Quick Roundup of the Unphotographed

Both of my cookthroughs are winding down, and before I get too invested in any other cookbook projects, I am going to try to finish up all or most of what I've missed over the last few years of participating in Tuesdays with Dorie and the Heavenly Cake bake-through. To that end, I've been taking stock, and wanted to mention in passing a few recipes that were made but never photographed, and so never blogged. As I leaf through the books, I'll put up a brief note whenever I discover one of these omissions.


The first was recent--I made Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake the weekend before Thanksgiving, as kind of antidote to the pie frenzy. I left it crustless, with just a few graham cracker bits scattered throughout. With no crust to add salt and contrast, it was almost painfully rich, but well received at work. I've promised my sister a cheesecake for the successful completion of the GRE, so more to come shortly.

"...we hope this doesn't ruin your life..."

Last week, we caused our downstairs neighbors some inconvenience (I won't go into it, but let's just say there was some water coming through their ceiling), and I baked them a bundt cake to make amends. They weren't home when I went to drop it off, so I left the covered plate outside their door.

The next evening we went up to visit our upstairs neighbors. This makes our building sound absurdly cozy. The truth is, that while there are only five apartments, and we're friendly all around, we don't socialize all that much. Still, we have a lot in common with the folks upstairs, and when we do see them, even for a short stairway conversation, I always think that we should spend more time hanging out.

Back to the story at hand--we went up to see the upstairs neighbors. The conversation turned to the water incident, and Clarence, who also has a food blog and loves to cook, said, "Oh, is that why there was a cake in the hallway?" I admitted my complicity, and he mentioned that any cakes that came their way would also be welcomed.

Now, it doesn't take a special occasion to get a cake out of me, but I knew they'd be getting a cake immediately when he followed up his cake observations by saying they had something to tell us...

"Now," he said, "we hope this doesn't ruin your life...but we're going to have a baby."

We assured him that we couldn't imagine it ruining our lives (we like little people, and are already up at all hours). In fact, if they let me put a funny hat on their kid, it may well enhance my life immensely. They laughed, and said they had heard that it might ruin their lives, but they would take advantage of Matt's 3AM ukulele solos as lullaby fodder.

With all this good news and running up and down the stairs, it was clearly time to make them a cake. I chose one of the last contenders in the Rose's Heavenly Cake countdown, an Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake.  It's a simple but appealing sweet, two layers of sour cream coffeecake, sandwiched around a thin apple cinnamon filling, and covered with buttery walnut streusel.

Two unrelated notes: my spellcheck doesn't recognise coffeecake or streusel. Or spellcheck. It has a lot to learn. Also, I am really over people using 'buttery' to describe rich tuna belly or other sashimi. Maybe I just don't like sashimi. At any rate, Clarence assures us that the cake was excellent.

Heavenly Cake Bakers: Rose Red Velvet

Just a little red velvet cake, chilling out at work.

Most people who know me know that my personal dessert pantheon looks something like PIE! CUSTARD! FRUIT! COOKIES! ... cake. Every now and again, though, I get a strong urge to bake and frost something tall, fluffy, and all-American. Red Velvet cake, while not my favorite, fits the bill perfectly, with the additional perk of being covered in cream cheese frosting, which I prefer over buttercream. I have made Rose's white chocolate cream cheese frosting before, and found it a little grainy and thin. For this batch, I used a recipe from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, a shelf staple at my house.

I made this little fella and took it to work last week, where messy as it was (I undershot the confectioner's sugar quotient needed for the frosting), it was appreciated.

Cakes and Cakes and Cakes

On looking back, that last post seems very ambitious. Did I do all of those fun sounding things? Well, not yet. The bike is still blocking the side door, the African dance remains a myth. I did go to yoga, though, once, and I made three cakes. Although the photo above was the only survivor of the process (Matt deemed the others 'unacceptable,' and I have to trust his word), there were in fact three cakes, and all three were Heavenly cakes, it seems only right to have a little discussion of them, photo or no.

Two weeks ago, I made the Apple Upside Down Cake, one of the first recipes in the book but one that I hadn't gotten around to yet. Caramelized apples under a yolky, buttery cake layer, sprinkled with nuts...that one was good. I tried to give it away as a housewarming present for my cousin, who just moved back to town, but only half of it made it over (next time, Sophie). Luckily, my Aunt Nicki was down the following weekend, and as a fellow devotee of Dorie Greenspan, she instigated the making of a Swedish Visiting Cake, so all was well.

Last week, I made the much-awaited Ginger Cheesecake, a fairly classic cheesecake made with a ginger crust (in my case, crushed oatmeal cookies), and juice squeezed from grated ginger. I didn't have quite enough ginger to get the amount of juice recommended, but it was still clearly present in the final product. My crust was oily, probably because my cookies were less austere than your average gingersnap, but the cake itself was excellent, and was devoured whole by hungry librarians at a training I helped conduct on Saturday. 

