The Heritage Bundt Pan from William Sonoma
3.04.2009
Cake Thursday: February 26th
The invite:
And the outcome:
The lovely hostess photograph inspired me to cut the cake into small squares and serve them as "hors d'ovueres".
The cake was, in one word, splendid. Moist and deeply chocolaty. And, it is the easiest cake I've ever baked.
The recipe for Aunt Frannie's Crazy Cake does not come from my Aunt Frannie (nor do I have an Aunt Frannie), but rather from this fantastic vintage cake book I picked up recently:
It is kind of crazy, which you'll see when you read the recipe below. I had my doubts, but it worked beautifully, and will definitely make many future visits to my oven.
And the outcome:
The lovely hostess photograph inspired me to cut the cake into small squares and serve them as "hors d'ovueres".
The cake was, in one word, splendid. Moist and deeply chocolaty. And, it is the easiest cake I've ever baked.
The recipe for Aunt Frannie's Crazy Cake does not come from my Aunt Frannie (nor do I have an Aunt Frannie), but rather from this fantastic vintage cake book I picked up recently:
It is kind of crazy, which you'll see when you read the recipe below. I had my doubts, but it worked beautifully, and will definitely make many future visits to my oven.
2.27.2009
2.19.2009
Cake Thursday: February 12th
The invitation:
(click on image to enlarge)
The Cake:
The stencil that I used for powdered-sugar-decoration was a quick design that did on the computer, then printed up and cut out.
Though the lemon mousse (homemade lemon curd mixed with whipped cream) isn't part of the original recipe, I wanted to break away from the usual cakes coming out of my kitchen as of late.
This is undoubtedly one of my favorite cakes I've baked thus far.
It tastes wonderful, has great texture, and is not too sweet. I always tend to love lemon and almond together, and the airiness of the mousse was a nice contrast to the sand-sized denseness of the finely-ground almonds. (Side note, if you've never blanched your own almonds before, I highly recommend it—easy and rather meditative!)
There are many (mostly identical) recipes for the cake online, but the one that I chose to go with can be found here.
(click on image to enlarge)
The Cake:
The stencil that I used for powdered-sugar-decoration was a quick design that did on the computer, then printed up and cut out.
Though the lemon mousse (homemade lemon curd mixed with whipped cream) isn't part of the original recipe, I wanted to break away from the usual cakes coming out of my kitchen as of late.
This is undoubtedly one of my favorite cakes I've baked thus far.
It tastes wonderful, has great texture, and is not too sweet. I always tend to love lemon and almond together, and the airiness of the mousse was a nice contrast to the sand-sized denseness of the finely-ground almonds. (Side note, if you've never blanched your own almonds before, I highly recommend it—easy and rather meditative!)
There are many (mostly identical) recipes for the cake online, but the one that I chose to go with can be found here.
2.18.2009
Pictures of Cake, A Miscellany
Last weekend's Classic Vanilla Pound Cake topped with Blueberry Compote and Unsweetened Whipped Cream:
Two wedding cakes made by my friend Branda:
A Chocolate Butter Cake filled with Chocolate Ganache and frosted with Basic Buttercream
A Yellow Buttermilk Cake filled with Lemon Curd, also frosted with Basic Buttercream
The insanely delicious Red Velvet Cake baked by Roger Kuhn for our friend Alexis' birthday:
Two wedding cakes made by my friend Branda:
A Chocolate Butter Cake filled with Chocolate Ganache and frosted with Basic Buttercream
A Yellow Buttermilk Cake filled with Lemon Curd, also frosted with Basic Buttercream
The insanely delicious Red Velvet Cake baked by Roger Kuhn for our friend Alexis' birthday:
2.05.2009
Cake Thursday: January 29th
The invitation:
The cake: Sweet and Salty (recipe from Baked).
Salted caramel, dark chocolate caramel buttercream, and sea salt between each of five layers of dark chocolate cake which was then slathered with the buttercream and and sprinkled with sea salt.
Utterly intense and overwhelming.
Oh, and thoroughly addicting.
The cake: Sweet and Salty (recipe from Baked).
Salted caramel, dark chocolate caramel buttercream, and sea salt between each of five layers of dark chocolate cake which was then slathered with the buttercream and and sprinkled with sea salt.
Utterly intense and overwhelming.
Oh, and thoroughly addicting.
1.27.2009
I Forgot...
to add in the last post:
1) The invitation to Cake Thursday, January 16th
Click to enlarge
2) How the cakes tasted. I've been leaving out crucial details such as that lately, though by no means on purpose. Business in work and life as well as a cake-preoccupation on THE BOOK leaves me with little time to flush out things here.
Which is ridiculous...I'm neglecting to pay attention to one of the most useful rules of life: You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge a cake by its frosting.
So, all that said...
The Star Cake (which I think I did muse on a bit) was lovely, delicate, and tea-worthy.
The Striped Cake was one of those too-much-going-on kinds of cake. Tart and sweet and fruity and meringue-crusted. It was not a bad cake, but it was an "I can't quite finish it" kind of cake. And rarely do I not finish a slice of cake.
