Thursday, July 03, 2008

Tiger cake

Relax, folks, this cake is just a zebra masquerading as a tiger :) I thought the "stripes" looked more tigerish than zebraesque, so I renamed it. What's in a name, after all.

Whoever thought up this technique was (is?) a genius in his or her own way. Such a simple thing to do, with such spectacular results (especially if done perfectly) - no fiddly procedures, no cutting cakes into shapes, or glueing them with icing or marzipan to construct edifices. Just two batters used alternately. Absolute genius, I tell you.

My cousin Hema and I made this cake - or rather, Hema made it under instructions. Normally I shy away from baking cakes that use more than two eggs - maximum 3 - but this time as I was instructing, it seemed better to follow the recipe exactly instead of improvising. (She can learn improvisation by herself!)

As it turned out, we should have gone with our instinct and "loosened" the chocolate batter which had become thicker than the plain one by addition of cocoa powder. Because we didnt do that in the first place, the first few layers of chocolate didnt fall easily off the spoon and didnt quite make it to the centre of the cake pan.



Oh well... live and learn. (The recipe below has the correct revised measurements.)

Despite our initial hiccup, the inside of the cake looked spectacular when cut.



It had risen rather a lot on one side while baking - probably because the batter was not mixed quite right? - and I surreptitiously pushed it down (carefully!) with the heel of my hand when nobody was looking. Not too much and not too hard, though, because I didnt want to ruin it totally!

All in all, this is a nice cake and excellent for impressing your guests and making them think you're a baking genius!



Previous recipes baked with Hema:
Peanut butter cookies, Cashew vanilla cookies, Cranberry orange cookies


Edited to add: Thanks, Divya, for pointing out that I'd said 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder, instead of 1/2 cup! 1/2 tbsp would have done no good at all! Thanks for being so observant! (Recipe has been updated) :)

Recipe for:
Tiger cake




Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
Milk as required

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar until creamy and light in colour.



2. Add milk and oil and continue beating till well blended.

3. Add vanilla. Gradually add flour and then beat until the batter is smooth.

4. Divide mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain.

5. Add cocoa powder to the other and mix well. Add enough milk to thin out the batter to the consistency of the plain portion.



6. Preheat oven to 180C. Scoop a ladle of plain batter into the middle of the baking pan.

7. Then scoop a ladle of the cocoa batter and pour it in the centre on top of the plain batter. Continue this way until the batters are finished. The more you "layer" them, the more stripes you will get in the finished cake.



Do NOT spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture.

8. Bake for 40 minutes or till the cake tests done.

23 comments:

Laavanya said...

That is very pretty and such a neat technique.,, :)

Nupur said...

My parents made this all the time, calling it a "random marbled cake" because of the marbling. But tiger cake is so much more adorable :) The stripes are just too cute.

Divya Kudua said...

tiger cake is yummy!!two recipes bookmarked,this one and cashew vanilla cookies!!!great entry!!

Sagari said...

beautifull cake

ranji said...

this is a beautiful cake!!!i have seen this type cake in many blogs..i need to make one too...urs has come out superb..gr8 job:)

KALVA said...

Wow lovely dear.....

Anonymous said...

I love this cake. I am going to try it for sure. Thanks.

Ramya

Mansi said...

Ok, this is the 3rd post about zebra cake I'm reading this week! I think baking one is now in order:) looks great Shyam:)

Anonymous said...

Hurray! Tigger Cake!

I will bake this one with my son. If it turns out like yours, we will call it "Tigger Cake" and sing "Bouncy bounce".

If it turns out like the original recipe , we will name it "Marty Cake" and sing "We like to move it, Move it".

Nice theme for "Weekend disney Baking".

Thank you Shyam!

Regards,
Priya.

notyet100 said...

looks delicious,.

Unknown said...

Lovely cake to entice kids.My son will love that

Divya Kudua said...

hey shyam,just came back to bookmark the recipe-cocoa powder is 1/2 tbsp or half cup?

Sunshinemom said...

I have a similar recipe and never tried it! Stripe cake seems to be doing the rounds on many blogs of late! Very attractive and the two cut pieces do look like tigers:)

Raaga said...

I made this sometime back with orange and chocolate... :-) I love it when cakes rise the way yours did :-)

Incidentally, I made Tiger Rice recently http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2008/07/puli-saadam-tiger-rice.html

Arundathi said...

nice looking cake! :-)

Shammi said...

Laavanya: Isnt it just! Very clever, whoever invented it! :)

Nupur: Marbled cakes were kinda random - this one is SO about deliberate striping :)

Divya: Thanks, and thanks for coming back and noticing the error! Guess I need somebody to proofread my recipes! :)

Sagari, Ranji, Kalva, Ramya: Thank you! I hope you will try it.

Mansi: Yep, dont rest till the entire foodblog world has tried it :D

Priya: I would have called it Tigger Cake, except it wasnt bouncy trouncy flouncy pouncy... even if it WAS fun fun fun fun fun! :D

Notyet100, pearlsofeast: Thanks! :)

Sunshinemom: Now is the time to let out the baking tiger! :)

Raaga: Oh, I already saw your "puli sadam" (before you left the link) and had a quiet grin at the word play :) Chocolate-orange zebra cake would be even more yummy. I'm going to try that next.

Arundathi: Hey, thanks :)

sra said...

Have been trying to get into the comments since this showed up on my reader, Shyam. It's so different and so attractive. I never knew of this.

TheCooker said...

Simply fantastic!
I'm definitely going to try this...Choc-orange does shound good.

A_and_N said...

What do you mean "make them 'think' you're a baking genius"? Anyone who can pull this off IS a baking genius!

Anonymous said...

Looks yum.. Going to ask Hema to make/bake this for July 9 .. maya

TheCooker said...

I made this cake last week....it turned out spectacular.
Thanks!

Suganya said...

Tiger cake or zebra cake, this one is making rounds. Everyones seem to be mastering the technique. Good thing Hema came :D

Kara said...

Great recipe cant wait to try it this weekend when i make a tiger cake for a friends 60th birhday. Thanks for sharing it xoxox