Monday, August 25, 2008
Louis Birthday Cake: Final Comments
Well, the cake was a success. Potent with vanilla flavor and creamy rich textures. Still, I think I would have done things a little differently. The cake itself was quite rich and too heavy to absorb the vanilla cream. Much of the cream oozed out the sides of the cake. The effect wasn't without it's appeal. Vanilla cream is good no matter where you find it. I think next time I'll use a Genoise cake. I'm also not 100% sure about the boiled frosting on a birthday cake. It did make an interesting "snowscape" for the Star Wars figures, but it also oozed down the sides of the cake. Once again, it wasn't exactly unattractive. I imagine the boiled frosting would have held it's shape better if I'd whipped it longer. Perhaps next time either another layer of vanilla cream (now we're getting into trifle territory) or frost the whole thing with the more traditional buttercream frosting.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Louis Birthday Cake: Assembly
At this point, I had to stop. I felt it would be unseemly to frost the entire cake at this point. It had a nice un-fussiness about it. Tomorrow, I have to stud the thing with Star Wars figurines, which I'm not too happy about. Still, this is the most grown up cake I've ever made for one of my kids and I think he'll be happy with it. If he isn't, then he isn't human.
Louis Birthday Cake: Installment Three
I was torn between buttercream and boiled frosting. I first discovered boiled frosting when I made Nick Malgieri's chocolate buttermilk cupcakes from his "Chocolate" cookbook. After spending some time describing to Louis the difference between the two types of frosting, he chose the boiled and I think it was a very discerning choice. The below recipe came from an unattributed Cooks.com recipe. Originally, it only called for a 1/2 cup water, but I knew that had to be wrong, so I used 1 cup and that worked perfectly.
Boiled Frosting
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. light corn syrup
2 egg whites
Cook sugar, syrup, and water until it reaches 240 degrees F. Beat whites stiff; pour on hot syrup slowly, beating continually. A wire whisk is satisfactory for this purpose. Add vanilla and continue beating until mixture is almost cold and will hold its shape. Soften by adding few drops boiling water.
I think the thing about boiled frosting that makes me happiest is that it reminds me of marshmallow making, one of my favorite pasttimes. The whites whip up into a fluffy, glistening, smooth substance that folds and peaks and swirls when you manipulate it with a spatula. The consistency is very rich and mouth-filling. Perfect for the ultimate vanilla cake.
Boiled Frosting
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. light corn syrup
2 egg whites
Cook sugar, syrup, and water until it reaches 240 degrees F. Beat whites stiff; pour on hot syrup slowly, beating continually. A wire whisk is satisfactory for this purpose. Add vanilla and continue beating until mixture is almost cold and will hold its shape. Soften by adding few drops boiling water.
I think the thing about boiled frosting that makes me happiest is that it reminds me of marshmallow making, one of my favorite pasttimes. The whites whip up into a fluffy, glistening, smooth substance that folds and peaks and swirls when you manipulate it with a spatula. The consistency is very rich and mouth-filling. Perfect for the ultimate vanilla cake.
Louis Birthday Cake: Installment Two
Now, for the cake part of the cake. I scoured the Internet until I found a highly recommended plain vanilla cake from the Magnolia Bakery of New York--famous for the cupcake craze in the 1990's. Toward the end of mixing, I felt the cake batter was much thicker than it ought to be, so I added about 2/3 cup of heavy cream. I figured this would ensure a moist sumptuous almost pudding-like cake, and it did. I also increased the vanilla by one extra teaspoon.
Plain Vanilla Cake
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
Preheat oven to 325°.
Grease and lightly flour three 9 inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the milk and cream with the vanilla. Combine the flours and add in four parts, alternating with the cream mixture, beating well after each addition. Divide batter among the cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.
Plain Vanilla Cake
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
Preheat oven to 325°.
Grease and lightly flour three 9 inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the milk and cream with the vanilla. Combine the flours and add in four parts, alternating with the cream mixture, beating well after each addition. Divide batter among the cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.
Louis Birthday Cake: Installment One
Louis is turning eleven and his request this year is a vanilla cake with vanilla icing. I am totally into the idea. Vanilla, often painted as a dull and unadventurous flavor, is gorgeous and exotic if done properly. I want a lush, moist, fill-your-mouth with flavor experience for our birthday party-goers. I haven't found the ultimate vanilla cake in any of my books or online, so I'm cobbling something together from several different recipes.
The fill-your-mouth component of this cake will be vanilla filling. Sort of vanilla "curd". I recently made a lemon layer cake for an office party and was most satisfied with the lemon curd filling called for in the recipe. I'm changing the flavor to vanilla and doubling the amount--wasn't happy with the amount of lemon curd yielded the first time around. Rather than a layer of thick lush creaminess, I had a smattering of thick lush creaminess. And I'm just not the sort of gal that can be happy with a smattering.
