Towering Hazelnut Praline Cake + Cupcakes

These days (everyday) I'm dreaming of Sydney and imagining how wonderful the weather must be now. I'm reminiscing about Taipei and it's endless rainy winter days and their amazing hot pot buffet with free flow ice cream.

It's getting way too hot here. I'm talking hot like spending 5 minutes outdoors and the back of your hands are perspiring, showering 5 times a day, all you want to do is stay home hot.

Staying at home means that I lay in bed reading on my kindle, or sit in front of my computer watching hours and hours of CSI and Supernatural. At some point, I get my lazy ass off my very comfortable bed/ chair, put on my imaginary apron and bake something.

You know how sometimes you spend so much time making all the components of a cake and by the time you are done baking, you don't even feel like doing a proper frosting job? I mean, the cake is going to taste the same even if you just cut it into chunks and slather the frosting on top, right? Right, but we can at least do it in an artful way that is worthy of a picture. That was how this naked cake came about, it looks great (if I do say so myself), and it tastes great, no thanks to the heat.

Graduation Cupcakes

I've finally graduated!! As a baking nerd, I've made the obvious choice of translating that euphoria into cupcakes instead of flooding into parties and clubs to let that 3 years worth of hair down. Hence, I present to you straight from the convocation, the Graduation Cupcakes.  

The graduation caps (motar board) toppers were made from modeling chocolate and fondant. I initially wanted to use chocolate squares and Reese peanut butter cups but I thought using modeling chocolate would allow me to create a more realistic look. The thing is, I had never made modeling chocolate and it turned out rather disastrous. I used a ratio of about 200g of dark chocolate to 60g of light corn syrup but it turned out really watery and took about 3 nights to stiffen up.

Six-Layer Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

I made this cake a couple of times previously, and twice over the weekend - one with strawberry SMBC and today, with chocolate SMBC. I did not get to taste the strawberry version but the chocolate was seriously delicious. I love that the dark chocolate in the frosting came out so rich and it did not taste buttery at all.

This is a super easy one bowl chocolate cake that is nearly impossible to screw up, unless you add too much salt like I once did. If you're not as forgetful as me you'll be fine. There's no risk of over-beating, under-mixing, etc. Swiss Meringue Buttercream used to be a complete mystery to me, but it is really easy to make and holds up great once you learn how to. Sweetapolita has a wonderful guide with step-by-step pitcures, be sure to check it out if you're new to making SMBC!

My SMBC usually whips up pretty well despite this hot and humid weather, but with the addition of the chocolate today, it was unusually soft. In my haste to complete the cake, I must have added the still-warm chocolate into the SMBC. So, please do not make the same mistake as me. If you did, however, do that, don't worry, it's not the end. Simply chuck the entire bowl into the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes, and mix it again using your paddle attachment (or hand mixer) till it comes back to its satiny texture.