This week's cake, pictured above, was a riff on the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake, which I last made for Liana's birthday the year before last. I didn't have white chocolate, which is called for in the cake, so I made Rose's White Velvet cake layers instead, and filled it with a pear buttercream and pear butter, then covered it with the Sticky Chocolate Frosting. The result, although it looked like Boston Cream Pie, tasted more like sheet cake. The pear frosting didn't really make itself heard, and without it the cake was, as Liana and Matt both admitted, somewhat boring.  My co-workers disagreed, and finished it happily, proclaiming Liana and Matt spoiled, to which they both readily and happily admitted. I thought it might improve with chocolate ice cream, but then just went for the ice cream and ignored the cake.

It's been a chaotic few weeks, at least under the surface of placid librarianship.There's a new year coming, and I'm not ready, but maybe I'll get there. Right now, I'm trying to remember what's best in life, and to hold on to it with a fierce grip.

Somewhat on that last note, I've had one more Rose Levy Beranbaum-related milestone. I finally got too annoyed at the broken binding and sticky pages of Rose's Heavenly Cakes, and bought myself a brand new copy. Time to make that one sticky too.

Making Things Up

I've been making a lot of cake. There is buttercream in my dreams. After three little chocolate cakes in a row, it all started to tasted like Ho-Hos to me. I started to yearn for something white and fluffy, something with jam and creaminess. In a fit of perversity, I thought up the cake below--honey buttercream, rhubarb curd, crabapple jam, and buttery cake. 

All the recipes are based on Rose Levy Beranbaum's, though many are a bit adapted. The honey buttercream, from The Cake Bible, was good but I found it overwhelmingly buttery, and not strong enough on the honey, even after I beat in about a quarter of a cup of extra honey.

I decided that as long as I had all this soft buttercream and not enough sleep, the time was ripe to learn some flower piping techniques. I tried for sweet peas and roses, and...well, got some fluffy piles. Maybe next time I'll go with some stiffer frosting.

Pretty in pink.

Oh, by the way, this week's heavenly cake was the Swedish Pear and Almond Cream bundt, which I made a while ago.

Wedding Cake 2011: Prototype #1

Wedding cake 2011 is underway. My friends Jessica and Christopher have asked me to make them a wedding cake, and their wedding is quite soon, and it's time to get going, especially as this cake will not only have to be made, but be transported to and assembled in Washington, D.C. in the height of summer. Flavor profiles are not quite nailed down, but the general themes of chocolate, caramel, and more chocolate have been established.

To get in the mood, I tried a version of Rose's Deep Chocolate Passion wedding cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. The cake is Rose's German Chocolate Cake base, soaked in a milk chocolate syrup, then filled with a buttercream or ganache, and finished with a lacquer glaze. For the filling and undercoat, I used leftover buttercreams that were waiting in the freezer--Chocolate Egg White buttercream for the filling, White Chocolate Lemon Buttercream for the undercoat. I made the lacquer glaze fresh.

I thought the cake was very successful, and the tasters at work agreed, although there was general consensus that the lemon/chocolate combo wasn't quite it. I am ambivalent about the lacquer glaze--it seems very delicate (can't put plastic wrap over it, etc...) although it does firm up out in the open air. I may need to come up with another strategy, as I can't glaze at the last minute. More to come soon, any ideas appreciated, as the countdown to Wedding Cake 2011 continues.

A Round-Up on the Heavenly Cake Horse Race

Hello again. I was off graduating from Library School. While I was off-blog, a graduation of another sort was happening over at Heavenly Cake Place. Marie has finished baking every cake in Rose's Heavenly Cakes, finishing up with the spectacular mousse globe of Zach's La Bomba. For those of us who straggle a bit, another RHC baker, Jenn, is going to be picking up hosting duties while we finish up whatever's lacking.

My photographer is out of town, and I'm making some extensive and long-overdue changes to my web presence, but I'll definitely be finishing out the RHC bakethrough, and continuing to post the results here.

To keep me honest, and to help those of you who are sometimes asked to select Free Choice cakes...here's the list (updated as appropriate) of cakes baked. The linked cakes have been baked and blogged. Those in italics have been baked at some point, but never blogged. The order of cakes is lifted from the list at the front of the book. Plenty done, plenty to go. Anyone have a birthday coming up?