Vanilla curd
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
In a medium double boiler over medium heat, whisk the yolks and sugar together until combined. Whisk in the vanilla, butter, cream, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture turns opaque, thickens, and coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow the curd to bubble.
Pour into a mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap (to prevent formation of a "skin"), and refrigerate until ready to build cake.
I could just shove this spoonful into my mouth!
The fill-your-mouth component of this cake will be vanilla filling. Sort of vanilla "curd". I recently made a lemon layer cake for an office party and was most satisfied with the lemon curd filling called for in the recipe. I'm changing the flavor to vanilla and doubling the amount--wasn't happy with the amount of lemon curd yielded the first time around. Rather than a layer of thick lush creaminess, I had a smattering of thick lush creaminess. And I'm just not the sort of gal that can be happy with a smattering.
Vanilla curd
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
In a medium double boiler over medium heat, whisk the yolks and sugar together until combined. Whisk in the vanilla, butter, cream, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture turns opaque, thickens, and coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow the curd to bubble.
Pour into a mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap (to prevent formation of a "skin"), and refrigerate until ready to build cake.
I could just shove this spoonful into my mouth!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
My weekend with IVAR
We've been desperately seeking storage for years in our tiny Mid-western bungalow, and when we discovered Ikea and the many clever Swedish coping mechanisms for small living space, we fell in love.
IVAR is about the only full shelving system poor suckers like us can purchase online from Ikea. It's either that or drive a bajillion miles to Chicago, rent a U-Haul, stay in a motel, buy meals, drag little kids around, take days off work that we don't have...you get the picture. By the time we added it all up, we were more than willing to pay the $275 delivery fee on top of our $700 worth of IVAR.
After it was all said and done, we'd spent about $1000 on ten boxes of assorted planks of wood. The house smelled of a northern forest for about a week while we fretted over how to approach the installation. What about the floor treatment? Shouldn't we do something about the floor before we anchor this stuff to the wall? We ended up painting the floor "cowboy boots" brown. It resembles some of the rooms in the Ikea catalog that we now take all our design cues from.
Michael assembled the cabinets and attached them to the braces. I spent most of my time with a Philips head screwdriver and the three drawer units we'd ordered. Things didn't exactly go togther as I'd sketched out in our master plan, but we improvised. The fact that this stuff is modular allowed us to be more flexible in our execution. Handy tip: always measure your space in every dimension possible and don't plan to fill every inch. This stuff will usually be a little larger than you realize.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
A Series of Less Succinctly Written Recipes
Some folks just can't be bothered. Still, I forgive them. More specifically, I forgive Amy Sedaris. Her crazy book on entertaining, trashy chic style, has a number of "interesting" recipes. I took a chance one day on "Aunt Joyce's Brownies". Aunt Joyce probably knew what she was doing, but the recipe was a little slap dash, giving the measurements and basically sending you on your merry way to mix and bake as you please. The main problem with a recipe like this is things could go horribly wrong, even if you aren't a novice. Luckily, things went especially right. And could only improve upon the second go 'round.
From "I Like You," Aunt Joyce's Brownies [with additional instructions]
4 eggs (beaten until fluffy)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 12-oz. package of chocolate chips
2/3 cup (11 tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
lightly greased 9 x 12 in. baking dish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together dry ingredients and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. Melt butter in a medium sized mixing bowl. I generally microwave the butter at 30 sec. intervals until mostly liquid and then add the chocolate chips. Let the chocolate sit in the hot butter to melt. Once smooth and blended together, add the vanilla to the chocolate mixture. Using a stand mixer and a whip attachment, beat all four eggs until light and fluffy and pale lemon in color. When the chocolate/butter mixture is cooled, fold in the whipped eggs. Then pour this mixture over dry ingredients. Mix with a spatula until just blended. Pour into your baking dish and bake for 30 min.
This yields an almost airy brownie, but it still has the heady damp chocolate decadence brownies are known for. I also like using the 9 x 12 dish to provide more crispy chewy surface area. You can almost taste them, can't you?
From "I Like You," Aunt Joyce's Brownies [with additional instructions]
4 eggs (beaten until fluffy)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 12-oz. package of chocolate chips
2/3 cup (11 tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
lightly greased 9 x 12 in. baking dish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together dry ingredients and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. Melt butter in a medium sized mixing bowl. I generally microwave the butter at 30 sec. intervals until mostly liquid and then add the chocolate chips. Let the chocolate sit in the hot butter to melt. Once smooth and blended together, add the vanilla to the chocolate mixture. Using a stand mixer and a whip attachment, beat all four eggs until light and fluffy and pale lemon in color. When the chocolate/butter mixture is cooled, fold in the whipped eggs. Then pour this mixture over dry ingredients. Mix with a spatula until just blended. Pour into your baking dish and bake for 30 min.
This yields an almost airy brownie, but it still has the heady damp chocolate decadence brownies are known for. I also like using the 9 x 12 dish to provide more crispy chewy surface area. You can almost taste them, can't you?
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