Surprise indeed. Maybe not a nice one for all, but the boss LOVED it and it tasted (sorry-co-worker-who-did-not-want-me-to-use-her-name) much better than it looked.
8.26.2008
You see,
It was our boss's birthday and my co-worker had volunteered to bake a cake. As the boss lady loves Christian Bale and the Batman movies, my dear, esteemed co-worker thought it would be a nice surprise to decorate the cake to look like The Joker.
Surprise indeed. Maybe not a nice one for all, but the boss LOVED it and it tasted (sorry-co-worker-who-did-not-want-me-to-use-her-name) much better than it looked.
Surprise indeed. Maybe not a nice one for all, but the boss LOVED it and it tasted (sorry-co-worker-who-did-not-want-me-to-use-her-name) much better than it looked.
8.17.2008
Escape from Deer Mountain
For a variety of reasons, there has been a dearth of words here at PoC. Though I've stayed true to the pictures, the title of last Thursday's post was, well, accurate for many reasons.
I may be at a loss for words, but I'm definitely not at a loss for cake. I've made a few interesting ones over the past few weeks...
First up is a Cake Thursday cake from the 7th.
Edna Lewis's Busy Day Cake (via Orangette) + Blueberry Sauce.
I sent this invitation out to my co-workers:
Today’s cake is the Busy-Day Cake. It’s rather simple, not too sweet, and fragrant with nutmeg. The recipe comes by way of Edna Lewis and her wonderful cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking. In it, she notes:
Busy-day cake was never iced, it was always cut into squares and served warm, often with fresh fruit or berries left over from canning. The delicious flavor of fresh-cooked fruit with the plain cake was just to our taste and it was also refreshing with newly churned, chilled buttermilk or cold morning’s milk.
If I could give you that experience, I would in a heartbeat. Sadly, the only part I can replicate is that the cake is not iced. So, in my best attempt at improvising with what I’ve got, it will be cut into wedges, not squares, served at room temperature, not warm (there’s always the microwave), and topped with a blueberry sauce made from (really good) frozen berries.
Despite my passion for DIY, I do not can my own fruit, churn buttermilk or milk cows at dawn. Yet.
Both the invitation and the cake were a rousing success.
***
Second, I made Mini-Cheesecakes from Nick Malgieri's recipe in The Modern Baker...
for a dinner on the 16th. FYI, it looks a little...airy...due to the fact that this one was made with Splenda to accommodate a diabetic dinner guest.
***
The last cake was one I baked last Friday in order to try out a recent acquisition—a Wilton Sports Ball Pan. Now, I'm pretty confident that I will never use it to make a sports ball, but a sphere shaped cake? Endless possibilities.
That said, I chose this recipe for Double Chocolate Cake that I've wanted to try for ages. After all this time, all these cakes, I simply should have known from one read-through that there was no way that recipe would work in that pan. I should have known, oh me of little attention paid, that the cake would collapse into clumps of moist, chocolate failu...
Not quite so fast! A little time in a bowl in the fridge, spackle-thick frosting, and train miniatures I just happen to have laying around and you get:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Deer Mountain Cake.
It may look a little funny, but it tasted spectacular.
I may be at a loss for words, but I'm definitely not at a loss for cake. I've made a few interesting ones over the past few weeks...
First up is a Cake Thursday cake from the 7th.
Edna Lewis's Busy Day Cake (via Orangette) + Blueberry Sauce.
I sent this invitation out to my co-workers:
Today’s cake is the Busy-Day Cake. It’s rather simple, not too sweet, and fragrant with nutmeg. The recipe comes by way of Edna Lewis and her wonderful cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking. In it, she notes:
Busy-day cake was never iced, it was always cut into squares and served warm, often with fresh fruit or berries left over from canning. The delicious flavor of fresh-cooked fruit with the plain cake was just to our taste and it was also refreshing with newly churned, chilled buttermilk or cold morning’s milk.
If I could give you that experience, I would in a heartbeat. Sadly, the only part I can replicate is that the cake is not iced. So, in my best attempt at improvising with what I’ve got, it will be cut into wedges, not squares, served at room temperature, not warm (there’s always the microwave), and topped with a blueberry sauce made from (really good) frozen berries.
Despite my passion for DIY, I do not can my own fruit, churn buttermilk or milk cows at dawn. Yet.
Both the invitation and the cake were a rousing success.
***
Second, I made Mini-Cheesecakes from Nick Malgieri's recipe in The Modern Baker...
for a dinner on the 16th. FYI, it looks a little...airy...due to the fact that this one was made with Splenda to accommodate a diabetic dinner guest.
***
The last cake was one I baked last Friday in order to try out a recent acquisition—a Wilton Sports Ball Pan. Now, I'm pretty confident that I will never use it to make a sports ball, but a sphere shaped cake? Endless possibilities.
That said, I chose this recipe for Double Chocolate Cake that I've wanted to try for ages. After all this time, all these cakes, I simply should have known from one read-through that there was no way that recipe would work in that pan. I should have known, oh me of little attention paid, that the cake would collapse into clumps of moist, chocolate failu...
Not quite so fast! A little time in a bowl in the fridge, spackle-thick frosting, and train miniatures I just happen to have laying around and you get:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Deer Mountain Cake.
