BLUE GRADIENT CAKE - Project - NO ARTIFICIAL DYE!

Leia em PORTUGUÊS

If you already know me you probably also know that, though I'm not radical, I do avoid artificial food, mainly artificial food coloring. I've been awestruck by the gorgeous rainbow cakes that I have seen all over the foodie community, and I have wanted to make one so badly, but the amount of food dye used to obtain those vibrant colors completely put me off. So I'm beginning to experiment with natural food dyes.

I have already tried the PINK BEETROOT CAKE (ok, the cake insides did not remain pink after baking, but the frosting turned out beautifully pink!) so now it's time for a blue cake... blue with no artificial dyes!

My first experiment was a gradient cake. The shades of blue were obtained from blueberries. I used BLUEBERRY SAUCE that, despite its vibrant red,  tinted the cake blue. I actually chose blue for this experiment because deep inside I couldn't believe that the blueberries would in fact make the cake blue, but they did! I'm still delighted! After all, these little fruits are named BLUEberries!

There are lots of tips on natural food coloring at Itsy Bitsy Foodies where you will find an excellent tutorial on how to make a rainbow cake with all natural dyes, just beautiful!! You should check it out if you haven't already.

For more real colors, you will need a white cake batter (without the yolks). 

So far, I'm pretty happy with the results of my experiment. It's quite rewarding to eat with your eyes first, at the sight of a beautiful cake, and then enjoy an all naturally colored and delicious treat.

For this experiment I made two mini cakes (10cm diameter/about 4") because I didn't have six 15cm (6") pans as called for this recipe. So, they were taller and I cut each one in half. I could also play with the order of the blue hues.

Two slices touching each other made an even more interesting gradient :o)

If you are adventurous and would like to try it, here's how I made it.

WHITE CAKE

NOTE:  1 cup = 240ml and 1 Tbsp = 15ml

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup corn starch

½ Tbsp baking powder

75g butter, softened at room temperature

¾ cup sugar

½ cup plain yogurt

3 egg whites

½ tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp BLUEBERRY SAUCE (only the sauce)


Separate and measure all the ingredients before you start.

Prepare six 6" pans by lining with parchment paper or greasing well with butter and dusting with flour.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).

In a bowl, sift flour, corn starch and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Measure 4 Tbsp of this dry mixture and set aside in small bowl. 

Beat the egg whites until stiff (not dry) peaks form. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light. Add yogurt, vanilla extract, and dry ingredients (except those 4 Tbsps that were separated) alternately, beating well after each addition. Fold in the egg whites

You will have approximately 3 cups of batter.

Measure 1/2 cup of batter and pour into one of the prepared pans. Use a rubber spatula to scrape all of the measured batter from the measuring cup. Level with a spatula or knife. It's a thin layer.

Add 1/2 Tbsp blueberry sauce to the remaining batter and mix well. Measure 1/2 cup of batter and pour into the second pan.

Add 1/2 Tbsp blueberry sauce + 1 Tbsp dry ingredients (that was previously separated) to the remaining batter. Mix well and pour into the third pan.

Repeat the last step for the forth and fifth pans.

For the last one, add 1 Tbsp sauce and 1 Tbsp dry ingredients, mix well and measure 1/2 cup before pouring into the sixth pan.

Bake at 170°C (340°F) for about 15 minutes or upon testing with a skewer it comes out clean. The cake should not brown.

Remove from the oven, let them sit for a few minutes and turn them onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Use the filling and frosting of your choice. I used the same CREAM CHEESE FROSTING that I used for the beetroot cake, without the beets.