Update and cake bars
Hello, again. Last week I didn't send out the usual newsletter as I had some important stuff to figure out, and also was still in the middle of processing some big news. For anyone interested in my personal life, it does involve something shiny and rhymes with mo-mo-sal. Now I am in isolation again and have plans to bake a cake, one which may involve elements of the recipe below.
Food news of the week:
I mostly stay away from meat, but this is THE place to go to if you want some good currywurst, and they have the most delicious vegan sausages! It's the occasional treat that is 100% worth it. I frequent the chain every time I go to Germany, and not once has the quality stalled, not once was there one soggy fry. Not one! The sausages are always crisp and juicy on the inside. It is witchcraft. I could go on but you get my point. Just bookmark it somehow. I don't even like currywurst in general, so maybe that says something.
Science of the week:
I've been thinking about the role of heterogeneity, or variance in results, in conducting reviews and meta-analyses, which basically give weight to more precise studies and you can see how important they are on a graph that looks like a bunch of boxes with lines. It may be important when looking at reviews on corona vaccines, for example. Although important, high variance, or heterogeneity, does not necessarily mean a high level of inaccuracy, it just means a lot of variance within the study methods themselves, and that may not subtract from the significance of your findings, depending on your question. This paper is a pretty good overview.
Insight of the week:
The few of you who read my guide already know this, but I have always enjoyed exercise, being a competitive climber and running track when younger. Yet, with Youtubers like this and this, I pretty much refuse to go to any gym. Waking up to drink coffee, write and exercise is something I truly look forward to every morning (cue productivity influencer music here).
Recipe of the week:
These bars have a special place in my foodie heart. I remember posting them on Instagram years ago in an effort to impress a boy who found me on the platform. It kind of worked.
Red velvet cake bars
Ingredients (makes enough for 3 batches of cake bars in an 8×8-inch pan, or 3 6-inch cake layers)
For the cake bars:
120g soft, unsalted butter
330g castor sugar
300g all-purpose flour
2 eggs
50g cocoa powder
1 heaped tablespoon red gel food colouring
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (or substitute with the same amount of vanilla extract)
50g bittersweet chocolate, chopped (preferably from a bar, but chips are fine here too) and melted in 30-second increments in a microwave
250ml buttermilk (or mix 240ml whole milk with one tablespoon of white vinegar, and leave to rest for a while before using– the mixture should be slightly curdled)
pinch of salt
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb soda)
For the cream cheese frosting (enough for the tops of 3 batches; make double this amount if you wish to frost the sides as well):
42g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or sub with vanilla extract)
180g cream cheese, at room temperature
200g icing sugar
pinch of coarse salt
Directions
Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and grease and line your cake pans, be it 8×8-inch square baking pan(s) or 3 6-inch round cake pans. Melt your chopped plain chocolate in the microwave and set aside for the time being. Take your cream cheese out from the fridge so it has time to come to room temperature. If you’re making your buttermilk (because you’re like me and can’t be bothered to run to the grocery store just to buy that packet of buttermilk), mix together the whole milk and white vinegar in a bowl and set aside as well.
In a large bowl and with an electrical whisk (or Kitchenaid if you're fancy like that), beat together the softened, unsalted butter and white castor sugar. Beat until pale and fluffy, at least 30 seconds or so. Add the eggs one at a time and beat between each addition. Add the vanilla bean paste at this point, and then sieve in the cocoa powder. When sieving, I find it handy to place your bowl on a weighing scale and then sieving in the cocoa powder until you reach the 50g mark. Beat the vanilla bean paste, cocoa powder and your melted chocolate on a low speed until it’s all combined. You should have a thick, sticky, dark batter.
At this point, add your red gel food colouring. I used a heaped tablespoon, but you may want more or less depending on colour preference. Start with a teaspoonful of food colouring and then work from there. I find that a heaped tablespoon (I used a ‘Christmas Red’ hue) does the trick, producing a rich, deep, carnation red, nothing too pink or too dark.
In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and half a teaspoon (it’s part of the amount stated in the ingredients list above) of fine salt. This is the dry mix. Add half of this to the chocolate-butter mix you just put together, then add half of the buttermilk. Beat on low speed briefly, then add the rest of the flour and the rest of the buttermilk. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides and make sure all the batter is evenly mixed, folding from the bottom and coming up through the sides and middle.
Now for the kinda magical bit, and what gives the batter a final kick and ridiculous level of moisture! In a small saucer, mix together the remaining 1 tsp of baking (bicarb) soda and 2 tsp of white vinegar. The mixture will fizz up. Immediately tip it into the batter and mix in thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
Pour the batter into your cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes. If you’re using 6-inch cake pans, check at the 20-minute mark– insert a wooden skewer into the middle of the cakes; if they emerge with wet red batter then bake for 5 more minutes. With an 8×8-inch cake pan, these will be done by 20 minutes, but every oven is different, and they may take 2 minutes more or less.
While the cakes are baking, make the cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl and with an electrical whisk, beat together your soft, unsalted butter and cream cheese. Then, beat in the vanilla bean paste, icing sugar and salt.
Once the cakes are baked, leave to cool on cooling racks for at least half an hour before removing from the pans and cutting off the tops (the cutting off part is unnecessary if you’re baking these in an 8×8-inch cake pan). If you’re using the square baking pan, spread on the cream cheese frosting, then cut into bars. If you are using 3 6-inch cake pans, spread on a large dollop of cream cheese frosting on one layer, then stack with the second layer, and repeat. If you’re making a cake this way and you’re done with the last layer, immediately let the cake set in the fridge, for the cream cheese frosting will start to melt all over the place otherwise. With the amounts stated above, I could make a stacked 2-tier cake and one 8×8-inch square cake (with lots of leftover cake from the tops!). These cakes can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
Tender is the crumb.
See you all soon,
Alex
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