April is a month of birthdays in my home. Starts with V’s birthday, then Ishaan’s and then mine. I used to religiously bake a cake (or order one) for V’s birthday earlier. But last couple of years, I got so busy (or just lazy) to do anything. I am one of those, who really loves birthday parties. So I thought, I should start it again. V being a huge Apple (the company) fan, I decided to make the cake look like Apple logo.
I have never carved a cake before. So I was a little nervous about this. I did not plan it well, even though I had been thinking and googling for months to decide on the cake. I baked the cake on the previous day and wanted it to be a surprise for him on his birthday. But I ran out of cream and had to ask him to bring some from grocery store. So he came to know about the cake, but he still did not know what exactly were my plans. It was a good surprise for him.
Now, coming to 1-2-3-4 cake. I had seen this cake on TV many times, but never baked it. I wanted to make two layered cake with cream and pineapple in between. Couple of weeks ago, I borrowed the book The perfect cake by Susan G. Purdy from library. This book also had this same cake recipe.
According to the book, This is a 19th century cake with easy to remember, simple to prepare and foolproof recipe. It has 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour and 4 eggs. This was taught to beginning bakers.
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tbl spn baking powder
1/2 tea spn salt
1 cup milk
1 tea spn vanilla extract
Method:
Preheat the oven at 350F for about 10mins.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.
Separate the eggs.
Beat sugar and butter together until soft. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each yolk.
Add a little flour mixture, a little milk and then again flour mixture. Mix slowly. Continue till all the milk and flour is added. Now add vanilla and mix.
In another bowl, with a clean beater, beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks.
Slowly fold in the egg whites into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake for about 40mins or till done.
Cool it completely and then decorate as required.
I used whipping cream and store bought buttercream icing for decorations. I used canned pineapple. Soaked the cake with juice from the can and spread the pieces in between two layers.
Pictorial:
Way to go with the carving – simple and pretty!
Please post some hot new recipes .i am tired of reading your cake recipes 🙂
Hey, ur site absolutely , incredibly informative and you as a person are very very inspirational.
Thank you so much for making our little kitchen oriented world easy and fun 🙂
Happy Birthday to the family 🙂
very creative cake..neatly carved..nice..looking forward for 2 more cake recipes this month then..
Yummy recipe..
How creative, Shilpa! That’s the cutest cake for a tech lover. Happy Birthday to V!
I loved pineapple pastry in Indian bakeries and I really need to try this recipe soon.
Absolutely gorgeous Shilpa Welldone !Many happy returns to all of you.
hey shilpa, first of all, loads of wishes for u n ur family. they r indeed lucky to hav a master chef at home for all their celeberations. the cake really looks foolproof…will give it a try. also can u share some idiotproof recipe for ice cream cone cake.
First time hearing about icecream cone cake!. I will have to try it out. Thanks Kanika
Hai Shilpa,
really simple & easy to make. i wan to try it. can you please tell me 1 cup measure will be in weight
That is so cute! Happy b’day to all of you. What exactly is whipping cream? I have seen it in India but it’s really expensive. Can I just use the Amul Fresh Cream or will that not work?
I think it should work. Just beat it well and see if it forms soft peaks.
What a beautiful cake. What I liked the most was your attention to V’s liking.
Wishing V a belated Happy Birthday Shilpa. the Apple cake is incredibly cute and looks beautiful too. 🙂
Siri
Lovely Cake and nice idea:-)
Belated birthday wishes to “V”!! your cake looks yummy and awesome as always!!
Very delicious looking cake. Carving simple yet so perfect!
Hi men i always refer your website from the year I got married. You know i learnt cooking watching your website itself.
One request is can you send me recipe for dry red chutney/pachdi that too Andhra style.
Thanks in advance
sorry i mean dry red chilli chutney
It looks beautiful and delicious. I am 2 fan of Apple products
Hi Shilpa, Belated Happy B’day to you, V & Ishaan..:)….I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time now..I must say you are very very talented and creative…Keep rocking!!..TC!!
hi.real good work keep it up.i enjoy going thru ur recipes
heeey! am going to try this recipe for my sister’s bday!! I hope it will work!
I love how step-by-step your photos are! 🙂