Two Cakes, Two Parties, One Day. Part 1.

Last week was a big one in my cake baking life. There were two parties, both on Friday, and both cake friendly.

The first was an engagement party/wedding shower for my friend Liz—who also happens to be my boss. Yeah, no pressure there.
The second was for my friend Dietrich's birthday later that night.

The big question: could I pull off two cakes in one week for one day, both accounting for personalities and taste and big enough to slice up for a small crowd?

The answer: sure, but not without an abundance of the holy tetratry*, plastic wrap, dish washing, planning, cursing, and thinking on my feet.

Cake #1: Love Cake


Liz really loves British things, so we decided to throw her an afternoon tea complete with scones, clotted cream and jam from Tea & Sympathy (in my humble opinion, one of the best places in NYC). Liz also really loves chocolate, so it wasn't hard to begin with the idea of chocolate cake. After a good few days of recipe-reading and cake meditation, I decided on a combination that would be simple in its components, yet intense in rich, clean flavor and smooth in texture, ie: chocolate, raspberry and buttercream.

I baked the cake layers on Wednesday night using Dorrie Greenspan's recipe for Devil's Food Cake. After they cooled, I popped them into the fridge to get frosting-ready for Thursday night...

...when I made said frosting from butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and heavy cream. A layer of that, along with a generous layer (just under 3/4 c.) of seedless raspberry preserves, went to filling the cake. The rest coated the dark layers. Well, almost. I had miscalculated the amount of frosting that I would need for two 9" layers and, as I had another cake to get to that night (details to come later this week in "Part 2." Oh, the anticipation.), there was not time to make more.

A see-through cake is kind of like a dress that you realize is too sheer—but not until you've left for work. It's not the end of the world, but you'd rather your coworkers not know what you've got on underneath. I had already planned on popping a few fresh raspberries on top as well as a bit of chocolate to appease the whole "give them an idea of what to expect." After sleeping on it, I decided to overwhelm them with the idea of what to expect...



Which lead to me in my office just before the party mushing up and mixing together fourish ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate with a pint of raspberries, and piling the whole lot on top of the cake in a fit of abstract expressionism. A few raspberries were sliced in half and ringed around the base of the cake because, well, it seemed like what to do.

Thankfully, it really is hard to go wrong with that combination. The cake, and the party, was a rousing success. One down, one to go.

*In cooking there is "the holy trinity": carrots, celery and green pepper or onion, depending on whom you ask and where they are cooking. In baking, at least to me, it is butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Yes, I made this word up.