Titan's Birthday Cake Ver. 4

November 17, 2017

Titan's Birthday Cake Ver. 4

Titan turns 6! Not without his yearly birthday cake which once again, makes its grand appearance in the form of an orange-looking pumpkin frosted cake. Version 4 is pumped up with more healthy wholesome ingredients such as beetroot puree and brown rice. Definitely worth the effort to make when you see your pup salivating and relishing every bite of his cake. Recipe was originally adapted from Lady and Pups and had been tweaked over the years. I'm most happy with this latest version.

Ingredients

200g lean beef mince
200g chicken mince
A handful of raw carrots (finely diced)
A handful of raw broccoli (diced)
80g cooked brown rice
Beetroot puree from 2 small beets
1 egg
1 tbsp of honey (optional)
1 tsp of truffled oil (optional)
Half a whole pumpkin
1 tbsp of unsalted butter
150g steel-cut oats, toasted

Method: (to make the meat patty)

1. Reserve 3 tbsp of the cooked brown rice and set aside. Combine the first 9 ingredients in a food processor and pulse for 2 minutes. The consistency of the mixture should be sticky so it will be easier to shape into patties and the patties will not fall apart. (If not using egg, add a little more brown rice to the meat mix. The brown rice acts as a natural 'glue' and holds the ingredients together.)
* I don't have a food processor so I simply beat everything by hand in a regular-sized mixing bowl until the mixture achieves a consistency that I am looking for - sticky and has elasticity.

2. Grease a small cake tin with softened butter (or oil) and line it with baking paper. I find a 8-cm diameter ring tin with a removable base works well here. Tip the meat mixture into the tin and punch out any pockets of air. (I clench my fists and use the back of my knuckles to do this.) The patty in the tin will come out thick, which is fine as it will be sliced into 3 thinner patties for assembling later.
* A tip to ensure the top surface of the patty has nice sharp edges for easy frosting, press the top of the patty nearer to the sides of the tin such that they turn out slightly higher than the centre of the patty.

3. Bake at 150 degrees for 60 minutes until meat is cooked. You can use the skewer stick test. Do not be too concerned if there is meat juice when you remove the skewer stick. As long as it is not bloody, the cake is good to come out of the oven.
* LET CAKE COOL DOWN COMPLETELY before slicing into thinner patties.

Method: (to make the pumpkin frosting and filling)

1. Remove seeds from the pumpkin before popping it to bake in the oven. The seeds release water and cause the pumpkin flesh to be watery. Slow-bake the pumpkin (skin on) at 160 degrees for 40-45 minutes until soft.

2. Discard skin and scoop out the pumpkin flesh into a mixing bowl. Take about 3 tbsp of pumpkin flesh and mix it with the reserved cooked brown rice from earlier. This becomes the pumpkin rice filling which will be used later during cake assembling.

3. Back to the rest of the pumpkin. Add the butter while warm and whip until it becomes a smooth puree paste for frosting. Cool frosting in the fridge for a couple of hours before use.
*Inevitably, the frosting will still look slightly lumpy with some visible pumpkin fibres even after whipping. It becomes smoother and more manageable to frost after it is cooled in the fridge.

Getting ready for cake assembling!

First layer of filling on base patty.

Method: (Cake Assembling!)

1. Handle the cake when it has cooled completely. Slice into 3 thinner patties.

2. Spread the first base patty with rice pumpkin filling. Layer on the second patty and spread filling. The last patty goes on top.

*You can omit the brown rice and use just pumpkin puree as the filling. The brown rice however, makes it more sturdy and holds the patties together better.

3. Frost cake with the whipped pumpkin starting with the sides first, and the top last. Line the sides of the cake generously with toasted steel-cut oats. The oats will conceal any unevenness of the frosting and adds a nice finishing touch to the cake.