Learning on buttercream

So. Buttercream. I had the most interesting experience with buttercream... really. I swear.
I made this lovely, fluffy, creamy, beautiful, white buttercream. Lovely. But then...


I put it in the fridge - with the 9 cake layers (oh thankfully the H wasn't home this weekend...). And then!



I btrought it back to room temperature, and beat it a bit more. And then I was shocked. Just shocked by what I saw!


Here is a cake layer that I had crumb-coated the previous day. Same frosting. Next day. It's YELLOW!

So strange! Goods news -- i decided to be more patient, let it warm a bit more and beat it a bit more, and it was fine. Interesting, no??

Baking the 4th -- a series of cakes

A weekend of practicing cakes. A long weekend. And I'm tired now. But, I do want to share what I've learned. And it was a lot! There were three cakes made: 1. a white box cake, 2. a second try at Dorrie's Perfect Party Cake (with reduced baking powder amount), and finally 3. Shirly Corriher's Sweet and Moist Yellow Cake. And then there's the frosting too! Mmmmm.

Let's begin! I started with the boxed cakes, to get them done so I could practice what is really the most important part: the frosting and decoration. I altered the box cake by adding a cup of sour cream, and less oil.















Came together in a snap, and then I put the 8 (yes eight) cakes in the oven to bake.


I had two layers of each size; i only meant to do two, but with two box cakes I was baking cake in every container in the house, including a few ramekins, which became the top layer.
Here is an example of the crumb structure of a box cake. generally uniform and small. I have to say, I didn't love the taste. At all. Or really the texture. It wasn't bad. I just didn't love it. And it's a cake. I want love from a cake.





I did manage to practice my icing and assembling skills with the boxed cake though... not bad for a practice! I'll probably make the real cake only two tiers. I don't want to deal with dowels...


And in pursuit of the perfect wedding cake, onto the next.

Dorri's cake. Well. you know, I did everything I could. I put all my love into that white cake. And I didn't love it. arg!


Ah, and last but not least, I tried a yellow cake -- Shirley's cake. And it was... divine! I loved it. Completely. Wonderful moisteness, bright flavor. Totally won over the white cake.


Here is a picture of the two side by side:





Now I know the white cake has a certain beauty about it, (and I was finally running out of frosting by the time I finally got to the yellow cake), but I have to tell you, I would take moist delicious yellow cake over dry, not-great-tasting white cake any day of the week.


The verdict? M + N's wedding cake will be yellow. And delicious. And now the real question is: can I do this under wedding pressure? We'll see! Stay tuned...
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Update! Several of you have asked, "Who ate all those cakes?" Well, I brought some pieces in for my colleagues, and other than that, let's just say I have had a lot of cake lately. A lot. I'm so touched by your concern!

Update on Baking Project the 3rd - with algebra!

I'm making a very important cake next weekend -- the cake that M and her brand new husband will cut at their wedding. (No, don't fear, the cake is not for the guests -- just the bride and groom.) An important cake indeed, and one to practice. And thus I'm in the kitchen. But before I got to the kitchen, I did some reading. On cakes. And wedding cakes. And I did some thinking. Baking Project the 3rd came out flat and dense -- but so did many other Daring Bakers' cakes. Why, oh why would that be? I have two ideas: WHITE cake (with no yolks) and an unbalanced recipe.

I dove into a wonderful, wonderful book, Cook Wise by Shirley Corriher, and did some cake algebra. She has formulas that tell you if your cake recipe is balanced, and explains the roles of the primary cake ingredients. I'll jump to the punch line. I think the Perfect Party Cake recipe is not balanced, and here's why: baking powder's role in life is to enlarge existing bubbles in a cooking cake - contrary to popular opinion, baking powder does not make new bubbles. Here's the rub: if you have too much baking powder, Cook Wise explains, then the bubbles get too big, rise to the top of the cake, leak out, and you've lost your aeration. Flat cake. Dense cake. Disappointing cake. Booo.

The Perfect Party Cake calls for 1 whole tablespoon of baking powder, whereas when you work out the math (oh how I love to do 9th grade level algebra!), it should really only be 2.25 - 2.8 teaspoons of baking powder. A tablespoon, by these calculations, is simply too much!

