Sunday, July 6, 2008

Zebras and Leopards

I've been wanting to try making a Zebra Cake for the longest time. And then I tried it. And then I tried it again. And then again. And again. FOUR times!! Each time, something went wrong - when I fixed that, something else went wrong. And I now know the entire recipe in my head!

Here's my final attempt - and I thought it was pretty good. It's still not perfect - but the reason baffles me.

Zebra Cake
(I followed this recipe exactly)

Here you have the ingredients: Sugar, All-purpose Flour, Milk, Cocoa, Baking Powder, Oil and Eggs.


First beat the sugar and eggs together. Add the milk and oil and continue to blend well. Meanwhile, sift the flour and baking powder. Start adding the flour to the wet ingredients, little by little, until well combined. Do not over beat, and don't let those bubbles form as far as possible. Of course, since I was using a hand whip, the bubbles did form! Divide the dough into halves and add cocoa to one half.


Now comes the important part. In a buttered baking dish (I think you should use a round pan, though I tried both a round and a rectangular and didn't see much difference). First scoop about 3 tbsp or 1 ladle that holds about 3 tbsp of batter in the middle of the pan. Then pour the dark batter in the middle of the original batter. Here you go:

It will look like this when you're done:


Now bake for 40 mts at 180 deg C. And try not to peek, please!


When you cut it, you can see the beautiful stripes! Its really a gorgeous cake. Do you see the holes in mine? That's what happens if you have bubbles! It's still light and moist and delicious, though.



Leopard Cupcakes

Okay, now that we're done with the Zebra, let's move onto the Leopard, shall we? It's just that I had some batter left over from the above process. So I poured two ladlefuls into a muffin tin and baked it (one ladle of the regular batter and one of the cocoa). We got ourselves some spots.


Aren't the felines lovely? :)

My daughter was delighted with her "zoo" dessert! And now that we have stripey zebras and spotted leopards, she requests a giraffe next!

51 comments:

Siri said...

OMG! both the cakes look so lovely Anu.. love the stripes! hats off to ur patience gurl..:)

Hugs,
Siri

James said...

Wow, utterly amazing! My son's birthday is coming up soon. I'll have to try that out. Although, it's in a month. Not sure I can wait that long.

Yet another bookmark in a big collection of recipes I have to try.

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks great! I like the striped you got! Thank you so much for trying out my recipe! I am very happy. Cheers from my kitchen to yours:)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

These 2 cakes are driving me "wild" ......wink...wink....seriousl;y they both sound delicious though complicated.

FH said...

Very clever A, looks delicious,great for kids birthdays too, love them!:))

arundati said...

OMG!! i loved the stripes....that surely is a labour of love!! i cant get myself to eat something so pretty....(or make it either!!)

Cham said...

Ur zebra cake looks pretty with stipes :)

Chef Jeena said...

Fantastic Arundathi! This is beautiful and I love the pictures. The texture looks so moist and delicious yum yum yum I will take a slice for sure please!

Ranjani said...

Fabulous! You go girl:)
Btw the rasam came out really well, too bad I wasn't able to take pics. Your recipe is a total keeper! Thanks for sharing it.

Sujatha said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sujatha said...

Thats one fabulous looking cake! Very artistic and beautiful work, Arundathi!

Neha said...

nice cake , n really nice strips.. love both of them...

delhibelle said...

Awesome! Perfect Zebra cake and the leopard one id so cute!
Good luck with the Giffy:)

Unknown said...

Nice one Arundhati,Now it is my turn to try this cake .I think my son will go crazy too.Thanks for demo.

KonkaniBlogger said...

Cakes look lovely Arundathi..Hats off to your patience for trying it so many times and perfecting it..

Miri said...

What perserverence!! and the end result looks like it was worth all the trouble! Im sure your daughter must have been delighted by her mini zoo!

evolvingtastes said...

The zebra looks wonderful! And the leopards too.

bha said...

its soon going to be a wild life sanctuary.....the cakes look so yum...hats off to your patience

Sunshinemom said...

Farida's zebra cake has taken blogosphere by storm - I have seen at least 5 posts featuring them. I got a correction from her saying she has put on the edited version - hope you got it:) I appreciate that (Trying out so many times) - You are a perfectionist Rocking Girl!

Swati Raman Garg said...

woowwwwwww anu... perfect lookind stripes buddy.. hats off to u /... am sure kavya must have been super delighted

Anonymous said...

Hats off to your patience! I tried it too and it turned out similar to this one .. for what its worth, I would try thinning the choc mixture with a little milk to get it the same consistency as the white.. adding cocoa makes that batter more dense. Regards Angela

Divya Kudua said...

great great great cake arundhati!!!mind blowing-i mean..the batter itslef looks so tempting!!!love the muffins too!!great entry!!three cheers to you!!

sunita said...

That is one beautiful cake :-)

amna said...

That's so cool! u are one patient person :)

sra said...

The zebra's good enough to bring a safari to mind, esp photographed against that green in the last photo!
Liked the leopard attempt too!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

oh this looks so fantastic! perfect!

