a whisk and a spoon

The Cake Slice: Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake with Almond-Cream Cheese Frosting

I almost forgot to bake this cake.  That’s not quite true…I didn’t forget about the cake, I just didn’t realize the 20th is already here!  For the month of May, we Cake Slice Bakers have mixed it up a bit and are throwing back to last year’s book, with a recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake with Almond-Cream Cheese Frosting from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.

It’s pretty, isn’t it?  Something about this cake seems so sweetly charming and old-fashioned…like something my grandmas might bake (except for my grandmas have never been much into baking).  Underneath the almond-cream cheese frosting is a light white cake, flecked with lemon zest and poppy seeds.  I added a few drops of lemon oil to the batter, just to enhance the lemon flavor.

The lemon oil was my only tweak to the recipe (also not quite true…I cut back on the almond extract in the frosting just a tad), although I did a wackadoo two-fifths of the original amount of batter and frosting (I only wanted to use two egg whites).  I baked the cake in a quarter sheet pan, then cut it into three strips for frosting and stacking.  I like the change from the usual round layer cakes, although I do find squares and rectangles to be a bit trickier to frost.

Poppy seeds are so freakin’ cute!  Their amazing ability to get absolutely everywhere, though, really isn’t.

Here’s a printable link to the recipe…it’s really a keeper.  Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our mile-high cakes this month.

The Cake Slice: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This is the second time I’ve made a banana cake with The Cake Slice Bakers.  The two are quite different, but my reaction is the same:  bananas make for a darn good cake!  The cake itself was so moist and flavorful.  I can see it being great with a little cinnamon or espresso powder mixed in, or re-engineered as a snack cake.  It’s one I’ll make again, for sure…

…The chocolate frosting, though was a different story.  It turned super thick after I added the last addition of powdered sugar.  So thick, that I couldn’t spread it.  Rather than toss it in the bin, I put it over gentle heat until it just started to soften.  Then it was use it or lose it time, so I immediately swiped it on the cake in one pass.  I think I did a reasonably good job, all things considered, but can you see how the frosting looks a little dry and crackly?  It tasted good, and had quite a fudgy consistency, actually, but I think I’ll go with a tried-and-true chocolate frosting next time and save myself the stress.

Here’s a printable link to the recipe.  Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our banana cakes this month!

The Cake Slice: Red Velvet Cake

The Cake Slice Bakers are baking up a true slice of Americana this month– Red Velvet Cake.  Even though this cake has been super trendy in recent years, and I even though make a giant batch of it at work every day, I’ve never been so enthusiastic about red velvet.  All that food coloring makes me a bit uneasy.  A good thing about making it at home, though, is that you can control how much Red 40 does or does not go into it.  Just like the other time I made red velvet here, I used only a couple drops of gel coloring…more of a “rust velvet,” I guess.

I generally think cream cheese frosting and red velvet go hand-in-hand (although where I work, we use a cinnamon buttercream), but this recipe has a boiled milk frosting with coconut and pecans.  That’s new to me, but I really do think the frosting made it the best red velvet I’ve ever had (probably because it reminded me of my most favorite cake, German chocolate)!  And the texture of the cake’s crumb was great, too…soft and, of course, velvety.

Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our red velvet cakes this month!

The Cake Slice: White Chocolate Layer Cake

As I type, we are in the midst of the first big winter snowstorm here in NYC…so it seems only appropriate that I share with you this white-on-white White Chocolate Layer Cake chosen by the Cake Slice Bakers this month.  I’m not super keen on white chocolate, so I probably would have bypassed this recipe if not for the group, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  It’s the toothachey sweetness that really bugs me about white chocolate, but for every element of white chocolate here (it’s in both the cake and the frosting), there is an element of tanginess to balance it out.  For the cake, it’s buttermilk.  For the frosting, it’s cream cheese.  The cake is moist and soft, and c’mon, let’s face it…cream cheese icing would make pretty much anything taste good…so whats not to like here?

Here’s a printable link to the recipe.  Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our white chocolate cakes this month!

The Cake Slice: Burnt Sugar Cake

I almost forgot about this posting!  My head has been somewhere else, and the date kind of got away from me.  Oh well, here it is in all its sweet glory: the Burnt Sugar Cake for this month’s Cake Slice.

A burnt sugar syrup (really a dark caramel simple syrup) is the key to this recipe.  Both the cake and the frosting have a nice dose of this syrup, giving them a very eye-catching soft caramel color.

The cake itself is nice– a dense crumb, but moist.  Thanks to heaping amounts of powdered sugar added to the sugar syrup, the frosting is, predictably, very sweet.  While my husband was a big fan, it was a bit too much for me…I made a bee-line to my toothbrush after each slice! 

Here’s a printable link to the recipe.  Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our sugary cakes this month!

The Cake Slice: Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake

Oh…Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake…the last cake The Cake Slice Bakers are making as a group from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.  Sad, but just because the group will be moving on to a new book next month, Sky High won’t be gathering dust on the shelf.  After thirteen cakes, it has proven to be one of my favorite books, and I want to make just about every other thing in it!

This cake is like a high-class Ding Dong (although when and where I grew up, they were called “King Dons“).  If you were raised, as I was, in a house where such “crème-filled” delicacies were banned, then it will make you very happy.  A moist and dark devil’s food-like cake (made with mayo…but don’t be put off, because you’d never know!) is filled with a white chocolate mousse and frosted with chocolate sour cream frosting.  A piece of advice…my white chocolate filling seemed a bit too soft to use straight away, so I stashed it, still in its bowl, in the fridge for about half an hour to firm up before using it.

The cake is so rich and good– I think we’re seeing this book off with a bang!  Here’s a printable link to the recipe.  Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne…you won’t be sorry.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our sky-high cakes this month, and stay tuned for next month’s new book!

The Cake Slice: Pistachio Petit Four Cake

With marzipan roses on top (however garishly colored–oops!), this Pistachio Petit Four Cake from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes may be the ultimate ladies’ treat– something that you’ll want to eat with your pinkie curled in the air. 

It’s not just for the girls though…R was completely happy to have it as his birthday cake this past week (want to see last year’s, or the year before’s?).  And he’d have been crazy not to want it.  Pistachio butter cake stacked with rolled marzipan, apricot jam and chocolate ganache make for a layered affair that is not just beautiful to look at, but tastes beautiful, too.

Sounds like a lot of fuss for a cake, but it’s completely worth it, and it’s not really that hard…at least not compared to stuggling through the petits fours glacés section of a French cooking school curriculum!  Buy the jam, and what the hell, buy the marzipan, too.  Even though there were instructions in the recipe for homemade marzipan, I confess that I just got the stuff in a log (one log worked great for the six-inch cake I made, but if you are doing a full-sized cake, I’d suggest two).

Here’s a printable link to the recipe.  Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne.  Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our sky-high cakes this month.