10 cake: little debbie would if little debbie could
21 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in cake, sweets Tags: baking, buttercream, cake decorating, cupcake, genoise, jam, mini-cake, royal icing
génoise batter is seductive. An impressive amount of eggs billow up golden and creamy speckled with vanilla seeds. In the bowl and in the baking, smells wholesome and ambrosial. We had to make it again. Baked like a would-be jelly roll, the cake promised to be thin enough to take cookie cutters, so mini-cakes! Cake cut-outs in big hearts and daisies sandwiching four red fruits jam.
the cake wants to be called “effortless.” The steps read long, yet in practice this comes together in a breath and a sigh. Relax. Follow the jelly roll recipe in the preceding post. Bake in a 350° oven in a baking sheet with sides lined with parchment paper (cut to fit), buttered and floured for 20 – 25 minutes. This wants to be golden brown and springy, drawing away from the sides, without having dried out or become dark brown. Watch it carefully.
once cooled, i wrapped it in foil and stashed it in the freezer. That suited the kitchen’s timing and helped the manageability later. You can do the same or go on to cutting, filling & frosting.
using a fairly large cookie cutter or a drinking glass, press out shapes in pairs from the cake. Stash the remains in the freeze for something reminiscent of trifle when one is wanted.
work a small jar of jam—preferably red—in a bowl until spreadable. Spread the jam in a thin layer over half of the shapes; sandwich with its pair. Frost with lovingly made-up, real vanilla butter cream. For flair, these are then iced with royal icing, going for a thin, crisp shell. Next time, fondant from scratch as behooves little cakes.
these sandwich halves are thicker than the traditional many layers of petite fours, more like a dainty layer cake. Or as Squib said, “What Little Debbie was if Little Debbie was a person making little cakes.”
7 cake: this is halloween
03 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in cupcakes, sweets Tags: baking, cake decorating, halloween, icing, royal icing, sprinkles
the chocolate chips in the yellow cake sunk to the bottom of each cup, but what really matters on Halloween night is the decorating options.
most importantly, icing quickly made – because there’s make-up to be done – and divisible into colors enough to satisfy. purple seemed appropriate for the thinning of the veil feast (see also, mushrooms). Then green for a witch’s striped socks sensibility. black sprinkles and green and orange teeny balls of sugar.
thus – although i usually go in for meringue-ish toppings for cupcakes and royal icing flourishes like candied white sugar plaster – straight up confectioners’ sugar and liquid alone were ideal for treats for the costumed hordes. Sift three cups of powdered sugar into a giant glass bowl. By hand or electric hand mixer, whip in a shot of lemon juice, a shot of vanilla extract and about a quarter cup of whole milk. Adjust with sugar or milk to thicken or thin; thicker to pipe and thinner to spread. We had a pastry bag of thick purple icing for piping details and a big bowl of thinned out dragon green for coating the tops of the cakes by dipping them in headfirst.
now, the writing of the cakes is officially out of order of the making of the cakes: a pumpkin bundt and chocolate birthday cake preceded these twisted fairy cakes. anticipate…
viking cake for chocolate lovers
04 Aug 2011 1 Comment
in cake, chocolate, recipes, sweets Tags: baking, buttercream, cake decorating, royal icing, ship cake, viking cake
An offer to make a cake themed on a child’s latest passion—in this case, Vikings—is a serious thing. When I embarked, I did not know a serpent prow from the curly tail thing. The end result passed muster, and the birthday child, who was impressed at the unveiling, has declared the serpent prow his own to eat.
The ship is devil’s food cake, baked in a shallow layer in a loaf pan. Frosted with chocolate buttercream with chocolate ganache on the deck. The prow and stern are gingerbread, decorated with royal icing, black food coloring and bronze luster dust.
The ocean is a vanilla cake marbleized with chocolate under vanilla buttercream with hardened royal icing waves. Simple yet sophisticated flavor and a sturdy texture that holds up in layers and molds make this cake my go-to foundation for most occasions.
Preheat your oven to 350˚. Line a buttered pan with parchment paper then butter the whole thing thoroughly. Here, I used a heart shaped pan. Set oddly shaped pans on parchment paper and trace the bottom; cut just inside the outline for a customized liner.
In a prep bowl, sift together 1 ½ cups of cake flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon of baking soda and some salt. If you are sifterless, whisk the dry ingredients to aerate. In a large bowl, beat 1 stick of softened butter and 1 cup of sugar. Crack in 2 eggs, beating each in until the batter is pale yellow and fluffy.
With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in ¾ sour cream or buttermilk, vanilla and the flour et al, alternating between the wet and dry until gently well mixed. Pour it in the pan, and drop that pan a few times on the table to spank the air bubbles to pop through the top. To marbleize, which was a new twist for this cake’s audience, dip a rubber spatula in warm chocolate ganache and dredge it in swirls through the batter.
Bake for about half an hour, evaluating progress at 20 minutes. Depending on your oven and the pan in use, baking times will vary. Done when golden brown and kinda bouncy. Let cool on a rack then run a knife between the cake and the pan edge and turn it out.
Cakes should be completely cool before you ice them. And a crumb coat makes all the difference to a fancy finish. Like the one here, of which I am so pleased.
I left the sail to their making. To be the traditional red and white stripes, I am told. Plus Viking figurines!
ps…viola, the final cake:
with vikings!
fondant is fabulous
07 Jul 2011 1 Comment
in cake, lemons, recipes, strawberries Tags: cake decorating, dessert, edible glitter, fondant, sugar flowers
i love everybody especially you
the purpose of the trip to the bakery store was edible glitter to bring along to faerie land for a future cake. however,
the velvety allure of pure white fondant demanded of me an immediate cake.
so a buttermilk cake was made- a reliable base of solid butter cake to uphold the white dream coat. also a stand-up foil for the lemon curd filling. because lemon curd is wicked good and far simpler than the glorious schmear makes itself out to be. the farmers market gave us teeny strawberries too, so halved those to lay within the filling. 
made enough batter for one heart shaped layer.
once cooled, split it horizontally to be filled, which is french styled according to Julia Child.
to ensure the fondant lays as smoothly as possible, first thinly ice the cake with buttercream frosting, lemon buttercream, for a crumb coat.
the fondant came in a white block, like shortening or porcelain. and you wedge it just like clay. working it against the counter top against the palms of your hands until it is warmed and smoothed and ready for the rolling pin. slice off a wedge to roll to cover the cake; remainder can be rolled and cut freehand or with cookie cutters.
roll out the fondant into a circle, working from the center out and turning turning and flipping the icing. when expanded beyond the edges of your cake with enough extra to drape down the sides, gently lift it with the rolling pin and drape it over your cake. gently press the draping into place then burnish the top and sides by hand until it all softly glows.
spent hours piping royal icing decorations that harden like sugar plaster and keep presumably eternally. although joy only had directions for microwaving the royal icing (!!!!), the egg whites can be whisked in a glass bowl over a simmering pot of water steam punk style until warmed thoroughly. add powdered sugar and a dash of clear vanilla extract and beat until stiff stiff stiff. spatula into a pastry bag- readied with coupler- standing point down in a glass with the bag edges folded over the rim.
pipe shapes to heart’s content. for these, i colored some of the icing green and blue and added it into a bag with white. after drying them out on parchment paper and oh so delicately releasing them, i dusted them with silver dust. then rubbed silver dust on the fondant too.
delicious, yes. yet and still the pretty of it was profoundly satisfying.
