and spreadable, and not drip from a spoon at all when held up. Yet it was thin and runny, which made for poor presentation on the cake as well. Upon tasting, the addition of extra icing sugar certainly did not make the frosting too sweet, as it tasted too sour with a strong taste of cream cheese. Yes, cream cheese frosting should taste like cream cheese, but it should have a smooth, delicate, and sweet taste,which I did not find.
After looking up other cream cheese frosting recipes, I discovered that this recipe is very typical. Actually, most recipes used the same amount I made, so cutting the recipe down did not cause poor results. Maybe it was the combination of the too-small bowl, the overheated butter and cream cheese, the still warm cake, and the spoon in place of the electric mixer. Usually, I don't try to make things in a rush, I allow plenty of time for proper results. With this cake however, I did not have much time, and I had to have it ready by a certain time, so the results were not as good. Lesson learner: don't rush, slow and steady wins the race, and yields the best results.