Let Them Eat CAKE!
Jun. 25th, 2009 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helblondeThanks to everyone for the kind birthday wishes. I loved the singing and the flowers :) I had a fabulous day.
I spent a big part of it happily baking in the kitchen. (Yes, barefoot - Ha!) I was trying out two cakes I hadn't done before using new-to-me techniques. I was, overall, pretty pleased with the results. (Plus, giving myself an all-day sugar high was an exciting thing! *cue manic eyes*) I decided to do some rolled cakes because, well, I like the look of them. Beranbaum's The Cake Bible was astonishingly light on cake recipes. Fortunately my favorite cake book, Nick Malgiere's Perfect Cakes, came through with some great recipes.
The first cake was a walnut cake with peach buttercream. The recipe called for 2/3 chopped walnuts (pulsed in my mighty mini-chopper) to 1/3 wheat flour as the flour. They were folded into a meringue. OMG this was such a flavorful cake. The peach buttercream was totally made up from my usual buttercream recipe. I peeled and sliced three peaches and let them drain for several hours in the fridge. I think they could have stood to drain some more because when I folded them into the frosting they watered it down something fierce. I ended up using way more sugar in the buttercream than I usually do. The peach flavor came through and was super nummy - an nice complement to the walnut. If I decide to do this again, I'll probably add cornstarch along with the additional sugar so it doesn't have to be melt-your-teeth sweet.
The second cake was a raspberry roulade with a raspberry whipped cream filling and a meringue frosting. The base cake was a plain genoise. (Did I spend the day separating eggs? why, yes, I did.) It seems like a nice, basic cake. I went back to The Cake Bible for the stabilized whipped cream recipe because I knew I wouldn't be serving the cake for several hours. Interestingly, the recipe called for heating some of the cream with sugar and cornstarch before whipping. The berries folded in better than the peaches. That went into th efreezer while I preped a meringue from Perfect Cakes. This recipe called for warming the egg & sugar mixture over a double boiler before whipping. I piped it on the cake and them put it in the oven for a couple minutes to firm up. Easy-peasy. I was really happy with the results. It was firm and flavorful; definitely something to do again.
Both cake rolls fit in my big tupperware, which in turn fit nicely in our new cooler with a 20lb bag of ice below and a 7lb bag on top. This solves a bit of my usual logistical problem of how to transport cakes, so I consider that a big win.
Overall, I had a sticky sweet fun time! Now I need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of the manufacturer's cream. :-)
I sense another sugar high in my future!
I spent a big part of it happily baking in the kitchen. (Yes, barefoot - Ha!) I was trying out two cakes I hadn't done before using new-to-me techniques. I was, overall, pretty pleased with the results. (Plus, giving myself an all-day sugar high was an exciting thing! *cue manic eyes*) I decided to do some rolled cakes because, well, I like the look of them. Beranbaum's The Cake Bible was astonishingly light on cake recipes. Fortunately my favorite cake book, Nick Malgiere's Perfect Cakes, came through with some great recipes.
The first cake was a walnut cake with peach buttercream. The recipe called for 2/3 chopped walnuts (pulsed in my mighty mini-chopper) to 1/3 wheat flour as the flour. They were folded into a meringue. OMG this was such a flavorful cake. The peach buttercream was totally made up from my usual buttercream recipe. I peeled and sliced three peaches and let them drain for several hours in the fridge. I think they could have stood to drain some more because when I folded them into the frosting they watered it down something fierce. I ended up using way more sugar in the buttercream than I usually do. The peach flavor came through and was super nummy - an nice complement to the walnut. If I decide to do this again, I'll probably add cornstarch along with the additional sugar so it doesn't have to be melt-your-teeth sweet.
The second cake was a raspberry roulade with a raspberry whipped cream filling and a meringue frosting. The base cake was a plain genoise. (Did I spend the day separating eggs? why, yes, I did.) It seems like a nice, basic cake. I went back to The Cake Bible for the stabilized whipped cream recipe because I knew I wouldn't be serving the cake for several hours. Interestingly, the recipe called for heating some of the cream with sugar and cornstarch before whipping. The berries folded in better than the peaches. That went into th efreezer while I preped a meringue from Perfect Cakes. This recipe called for warming the egg & sugar mixture over a double boiler before whipping. I piped it on the cake and them put it in the oven for a couple minutes to firm up. Easy-peasy. I was really happy with the results. It was firm and flavorful; definitely something to do again.
Both cake rolls fit in my big tupperware, which in turn fit nicely in our new cooler with a 20lb bag of ice below and a 7lb bag on top. This solves a bit of my usual logistical problem of how to transport cakes, so I consider that a big win.
Overall, I had a sticky sweet fun time! Now I need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of the manufacturer's cream. :-)
I sense another sugar high in my future!
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-25 07:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-26 12:56 am (UTC)Delicious!
Thanks for sharing with FP group!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-26 03:24 am (UTC)One thing I like about manufacturers cream is that you can whip it on Wednesday night and take it (in your cooler, of course) camping to use for Sunday breakfast. It won't separate by then.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-26 04:38 am (UTC)I must bow to you ... I tried to bake a cake recently for EM Jr's birthday and failed miserably (hence the store-bought cake).
no subject
Date: 2009-06-26 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-29 06:01 pm (UTC)