Lavanya Raj said...

So Lovely..could not weight to catch a bite:)

SMN said...

OMG i hv never prepared this looks yum..

Radhika said...

OMG! Anu, those cakes look absolutely stunning. Makes me want to learn baking. Hope you can give me classes.

Deepthi Shankar said...

you got loads of patience to make this ... looks really good

Beyond Curries said...

The zebra cake has come out perfect Arundati. The stripes are so good.

A very important question, what did you do with the cake the previous 3 times!

ranji said...

heheheh Zebra and leopard both look gr8 anu.....heard abt zebra b4 but leopard is new to me..did u come up with the name :)..gr8 demo photos of zebra...i also want to try it out...hoping to do it soon :)

Jamie said...

they both look terrific. I bet that took forever to do the zebra cake. Very well done!!

Arundathi said...

Thank you, Siri!
James - Do try it and thanks for stopping by!
Farida - you are a genius, my dear! Thanks for the recipe.
Valli - not complicated, really! Do try it!
Asha - Thanks!

Arundati - :) You'll be surprised at how quickly that cake gets consumed!

Cham - Thanks!

Jeena - Sure, I wish I could send some over!

Ranjani - Thanks! Glad you liked the rasam - its a family favorite!

Sujatha - Thanks!

Neha - Thanks!

Delhibelle - Still trying to work on the giraffe... will let you know!

Pearlsofeast - I'm sure your son will love it!

Maya - Sometimes you just have to earn your stripes! ;)

Miri - Yes she was - she even brought out her toy animals so they can become friends! lol!

Evolvingtastes - Thanks!

Bhags - lol! thanks - not that the house wasn't a zoo before!!

Sunshinemom - Yes, I just saw the correction - but it worked for me before that...Thanks!

Swati - Thanks darling. Yes, she loved it.

Angela - Yes, you're right. Will try it again for sure. Thanks for stopping by.

Divya - Thank you Thank you!!

Sunita - Thanks
Nags - Thanks! Not really, but this one was worth it!

Sra - Thanks a lot babe

Meeta - Thank you! Thanks for stopping by!

Lavi - I'll send some over next time!

SMN - Thanks - it was definitely yum!

Radhika - Sure, come on over!

Vegetable Platter - Thanks!

Madhuram - Well, it might not have looked perfect but it was perfectly yummy the last 3 times too! People were more than happy to polish off the "experiments"!

Ranji - Yeah, I came up with the name! haha! do try it!

Jamie - Not really, it takes maybe a half hour to assemble. Well worth the time!

Veda said...

wow ....fantastic cakes! there arundathi...sure reminds me of zebras n leopards and i would love to c giraffes too.....


Veda

Susan said...

Too cute! I can see a little girl just loving these sweets. So do I! (You know, Arundathi, there is also a checkerboard cake. It takes a special set of pans.;0)

lakshmi said...

you are as obsessive as I am - I try recipes repeatedly with short time gaps until I am satisfied - :D

Arundathi said...

Veda - thanks for stopping by! :-) Giraffes coming right up!

Susan - (groan) now i've gotta try and make the checkerboard! i can feel the urge to make it right now!

Lakshmi - of course, babe! ninjas never stop!! :D

VanPham said...

This cake looks amazing. I wanted to try many times but still yet so far :)

Deeba PAB said...

Great to see it blogged Arundathi...looks as good as can be!This is one cake I love. Wonderful...the stripes are perfect, & I love the cheetah spots too! You must have one happy Kavya!!! xoxo

Arundathi said...

Do try it, Gocbep - you have such beautiful stuff on your blog - this is easy compared to those!!

Deeba - thanks dear! mine doesn't even compare to yours! beautiful!!

Bharti said...

Beautiful job Arundhati!
You are tempting me to try it as well with my eggless recipe. It's the technique more than the recipe itself, right?

Sig said...

I've been catching up on all the posts I missed... This is a cute cake Arudhati.. love it :)

Bhavani said...

OMG !! How cute is the zebra cake. Man, I wish you cooked like that when you were here. I am missing out on all the fun goodies. :) Trying out your muffin recipe right as I write.Wish me luck!

CIA-Cooking In An Apron said...

Hi Arundhati: I'm your blog match for this month in Taste & Create! Your multiple attempts at this zebra cake has definitely paid off--it looks awesome--and I will be following in your footsteps! Wish me luck!

Arundathi said...

Bharti - Yes, its definitely more the technique. I'm sure any sponge cake/ basic cake recipe would work.

Sig - thanks dear!

Bhavani - :) I know - can't believe I'm cooking up a storm now! how did the muffins come out?

CIA - I hope it comes out well - can't wait to discover your blog!

Suganya said...

OMG! You actually made it? I only bookmark the recipe :D

Arundathi said...

lol, suganya, do try it - its well worth it!

Srivalli said...

omg anu..that looks simply fabulous..great job!

Rajani said...

arundhati!!! what can i say!! i am speechless at your pictures, your patience and your perseverence. its amazing! you're too cool woman, v.v. proud of you!

Arundathi said...

thank you valli and rajani! :)