Monday, April 25, 2011

Heavenly Cake Bakers: Miette's Tomboy


Perhaps the most adorable cake in the whole Heavenly Cakes book--Miette's Tomboy is the signature cake of its eponymous bakery. It's also really really really good. It's an oil cake, made mostly with cocoa but also with one ounce of chocolate dissolved in boiling water. The cocoa I used was a very special dark cocoa that I got at Sahadi's--it's so black that it looks blue in the mixing bowl, and it makes a very very dark cake.
I actually made this cake for the first time a few weeks ago, when the rest of the group did, but I never got around to frosting it before we ate it. Since it was little (6 inches), I figured there was room to try again. Also, the first time I didn't really properly beat the egg (one egg doesn't beat so well in the large bowl of my old mixer, so this time I tried the smaller bowl), and so the cake sank dramatically in the middle. This time it had much more height, though there was still a dip. The mixer also can cause problems for making mousseline buttercream, as I often have problems getting the sugar syrup in without it crusting on the sides of the bowl. This time was a win, possibly the best and fluffiest mousseline I've ever made (tilting the bowl to get a better temperature read on the sugar was also wise). Matt had a slice (after a very dedicated photo session--he said it was fun to shoot) and said that it tasted very similar to an Oreo cookie. I haven't tried it yet, but based on various scrap samples, I'd agree. The piping--well, I got carried away by the leftovers and so the top wasn't flat. But it's pretty cute, no?

6 comments:

mds said...

Katya, that is lovely! Missed you at Passover: The Keene Edition. Did you make those little flowers?

Katya said...

Nope. Bought them at the New York Baking Supply Store. Kind of silly when there are flowers everywhere, but that's what I had on hand.

evil cake lady said...

very cute! i love how dark your cake is; makes me wish i could have a slice!

faithy said...

very pretty! I am planning to bake this next week!

Unknown said...

i love the decoration! What a beautiful cake

lola said...

Just adorable and I love the plate. I think I have a similar one in storage - must look for it when I "visit" my unit. This is an easy to do and keeper recipe. Great job!