Chocolate Curry Cake ft. Peanut-Sesame Frosting + Ginger-Candied Basil
The inaugural cake in this Cake (Re) Mix stemmed from Caroline's Thai-flavored birthday cake - which, though based on Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball tour, first gave me the 'a-ha' idea of creating concept cakes inspired by flavor combinations, typography, graphic patterns, pop culture - anything.
Thai cuisine has become one of my favorites in the past year with fresh ingredients like ginger, basil, sesame, lemon, peanut, curry, coconut... the list goes on. I narrowed it down to a few for this recipe but it's only a matter of time until another Thai-theme cake finds its way into the line-up.
chocolate curry cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. coconut milk
1-2 tbsp. curry powder or paste
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease pans with butter or a non-stick spray like PAM. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric beater to combine cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, coconut milk, and curry powder, on a low speed for 1 minute and a high speed for 1 minute. Pour batter into pans until each is 2/3 of the way full. Bake according to the times on the back of the mix box, depending on the types of pans you are using.
peanut-sesame frosting
1/2 c. vegetable shortening or butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 tsp. sesame oil
4 c. powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. coconut milk
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Beat shortening, peanut butter, sesame oil, and coconut milk in large mixing bowl until blended. Add powdered sugar into bowl one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition until frosting has thickened. Add water by the tablespoon if frosting is too thick.
ginger sugar
1 piece of ginger root, peeled + diced
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
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In a small saucepan on the stovetop, mix water and sugar over low heat, stirring for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves and a syrup forms. Add in sliced ginger and continue stirring until the ginger begins to crystallize. Once most of the water has evaporated, remove from heat and let mixture set for several hours until it hardens. Use a knife to chop the ginger crystals into smaller sugar particles.
ginger-candied basil
individual basil leaves, washed + dried
egg whites from 1 egg
ginger sugar (from above)
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Lay basil leaves on a sheet of wax paper atop a baking sheet. Beat egg whites in a small bowl and use a small brush to paint one side of basil leaves, toss in ginger sugar, and let dry overnight. Garnish cake with leaves right before serving.
