March 9, 2005

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  Let’s Talk Cake

  
  

   

  
  

  It’s my favorite thing to eat.  But, because it’s so hard to find a single good piece of cake, I’m forced to go without for I refuse to make a whole cake just for myself.  Once a year I make a chocolate cake for my youngest. 

  
  

  Back when I was a foodie I spent a fair amount of time researching cakes.  I did it backwards, though.  I started with the frosting.  More accurately, I started with the decoration:  the rosettes, the piping, fancy lettering; I had a tip for everything.  I took all the cake decorating classes so my girls had some pretty fancy-looking cakes in those early years.  They didn’t much care what was inside as long as the filling wasn’t raspberry. 

  
  

  The whole cake decorating thing happened because the bakery didn’t have the right kind of filling, according to my oldest.  So I said I could certainly figure out how to make a cake but I would need help in the decorating department.  I can taste the icing now.  I think I must have been the only one who didn’t bake because nobody else ate the icing.  When it would squirt out and get all over the place, I would have to clean it up with my tongue. 

  
  

  I told my husband, “think how much money we’ll save with me making the birthday cakes.”  That’s how I talked him into babysitting every Monday night, in addition to my Friday nights out.  He was always out of town during the week so he didn’t mind or maybe he just felt guilty and obliged.  I’d leave my messy house and walk into the magic of the cake store.  I loved that smell as I entered the back room with my classmates and all our cakes.  It was shocking to discover some of them brought dummy cakes. 

  
  

  It was always a struggle getting my cake done in time for class.  I remember the wedding cake.  We were supposed to make a tiered cake using dowels.  Somehow, as I was driving to class, the top tier slid off, onto the floor of my car.  But other than that my cakes always turned out surprisingly well. 

  
  

  One of the things I loved most was learning how to mix colors.  Art was not my thing but being a seamstress and a gardener I had definite ideas about color.  It was a little frustrating at first but toward the end I was able to come pretty close.  I would make roses the color of the ones in my garden and the leaves would look real, too.

  
  

  Once I’d mastered frosting I turned my attention to filling, and finally to cake.  I was reading everything I could get my hands on and each week I’d try out a new recipe.  My favorite cakes are lemon buttermilk with strawberries and a lemon, cream-cheese frosting, gingerbread, white cake with lemon curd filling and seven minute frosting, carrot cake, chocolate fudge and banana cake with whipped cream and fresh sliced bananas in the filling.  I also perfected recipes for poppyseed cake, cheesecakes, angelfood, strawberry shortcake and quickbreads.  But I never got around to learning about spongecakes.  There’s an orange one with a glaze made out of orange juice that I am going to make.

  
  

  I’ve got the chocolate birthday cake in my refrigerator and I’ve been eating it every day.  My daughter was only here long enough to eat two pieces and this is why I don’t make cake:  I can’t leave it alone. 

  
  

  The cake is light and moist when it first comes out of the oven but once it’s refrigerated in becomes very dense.  I use two 10 inch pans and then slice those in half.  I fill those with Bavarian cream and then put the ganache in between the two halves.  I beat the remaining frosting (ganache) until it is a lighter brown and creamy and then frost the whole thing.  The frosting in the center is the consistency of a truffle while the outside is almost fluffy.  The tastes are all close but the constancies supply a nice contrast.  The silly thing is that I do not decorate it.  I take my spatula and dip it into hot water, sliding it across the frosting until it is as smooth as glass.  It’s a nice, clean look, very tailored.  It took me a full year to perfect this recipe taking three different recipes and combining them. 

  
  

  I’m curious, what’s your favorite cake?

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 12:41 am
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