It may look a little funny, but it tasted spectacular.
8.13.2008
8.11.2008
Red Velvet
Photo by Rusel Parish
A thick slice of the Red Velvet Cake I recently helped my friend bake.
8.06.2008
Lists About Baking with Nick Malgieri
The class:
• Sixteen, all women
• College-age and up
• A few from outside the U.S.
• Many of whom never bake cakes
• Most liked cupcakes and cookies more
The room:
• An endless supply of white aprons and dish towels
• Four stainless steel work tables
• Kitchen Aid mixers
• Clean kitchen-and-bakeware always available
• Four big ovens
• Bins of flours and sugars
• Big bottles of Vanilla extract
• I don't know how many pounds of butter
• Stacks of eggs resting in carton flats
The instructor:
•Made us lunch every day even though he wasn't supposed to
• Could go from sweet to snappy in the blink of an eye (but always with the best intentions)
• Knows what he's talking about
• Is a big gossip
• Is serious about kitchen safety—so much so that he threatens to smack hands like a Catholic School teacher if you do something wrong
• Which he did to me. For the record, he was mistaken.
Some of the wonderful, tasty cakes made by my group of four:
DAY ONE
• Perfect Pound Cake
• Blackberry Jam Cake
• Heirloom Chocolate Cake
DAY TWO
Not pictured, but loved nevertheless:
• Banana Rum Coconut Cake
• Individual NY Cheesecakes.
• Classic Genoise (baked on day 1)
Filled and frosted with Raspberry Meringue Buttercream (spiked with a touch of Raspberry Eau de Vie)
Topped with fresh raspberries and toasted, broken bits of almonds
• Devil's Food Cake crushed to death by a ton of failed Meringue Icing.
Other cakes made by other groups:
• Whipped Cream Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting
• Blueberry Crumb Cake
• Hazelnut Financiers
• Single-layer Chocolate Mousse Cake
DAY THREE
The day of small things:
• Cocoa Nib Brownies
• Biscotti Regina
• Raspberry Linzer Disks
• Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes with Confectioners Sugar Icing
I have no pictures of those treats, but I do have as a closing shot enlightenment in the form of this Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake N.M. baked for us as a demo.
As I understand it, all of the recipes are in The Modern Baker, out very soon. If those three days taught me anything, it will be worth every penny.
• Sixteen, all women
• College-age and up
• A few from outside the U.S.
• Many of whom never bake cakes
• Most liked cupcakes and cookies more
The room:
• An endless supply of white aprons and dish towels
• Four stainless steel work tables
• Kitchen Aid mixers
• Clean kitchen-and-bakeware always available
• Four big ovens
• Bins of flours and sugars
• Big bottles of Vanilla extract
• I don't know how many pounds of butter
• Stacks of eggs resting in carton flats
The instructor:
•Made us lunch every day even though he wasn't supposed to
• Could go from sweet to snappy in the blink of an eye (but always with the best intentions)
• Knows what he's talking about
• Is a big gossip
• Is serious about kitchen safety—so much so that he threatens to smack hands like a Catholic School teacher if you do something wrong
• Which he did to me. For the record, he was mistaken.
Some of the wonderful, tasty cakes made by my group of four:
DAY ONE
• Perfect Pound Cake
• Blackberry Jam Cake
• Heirloom Chocolate Cake
DAY TWO
Not pictured, but loved nevertheless:
• Banana Rum Coconut Cake
• Individual NY Cheesecakes.
• Classic Genoise (baked on day 1)
Filled and frosted with Raspberry Meringue Buttercream (spiked with a touch of Raspberry Eau de Vie)
Topped with fresh raspberries and toasted, broken bits of almonds
• Devil's Food Cake crushed to death by a ton of failed Meringue Icing.
Other cakes made by other groups:
• Whipped Cream Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting
• Blueberry Crumb Cake
• Hazelnut Financiers
• Single-layer Chocolate Mousse Cake
DAY THREE
The day of small things:
• Cocoa Nib Brownies
• Biscotti Regina
• Raspberry Linzer Disks
• Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes with Confectioners Sugar Icing
I have no pictures of those treats, but I do have as a closing shot enlightenment in the form of this Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake N.M. baked for us as a demo.
As I understand it, all of the recipes are in The Modern Baker, out very soon. If those three days taught me anything, it will be worth every penny.
8.04.2008
A Simple Strawberry Cake
To end a wonderful dinner with visiting family.
A. One layer of basic vanilla cake
B. A storm cloud of whipped cream
C. A pint of the best strawberries I could find. Sliced.
A. One layer of basic vanilla cake
B. A storm cloud of whipped cream
C. A pint of the best strawberries I could find. Sliced.
8.01.2008
Learning to be a Modern Baker
The lack of posts this week is due to the fact that I just finished a three day class taught by baker extraordinaire Nick Malgieri at the Institute of Culinary Education. There were two days of cakes and one day of cupcakes and cookies and it was heaven.
Though he did not mention it much, the recipes and techniques he taught are from his new book, The Modern Baker, out in September.
More on the class (with pictures!) next week.
Though he did not mention it much, the recipes and techniques he taught are from his new book, The Modern Baker, out in September.
More on the class (with pictures!) next week.
7.25.2008
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