Dessert time with Shivesh Bhatia

Last month we spent some time understanding the phenomena that is Shivesh Bhatia. And we are still in awe of the Doogie Howser of baking. Every recipe we went through made us drool but we have managed to select a few of our favourites. These will be tested in the DSSC kitchen soon; hope you enjoy them as well!

First up is the Vanilla-Poppy Seed Cake. It has a Raspberry filling and is covered with meringue frosting. We’re sure you can guess why we chose this recipe! The combination of flavours is simply delectable and the topping of blanched almonds, meringue kisses and white chocolate barks adds a wonderful textural layer.

INGREDIENTS

Cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 4 tsps baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsps pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds

Raspberry filling

• 250g frozen raspberries
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

Meringue- Frosting & Kisses

• 4 egg whites
• 2 cups castor sugar
• 1/4 cup cold water

White Chocolate Barks

• 1 cup white cooking chocolate
• Red food colouring
• Wheat flakes
• Frozen raspberry bits

INSTRUCTIONS

Cake

• Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees. Oil the tins using a pastry brush and dust the tins with all purpose flour.
• In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds
• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat oil and sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla
• Alternately, beat in flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour mixture. Carefully fold in the flour mixture. Do not over mix
• Divide the batter between two tins of the same size. Smooth top using a spatula. Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. It should take about 30-32 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely

Filling

• In a small sauce pan, combine all of the ingredients and slowly bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Keep stirring until thickened
• Let cool completely before spreading onto cake

Frosting

• Place egg whites, sugar and cold water in a large heat-proof bowl. Whisk to combine
• Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, creating a double boiler
• Using an electric mixer, beat egg white mixture for 15 minutes or until stiff peaks form
• Remove the bowl from heat. Beat until cooled

Meringue Kisses

• After the frosting has cooled completely, add red food colouring to 1/4th of the frosting
• Put it in a piping bag and pipe your meringues of a baking tray lined with baking sheet
• Bake for 5 minutes in a 100C oven
• Let them rest in the oven for 15 minutes

White Chocolate barks

• Melt chocolate on a double boiler
• While the chocolate is still hot, pour it on a tray lined with parchment paper
• Make red swirls using a toothpick dipped in red food colouring
• Sprinkle with wheat flakes and frozen raspberry bits
• Let it cool in the fridge.

This recipe is by Shivesh Bhatia and the original article can be found here.