HEAVENLY CAKES:

BUTTER and OIL CAKES:
Apple Upside-Down Cake (September, 2011)
Plum and Blueberry Upside Down Torte (August 9, 2010)
She Loves Me Cake (May 31, 2010)
White Velvet Cake w/ Milk Chocolate Ganache (January 9, 2011)
Heavenly Coconut Seduction Cake
Southern Manhattan Coconut Cake w/ Silk Meringue Buttercream (May 2, 2011)
Whipped Cream Cake                                                                                                 
Karmel Cake (April 4, 2011)
Golden Lemon Almond Cake (March 1, 2010) 
Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Cake (March 1, 2010) 
Woody’s Lemon Luxury Layer Cake (March 24, 2011) 
Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake (November 16, 2011)
Marble Velvet Cake
Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake
Swedish Pear and Almond Cream Cake  
Cradle Cake (February 5, 2011)
Sicilian Pistachio Cake (March 15, 2010)
Gateau Breton (May 10, 2010)
Sticky Toffee “Pudding” (February 28, 2011)
English Gingerbread Cake (March 1, 2010)
Fruitcake Wreath
Rose Red Velvet Cake (October 29, 2011)
Chocolate Tomato Cake w/ Mystery Ganache (September 27, 2010)
Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cake (June 14, 2010)
Chocolate Banana Stud Cake (July 19, 2010)
Devil’s Food Cake w/ Midnight Ganache (March 13, 2011)
Chocolate Layer Cake w/ Caramel Ganache (August 30, 2010)
Bernachon Palet d’Or Gateau (May 24, 2010)
Double Chocolate Valentine                     
Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake  (December 5, 2010)
Black Chocolate Party Cake (February 20, 2011)
Classic Carrot Cake w/ Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting (January 16, 2011)
Pumpkin Cake w/ Burnt Orange Silk Meringue Buttercream (November 15, 2010)
Many-Splendored Quick Bread (October 18, 2010)
Banana Refrigerator Cake w/ Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting (April 12, 2010)
German Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Ice Cream Cake or Sandwich (July 5, 2010)

SPONGE CAKES:
Angel Food Cake (October 27, 2010)
Miette’s Tomboy (April 25, 2011)
Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake (September 13, 2010)
Chocolate Apricot Roll w/ Lacquer Glaze (March 8, 2010)
Génoise Rose (June 29, 2010)
White Gold Passion Génoise (June 16, 2011) 
Red Fruit Shortcake
Torta de las Tres Leches (December 21, 2010)
True Orange Génoise (June 16, 2011)
Génoise Très Café
Chocolate Génoise w/ Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache (November 22, 2010)
Moist Chocolate Raspberry Génoise (March 7, 2011)
Catalan Salt Pinch Cake
Almond Shamah Chiffon
Orange Glow Chiffon Layer Cake (March 29, 2011)
Lemon Meringue Cake (August 2, 2010)
Apple Caramel Charlotte (September 20, 2010)
Chocolate Raspberry Trifle (May 31, 2011)
Saint-Honoré Trifle (May 4, 2010)
Holiday Pinecone Cake

MOSTLY FLOURLESS CAKES and CHEESECAKES:
Cranberry Crown Cheesecake (December 27, 2010)
Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake (November 20, 2011)
Coconut Cheesecake w/ Coconut Cookie Crust (June 23, 2010)
Ginger Cheesecake w/ Gingerbread Crust (September 17, 2011)
No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake
Lemon Canadian Crown with Ladyfingers (February 20, 2011)
Ladyfingers
Tiramisù (September 19, 2010)
Sybil’s Pecan Torte w/ Coffee Cream (April 5, 2010)
Chocolate Feather Bed (August 17, 2010)
Hungarian Jancsi Torta 
 Le Succès (March 29, 2010)
Zach’s La Bomba

BABY CAKES:
Yellow Butter Cupcakes
Chocolate Butter Cupcakes (June 7, 2010)
White Velvet Butter Cupcakes (May 11, 2011)
Frostings: Golden Neoclassic Buttercream, Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting, Chocolate-Egg White Buttercream
Designer Chocolate Baby Grands (July 26, 2010)
Gold Ingots (September 10, 2010)
Chocolate Ingots
Peanut Butter Ingots (March 22, 2010)
Plum Round Ingots 
Financier-Style Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes
Mini Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes (July 13, 2010)
Baby Lemon Cheesecakes (May 17, 2010)
Quail Egg Indulgence Cake (February 20, 2011)
Marionberry Shortcake (August 25, 2010)
Coffee Chiffonlets w/ Dulce de Leche Whipped Cream (May 1, 2010)
Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes
Caramelized Pineapple Pudding Cakes with Classic Brioche (October 4, 2010)
The Bostini (November 1, 2010)
Deep Chocolate Rosebuds
Molten Chocolate Soufflé and Lava Cakes (October 11, 2010)
Chocolate Bull’s-Eye Cakes (January 2, 2011)
Barcelona Brownie Bars (May 23, 2010)
Baby Chocolate Oblivions
Two Fat Cats Whoopie Pies (April 19, 2010)
Mud Turtle Cupcakes (February 8, 2011)

WEDDING CAKES :
Tropical Wedding Cake
Golden Dream Wedding Cake
Grand Marnier Wedding Cake
Deep Chocolate Passion Wedding Cake (June 1, 2011)
Double-Chocolate Whammy Groom’s Cake
Wedding Cupcakes (not really a recipe, more suggestions of combinations)