truth in advertising / all-occasion downy yellow butter cake

In The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum writes that her favorite cake, if she had to pick one, would be the All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake (page 39). I had a birthday cake project to do, and knew I wanted to use a coffee flavored frosting, because the recipient was a coffee lover, so I thought this would be a good, neutral cake base to use with it.  The plan was to decorate the cake as a yarn basket, as it was for someone who liked to knit, so the cake would be made with 3 square layers to build a more or less cube shaped base that would then be topped with rice krispie balls covered in fondant to look like yarn. Originally, I had planned two 9" square layers on top of a 7 3/4" square and beveled in slightly to make a basket shape.  I divided the recipe into a 9" pan and a 7 3/4" pan and made two batches.  The second batch, unfortunately, met with disaster, as I burned my hand trying to remove one of the pans from the oven and spilled the piping hot 9" cake, which promptly broke into a crumbly mess once it hit the open oven door.  This left me with one 9" square atop two 7 3/4" squares; less ideal, but it ended up working okay.

 

The unintended bonus resulting from having spilled the cake was that I actually got to taste some of the cake.  It was, indeed, lusciously buttery and very moist, but not so rich as to be overpowering.  It turned out to be a lovely base for the frosting, which was Rose's classic mocha espresso buttercream (made by adding 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate and 2 Tbsp of instant espresso powder to one recipe of neoclassical buttercream). Let me just say, that frosting was INSANE, it was so good.  And I don't even really like coffee.  Anyway, the cake was assembled and dirty iced, then covered with interwoven fondant strips to resemble basket weave.  There is actually some wood graining on the fondant, achieved by striping a sheet of fondant with gel icing color and twisting before rolling out again. The strips were pressed onto a woven placement to create some wicker-like texture as well.  Two fondant ropes were then intertwined to make the basket border.

 

A white sheet of fondant was draped over the top to cover the frosting and reduce dead space, then the yarn balls were placed on top.  I was thinking of trying to make needles out of sugar, but ran out of time, so just used wooden dowels colored silver instead.  All in all, it came together quite well, and I was pleased with the taste.

 

Ratings:

Overall - 7

Crumb - 7 / moist, light, slightly crumbly

Flavor - 8 / great buttery flavor, not too rich

Appearance - 7 / standard appearance, sides were a little overbrowned while top was slightly pasty; probably would benefit from baking strips

Ease of baking - 8 / simple, no extra steps

 

Details:

Bakeware - 9" square pan and 7 3/4" square pan per recipe (cakes are on the thinner side)

Oven temperature - 350 degrees

Bake time - 25 minutes

Notes - 9" square was thinner and baked faster. Top remained pasty, but was removed when cakes were leveled for assembly.

non sequitur

crab-shaped cake
contents: golden almond cake with raspberry buttercream; claws and legs are rice krispie treats covered with modeling chocolate

tasty but pasty / sour cream butter cake

So, I had a bunch of yolks leftover from making the buche, so I decided to use them on the Sour Cream Butter Cake (page 35).  The ingredient list is simple, and is a typical 3 step cake: mix the dry ingredients, add butter and some liquid, then add the remaining liquid ingredients in batches.  Plus I figured you can't quite go wrong with a sour cream cake. Turns out I was somewhat mistaken, but I did deviate somewhat from the instructions, so I'll have to try this again.  Because my springform pan is black/glass, I baked the cake at 325 for longer.  I covered the top with foil to prevent overbrowning at 45 minutes, but forgot to grease the foil, so it lifted up the surface of the batter and I think interfered with the baking of the center.  I baked for a total of 65 minutes, and still the very center was not fully baked.  The resulting crumb was definitely pasty right after baking, but I let the cake sit as suggested in the book, and, as foretold, much of the pastiness was gone the day after.  Still, I felt the crumb was too dense and not fluffy enough for my taste.  The flavor of the cake is outstanding, though.  So, if texture is less of a priority for you than great flavor, I think this cake is a win, particularly because it's so easy to bake.  I think I may try it one more time at 350 and see how it goes.

 

Ratings:

Overall - 6

Crumb - 4 / too dense and slightly pasty

Flavor - 8 / great mellow flavor, not too buttery

Appearance - 6 / had to dock points for the uneven surface, but that was my own fault; it browns nicely otherwise

Ease of baking - 8 / a very simple cake, no extra steps involved

 

Details:

Bakeware - 9" springform pan (black/glass bottom)

Oven temperature - 325 degrees

Bake time - 65 minutes

Notes - Top covered with foil at 45 minutes.  Cooled 15 minutes in pan on rack before unmolding.  Cake tastes best after being allowed to sit overnight.

 

 

 

not-so-guilty pleasure / zucchini cupcakes

Is this the healthiest recipe in the book?  I don't know, but I do feel a lot better about eating Zucchini Cupcakes (page 73) than, say, a butter cake with chocolate ganache.  Not to mention, these little zucchini breads taste amazing, low-fat or not.  I did use whole eggs and brown sugar, but omitted the raisins.  I grated three medium sized zucchinis, which was more than ample for two recipes worth (weight-based).  I used the food processor with the shredding disk to grate the zucchini, and it worked great.  Bake time was on the low end of the range (20 minutes).  The resulting cupcakes are super moist, with great flavor, and they keep well, too.  I will definitely make these again.

 

Ratings:

Overall - 9

Crumb - 8 / very moist, with a slight chew

Flavor - 9 / just the right amount of sweetness

Appearance - 7 / the surface is a little rough and a bit on the brown side, but the zucchini pieces add nice color

Ease of baking - 6 / grating the zucchini is an extra step, but quick and easy with a food processor

 

Details:

Bakeware - Muffin tin (makes more than 12--I poured the excess into a ramekin)

Oven temperature - 350 degrees

Bake time - 20 minutes

Notes - I think the cupcakes are a great way to bake this--better and faster than a traditional loaf pan for zucchini bread.

christmas is the time for second chances / chocolate log redux

I know I said I didn't think it would be worth it to make the Cordon Rose Chocolate Christmas Log again, but, hey, it's the holidays--when if not now to develop a little more patience?  Thankfully, take two turned out much better than the first attempt, and took a lot less time.  I was more exact with the ingredients and was careful to smooth out the batter well in the pan before baking, so the cake looked better out of the oven:

I don't think I rolled this one quite as tightly as the last, though, and it didn't set in the fridge for quite as long, so the roll got a little flattened on the bottom.

The biggest improvement, by far, was that I didn't overcool the ganache, so that it was still of a spreadable consistency and didn't crumble when raked with the fork.  For added detail, I piped some royal icing grass on the cake board, which also made it easier to set the mushrooms.