My opportunities for caking are few and far between these days. Yet, courtesy of my Facebook account, rumors have spread about my cakery. This has been verified by those who attended my birthday party in October and experienced firsthand the now-famous coconut fluff. Experienced attendees were sure to show for Matt's cake in December--a special event because historically, Matt prefers pie to cake, but at the last second changed his mind when he found my book of pie to be less awesome than my book of cake.
And so I've been set to a challenge. This is worthy of its own half-hour special, if you ask me. Podiatry pal Adrienne (of ISAC and Rose Parade floats fame for those who have been paying attention) requested her cake in September for her 26th birthday party set for January 16th. Now she's gone and written an evite containing the following phrase: "...and we gots a big fancy cake to feast on."
So you see that expectations are already high.
These are the parameters:
- She wants a red velvet cake.
- She wants it to be pink and brown.
- And she wants it to feed 25.
- Oh, and just to make it interesting, we have an exam the following Tuesday. Here's to multitasking while cakes are cooling and crumb-coats set...
Tier 1: 10" square, 3 layers of red velvet. In between layers will be a mixture of cream cheese icing and toasted, crushed pecans.
Tier 2: 6" (hmmm...maybe 8". Still deciding) square; 3 layers of red velvet with only cream cheese icing in between (gotta be mindful of our nut allergy pals out there).
Exterior: cream cheese icing dyed magenta (sorry folks, I try to avoid fondant at all costs)
Decor: paisley pattern in chocolate and white buttercream with a chocolate, gilded, gothic "A" on top and pink sparklers (if I can find 'em).
This is my template, that I found when I Googled "pink and brown cakes":
I think this might qualify as "show stopping"
when I'm done with it...
Uh. Looking at the amassing pile of equipment on my table combined with increasing coursework (and impossibility of actually finding vanilla bean paste around here--screw you California!), I am officially dreading the Friday marathon cake production.
Written January 17th, 2010:
OK. It's done. And it was crazy successful. Now I can study for my test on Tuesday.
Looks sorta like congealed blood, doesn't it?
After homework on Fri afternoon, I hit the Kitchen Aid. I started with a double batch and while those pans baked, I made the 3rd. 6 layers in all. Lesson learned, however, that one does not need to triple the icing when one triples the cake. I have about 20 pounds of cream cheese icing in my fridge, compounded by the leftover icing from Matt's cake in December. We got icing, people!! Ready for any cake emergency. Total production time was about 10 hours for this one, which is pretty damn efficient when you think about it. The piping took 2-3 hours and my hands hurt like hell the next morning.
Other lesson learned: it's hard to get perfect lines on a square cake! I love Ace of Cakes and when they do it, it looks so easy! I had square line and flat side FAIL.
And the secret ingredient is: instant coffee. Adding a tablespoon of Folgers per batch of chocolate cake will temper the sugar and enhance the chocolate flavor. I like to use a mortar and pestle to make a fine Folgers powder and sift it in with the other dry ingredients. This is the only sanctioned use of Folgers at any time, I might add.
Adrienne said, "Thank you soooo much for the cake. It was soooo great!" Because she wanted one so early, I was happy to do it for her. If, however, she'd asked me a week or two ago, I'd have said, "No way. That's an exam weekend." But i'm glad I did it. That's ISAC love, right there.
Happy Birthday, Adrienne!
MMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm! And Wow!
ReplyDeleteMr Tom
You are a cake maker maniac! Hey on my "new" blog I gave you an "award" you should totally brag about it. haha!
ReplyDeleteRanda