“Once you realise you don’t need an occasion to bake a cake, the second part of your life begins” — a one-liner everyone relates to.
We live in a world where getting our hands on a dark chocolate truffle gateau or a strawberry tres leches with buttercream frosting is an absolute breeze. Skewed towards sugar-free and gluten-free lifestyles, most cakes are now baked with ingredients that score big on the heath scale and notch fewer calories. Yet, the age-old saying, "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips," still stands tall. Enter, bento cakes.
A South Korean creation, bento cakes (also known as lunch box cakes since they’re usually packed in small bento boxes) are pretty parcels, four-inches in diameter, that sit in petite takeout boxes. These babies cut your calorie intake in half and double up your gram game while they’re at it!
My Kolkata caught up with Khadeeja Banu, the 26-year-old who runs the home-bakery The Brownie Factory, for a few helpful tips to note while hopping onto the bento bandwagon.
Bento points to remember
- Don’t use a premix as your batter for the bento cake. Make the cake from scratch and make sure to follow the recipe to the tee. Whether you’re following a family recipe or one off Pinterest, proportions are key, so focus on perfecting them.
- If you’re looking to make a bento cake in a particular shape like a heart-shaped cake or a star, make sure to use an elongated mould and bake a whole sheet. Then cut out your required shapes, thus making the process much simpler. You don’t have to worry about wastage – simply use the extra bits to make cake pops!
- The essence of a bento cake is in its decor. So, bake your cake well in advance and set aside a good three or four hours for decorating it. Even though the cakes are small, the decorations take time, especially if you plan on incorporating multiple layers of frosting and making handcrafted edible flowers.
- Make your frosting in bulk and freeze it in an airtight container. This way you don’t need to waste time whipping up the perfect frosting every time you bake a bento cake. The best option is buttercream meringue which is time-consuming to make, so make the perfect batch in bulk.
- Since bento cakes are smaller than normal cakes, frosting it is quite the task. So push a wooden skewer through the centre of the cake, while decorating, to stabilise the cake and keep it in place. This will give you more control over the cake and the frosting won’t spill.
- If you’re layering your frosting, make sure to freeze for 30 minutes in between each layer. You’ll get perfectly separated layers which will give the cake a good bite and a complex texture.
- Invest in edible cake decorations to save time. There are so many options available today – from pearls and flowers to even glitter! You can order them online or buy them from a local shop.
The Brownie Factory whips up a Brownie Bento Box. Order up!