The Cake Slice: Red Velvet Cake
January 20, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 20 Comments
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!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Friday!): Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake
January 1, 2010 at 3:24 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 22 Comments
Happy New Year, my friends! Here’s to a 2010 full of sweetness and happiness!
So, how did you ring in the new year? There was a time when I’d stay out all night, but I can’t toss ’em back quite like I used to, so these days I like to keep it low-key…make a nice dinner and drink champagne cocktails at home. Part of last night’s celebration involved Dorie’s Low and Lush Chocolate Chessecake. I added my own chocolate and sour cream topping, mainly so I’d have a nice shiny surface on which to place the edible gold stars I found not long ago. Pretty cute, but I did have to go through the tiresome task of applying each one individually with tweezers.
This cheesecake was made my favorite way (which is also the easiest way to lump-free batter, if you ask me)– in the food processor. It baked up creamy and smooth and pretty, but I have to say that I prefer the bright freshness of fruit, rather than chocolate, with my cheesecake. For that reason, I probably wouldn’t make this one again just for us, but if I had a guest coming over that simply adored chocolate cheesecake, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Tea and Scones, as it was the Tea Lady’s choice for TWD this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: White Chocolate Layer Cake
December 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 20 Comments
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!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Thursday!): All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
November 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
I’m up to my elbows in stuffing and cranberry sauce right now, but just wanted to quickly wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This is the Holiday Bundt that I’m serving up for dessert tonight. It really is all-in-one: pumpkin cake with spices, pecans, apples and cranberries. I sneaked a tiny taste, and I can tell you that it’s moist and fully of yummy chunks. Can’t wait to try a proper slice later with the maple glaze!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Serious Eats). Read The Nitty Britty, as it was Britin’s choice for TWD this week, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Burnt Sugar Cake
November 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 34 Comments
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!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake
November 17, 2009 at 1:00 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 45 Comments
Last week was kind of crappy. First, we suffered the latest disappointment in the mulit-year saga known as “R and Stephanie vs. the NYC real estate market.” I often wonder if owning a little place here just isn’t in the cards for us. Then, two of my favorite coworkers gave notice and will be leaving the bakery before the end of the month. This will certainly put a damper on my workplace socializing (the only reason I really even go to work, ‘cuz I barley get paid–ha!)…not to mention that thinking about going into the busy holiday season understaffed is giving me major agita. Losing myself in my kitchen for a bit to make this Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake for TWD was a nice distraction, and probably kept my head from exploding.
The first thing I noticed when I looked at the recipe is that this cake has several steps and requires a few unusual ingredients. I’m pretty lucky that I can easily find chestnuts and sweetened chestnut spread without a embarking on a major hunting excursion or having to pay for online shipping. In fact, at Sahadi’s I found cans of the fancypants Clement Faugier spread for about $5–not too shabby, and I should get more before they realize it’s a steal and jack up the price. I’m not super wild about chestnuts, but that spread is so yummy…I have quite a bit leftover, so I’m looking forward to using it in something else soon. Any suggestions?
I split up the work (and the dishes– did I tell you that I have the world’s tiniest sink?) over two days. On night one, I made both the caramel ganache and the glaze. On day two, I baked the cake and assembled the whole shebang. I made half a recipe of cake and glaze, and deciding to go easy on things (yeah, right), just a third of the ganache. To bake the cake, I spread the batter in a quarter-sheet pan (about 9″ x 13″), rather than baking it in a taller square pan. Not only does it cook in less than 20 minutes (instead of almost an hour), but there’s no sawing the cake into layers (I always seem to do a hack-job on that)…just cut the sheet into three strips of equal width and stack with the filling. Easy-peasy.
I looove sparkly things, and actually have a huge collection of luster dusts. After I dusted the whole chestnuts in gold, I couldn’t help but blow the stuff all over the top of the cake, too. Super shimmery. And super tasty. My favorite parts were the end pieces, because they had extra glaze! This is a luxurious (not to mention expensive) cake…seems kind of a shame to not to have made it for a special occasion, but it sure made a crappy week better.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan(it’s also here on Epicurious). Read Second Dinner, where Katya posted it earlier this month, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte
October 27, 2009 at 1:00 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 23 Comments
Let me begin this post with a PSA: Texting while baking can lead to accidents in the kitchen. For instance, if, while you are baking Dorie’s Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte for TWD, you are also texting one friend about meeting for lunch and another friend about meeting for drinks, it may not register that the recipe calls for cherry preserves and extra chopped chocolate to be stirred into the brownie base . Trust me, I know! Lucky for me it happened with a forgiving cake.
This is definitely a dense and super-rich dessert. The base is essentially a double-height brownie. It was a little too full-on for me, actually. But the mascarpone mousse topping…that is was really nice and light as a feather. While I probably won’t be making this complete dessert again, I think the mousse would make a fantastic cake filling and I’ll keep it in mind.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Short + Rose, as it was April’s choice this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake
October 20, 2009 at 4:34 pm | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 30 Comments 
The Cake Slice Bakers have shifted gears, and we’re now baking from the book Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. I’ve actually had this book for quite sometime, so it will be nice to do more than just admire its words and pictures. Although I’ll miss making a fancy layer cake each month just for the heck of it, this book has cakes of all types– like this here Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake, for instance.
This was a nice cake to wake up to (it freezes well, so you really can make it ahead and save it for a weekend morning). It has a whopping amount of cinnamon and pecans, so you know right there that it’ll be tasty. I replaced the raisins in the recipe with dried wild blueberries (they came from TJ’s and I was surprised at how flavorful they were!), and subbed in a bit of whole wheat flour for some of the AP. Makes me feel better about eating cake in the morning if there’s a little whole wheat in there! And it didn’t seem to harm the nice texture of the buttery crumb at all. So that I wouldn’t be tempted to gobble up too much cake, I made a third of the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan.
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 coffee cakes this month!
The Cake Slice: Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake
September 20, 2009 at 1:32 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 37 Comments
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
August 20, 2009 at 1:47 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 26 Comments
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.
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