At functions or birthday parties, my highlight is always checking out the ‘cake table’.
Each family has that baker, the one that bakes with love, we look out for what they brought along and grab those first.
To me that phenomenal baker is Basheera from Sweet Miracles.
Basheera, a self-taught cake artist who bakes traditional soetgoed like melktert, snowballs and hertzoggies just like Gran made, and also creates custom-made masterpieces that adds a sweet touch of magic to any occasion.
Her passion for baking started when her daughter turned one and she wanted to bake her a birthday cake.
Fourteen years later, she bakes to sell, has regular pop ups and has even ventured into classes, sharing her knowledge of cake art with those eager to learn.
“Sharing my knowledge through baking and cake decorating workshops gets me super excited,” she says.
“It is so rewarding watching the faces of our ladies light up when they realise they’ve conquered their fears and unleashed their creative streak.”
Basheera inspires us and shows us how much you can achieve by empowering yourself.
If you can dream it, you can do it, so let her story inspire us and allow us to follow our dreams.
Today she is sharing her secret, easy and flop-proof recipes with you.
*For more info or recipes, follow Basheera on Instagram or Facebook @sweetmiracles_basheerafakier.
Recipes
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
3 X large eggs
1(250ml) cup of sugar
½ (125ml) cup oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 (250ml) cup of cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ cocoa dissolved in ½ cup boiling water
Method:
Preheat oven to 170C.
Beat sugar & eggs until light and frothy.
Add oil and vanilla essence and mix well.
Add dry ingredients in 3 parts and mix until all lumps have been mixed through.
Lastly, Add cocoa mixture and mix until well blended.
Baking time will vary depending on whether a cake/cupcakes are being baked. Estimated time to bake a 20cm cake is 45min (if pan is 1/3 full of mixture).
Estimated time to bake cupcakes is 15 to 20minutes.
Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
3 x large eggs
1 (250ml) cup of sugar
½ (125ml) cup oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 & 1/4 cup of cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup boiling water
Method
Preheat oven to 170C.
Beat sugar & eggs until light and frothy.
Add oil and vanilla essence and mix until combined.
Add dry ingredients in 3 parts and mix until all lumps have been mixed through.
Bake in pre heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
Red Velvet Mini Cakes
Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk + 1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cups of cake flour
1/3 cup of oil
1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder
¾ bottle of crimson pink food colouring
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon bicarb
¼ teaspoon salt
Method
Preheat oven to 170c without fan.
Add vinegar to buttermilk, stir and let it stand for about 5 minutes
Mix sugar and oil, add the buttermilk and mix until sugar is dissolved as much as possible.
Add dry ingredients in 2 parts and mix until all lumps are dissolved.
Finally add the food colouring until a rich red colour is achieved.
Mini Orange & Pistachio Bundt Cake
Ingredients
4 X large eggs
1 cup (250ml) sugar
1 cup (250ml) oil
2 – 3 Orange Rind (optional)
2 cups (500ml) of cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup of pure orange juice
¼ cup of chopped Pistachios + extra to sprinkle
Topping
1 cup (250ml) icing sugar
2 Tablespoons of orange juice
Chopped Pistachios for decoration
Method
Pre heat oven to 175c.
In a mixing bowl sift all dry ingredients together.
Add nuts chopped/ground pistachios to dry ingredients. This is important to ensure that nuts are coated with flour to avoid sinking to the bottom of the baking pan.
In a separate mixing bowl mix together sugar and eggs until light & fluffy.
Add oil and mix until combined.
Add orange juice & orange rind if used.
Add dry ingredients in 2 parts and mix slowly until combined.
Spray/grease a Bundt pan and pour mixture until each cavity is 2/3 full.
Bake in pre heated oven for 15 – 20 minutes.
Allow to cool before making the glaze. Gently drizzle glaze over cakes and decorate with remaining chopped pistachios.
TIP: If you do not have a Bundt cake pan, these can be baked as cupcakes as well...
Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
250g softened butter
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup of whipping cream or milk (very slightly warmed)
Method
Whip softened butter until light in colour.
Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time.
Add vanilla essence
Add lemon juice
Warm water can be added to mixture if butter is still quite hard
Tip: For Rainbow colours, divide buttercream into equal parts, add gel fool colouring until desired colours are achieved.
Fill piping bags with each colour.
Using a piece of cling wrap, pipe a row or 2 of each colour next to each other, roll closed securely, snip off one end and drop into a piping bag with a nozzle of choice and pipe onto cake or cupcake.
Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
250g softened butter
3 ½ cups icing sugar
½ sifted cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup of whipping cream or milk (very slightly warmed)
Method
Whip softened butter until light in colour.
Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time.
Add vanilla essence
Add lemon juice
Warm water can be added to mixture if butter is still quite hard
Coffee Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
250g softened butter
4 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons of coffee dissolved in 3TBSP of slightly warmed cream/milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method
Whip softened butter until light in colour.
Add ½ portion of icing sugar and cream well.
Add dissolved coffee & cream/milk mixture to creamed icing.
Add remaining icing sugar and mix until combined.
Add vanilla essence
Note: If a stronger coffee flavour is desired you may add an extra teaspoon of coffee to the cream/milk portion.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
250g butter/margarine
4 cups of icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 Tbsp of lemon juice (bottled is fine to use but freshly squeezed is much better.)
Method
Cream butter and 3 tablespoons of cream cheese until pale in colour.
Add 1 cup of icing sugar and beat well
Then continue adding cup by cup until nice smooth consistency is achieved.