The Sprinkle Cake...alas, I did not get to taste it as I had to leave the party early. A co-worker had paid me to make a red velvet birthday cake for her sister, which was to be delivered (meeting under the clock in Grand Central—kinda poetic) the next morning. A frosting crisis had developed which needed immediate attention. FYI, it all worked out well.
I did receive an email from the recipient of the Sprinkle cake a few days later:
I wanted to say thank you so much for the amazing chocolate cake. When people bit into it there were quite a few memorable quotes.... "I'm eating heaven!" being one.
Leads me to think it tasted pretty good.
1) The invitation to Cake Thursday, January 16th
Click to enlarge
2) How the cakes tasted. I've been leaving out crucial details such as that lately, though by no means on purpose. Business in work and life as well as a cake-preoccupation on THE BOOK leaves me with little time to flush out things here.
Which is ridiculous...I'm neglecting to pay attention to one of the most useful rules of life: You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge a cake by its frosting.
So, all that said...
The Star Cake (which I think I did muse on a bit) was lovely, delicate, and tea-worthy.
The Striped Cake was one of those too-much-going-on kinds of cake. Tart and sweet and fruity and meringue-crusted. It was not a bad cake, but it was an "I can't quite finish it" kind of cake. And rarely do I not finish a slice of cake.
The Sprinkle Cake...alas, I did not get to taste it as I had to leave the party early. A co-worker had paid me to make a red velvet birthday cake for her sister, which was to be delivered (meeting under the clock in Grand Central—kinda poetic) the next morning. A frosting crisis had developed which needed immediate attention. FYI, it all worked out well.
I did receive an email from the recipient of the Sprinkle cake a few days later:
I wanted to say thank you so much for the amazing chocolate cake. When people bit into it there were quite a few memorable quotes.... "I'm eating heaven!" being one.
Leads me to think it tasted pretty good.
1.26.2009
Stars and Stripes (And Sprinkles)
Though not directly related to the wonderful inauguration, there was no shortage of patrioticesque cakes over the past week or so.
First up:
Cake Thursday, January 16th was the Sunday Cake (Named as such as it's the kind of cake I imagine would be very nice served after a big Sunday dinner. A very basic, moist, single-layer butter cake flavored delicately with vanilla extract and orange flower water.)
Dusted with powdered sugar stars, I served it with homemade vanilla bean ice cream in celebration of the birthday of a very dear friend whom I'm lucky enough to work with.
That very same friend and I spent a frigid Saturday afternoon trolling a flea market before running for warmth in a small café.
She had a hot chocolate and an almond croissant, while I had black coffee and a slice of cake bought on looks alone.
That night, I briefly attended a birthday party for another friend, bringing with me a dark chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream and covered in all sorts of celebration-appropriate sprinkles.
1.19.2009
The Wedding Party
A few weeks ago, I baked a cake along with two dozen cupcakes for a work party celebrating the impending nuptials of a company VP.
No pressure there.
After showing sketches and offering ideas to those involved in the planning, it was settled that I'd bake and decorate a 2-layer Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting as well as 1 dozen Chocolate Cupcakes and 1 dozen Lemony-Vanilla Cupcakes, both with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
It was an intense undertaking, comprising of a few pounds of butter and flour, nearly a pound of sugar, a dozen eggs, 24 handmade tissue paper flowers, and 3 fresh-blooming lilies.
Here are the exhausting, yet incredibly satisfying (and overwhelmingly well-received), results...
No pressure there.
After showing sketches and offering ideas to those involved in the planning, it was settled that I'd bake and decorate a 2-layer Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting as well as 1 dozen Chocolate Cupcakes and 1 dozen Lemony-Vanilla Cupcakes, both with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
It was an intense undertaking, comprising of a few pounds of butter and flour, nearly a pound of sugar, a dozen eggs, 24 handmade tissue paper flowers, and 3 fresh-blooming lilies.
Here are the exhausting, yet incredibly satisfying (and overwhelmingly well-received), results...
1.05.2009
Happy New Year!
After what seems like an eternity away from flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and the computer, I'm back in Brooklyn itching to bake. But, before I move on to 2009, there are a few things from 2008 that I did not get the chance to post before fleeing the city for the mountains.
First up is Cake Thursday: December 18th
The invite:
The Cake:
Next up is the cake my friend Aaron baked for the holidays, a Cranberry Walnut Upside Down Cake (recipe via Dorrie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours).
Though the image is a bit of a blur, I think the cake came out beautifully—and it was his first!
Last, but not least, I caught this post on The Brooklyn Kitchen Blog of their Crown Roast Cake made to celebrate the opening of Marlow & Daughters...
Note to vegetarians: Perhaps a new way to have your meat and eat it to?
First up is Cake Thursday: December 18th
The invite:
The Cake:
Next up is the cake my friend Aaron baked for the holidays, a Cranberry Walnut Upside Down Cake (recipe via Dorrie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours).
Though the image is a bit of a blur, I think the cake came out beautifully—and it was his first!
Last, but not least, I caught this post on The Brooklyn Kitchen Blog of their Crown Roast Cake made to celebrate the opening of Marlow & Daughters...
Note to vegetarians: Perhaps a new way to have your meat and eat it to?
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