The second possible culprit, I believe, is the attempt to make a white cake in the first place. Wedding are notoriously white, and the cakes are too. So why are all the classic cake recipes for yellow cake? Cook Wise explains that egg yolks act as emulsifiers, and the whites act as leaveners and drying agents. I admit I don't have a grasp on what the emulsifier adds to the recipe, but clearly it is a good thing. I'm going to guess moistness and richness. Daring Bakers had plenty of complaints of the cake being too dry -- must be from all those egg whites.

Would the cake work, if I tried it with less baking powder? I don't know. I can hardly handle the thought of making it again without success though. But I am determined to make a fabulous cake for M and her man. Hmmmmm. Will have to ponder. In the meantime, I'm practicing my frosting and decorating on boxed white cake mix cakes. All those preservatives and artificial whatevers can make a whitewhite, if disappointing because it's boxed and not from scratch, cake. And disappointing because it tastes boxy.

More on adventures in adaptations of boxed cakes, and swiss meringue buttercream frosting tomorrow. There are currently 9 (nine, neuf) cake layers on separate plates in my fridge. Freaky.

Baking the 3rd -- Passover Macaroons!

Without a break, I introduce Baking the 3rd -- Passover Macaroons! This is a terrific, terrific little cookie from epicurious -- essentially meringues with coconut and chocolate.

The easy recipe is this: you basically melt some chocolate and turn on the oven. Beat your egg whites and sugar and salt and vanilla to firm peaks, fold in coconut and chocolate, and drop onto the cookie sheet. Boom. Couldn't be easier.

And these are super tasty! Excellent texture and size (small). Not gorgeous, I can admit, but I did have to swat away (unsuccessfully) some eager hands from the hot baking sheet before I even got them onto the cooling rack. We enjoyed these with strawberries after a long day of sewing, and at the end of a scrumptious dinner. This recipe will go in the recipe box and will be repeated. Mmmmmmmm!

Sewing Project the 2nd

Yes, we're all excited here at iloveprojects today. There was a second project after the jeans yesterday! I bought this fabric a long time ago, with all good intentions of sitting down to make a lingerie bag. For myself, and for friends. And then nothing happened on the sewing front. Sewing silence.

The fabric was cut for an 11" pocket, -- a rectangle of fabric and a second of lining that are 14" wide by 30" tall. And then you sew them together with ribbon, turn inside out, iron, top stitch, and voila! My very own pretty bag to keep my unmentionables tied up while travelling. I don't know how I survived until now!

I'm happy with this, though I would clip the bulk from the seams on a second go-around, to keep things lying flatter. And I would have the top ribbon face the right way. And I would center the ribbon (duh). An excellent foray into sewing, successful and pretty, and now I'm ready to rock!

Thanks to my hostess for her instruction!

Watch out -- Sewing Project the 1st!

Well well well, I finally did it! Sewing Project the 1st, with all it's anticipation, has been completed, and it is a success! I went to lundendesign's house (a terrific new friend -- on the internets and yes, in real life too), bringing my sewing machine (in a travel suitcase, literally rolling it down the middle of the street to avoid sidewalk seams, together with a pair of cowboy boots, thinking -- is anyone else doing this right now, because this is weird) all the way into midtown, then all the way out to a whole different borough. Down the subway stairs. Up the subway stairs. Phew.

Finally at sewing mecca, we both got out our machines, and lundendesigns said, "just mark, cut, and sew." Right, I said to myself. I probably forgot to mention that the last time I sewed any sort of seam was in 2003. That's five years ago. And I just bought these jeans -- and I intend to keep them for as long as I can... they were an indulgence, and I do not want to screw them up as I practice my sewing. I got anxious. I marked. I cut. I pinned. OK. OK. And then I froze. What if... what if...

With lots of encouragement, bordering on nagging from my ever-helpful instructor, I went for it. And halfway through I asked if it was normal to hyperventilate while sewing -- she said yes very reassuringly, like she meant it (bless her for her lies). And you know what, they turned out terrifically! Sized for wear with my cowboy boots, of course. I might say that perhaps the front of the right leg is a quarter inch longer than the left, but only at the front, and really, no one should be staring at my ankles...

Voila. I'm so pleased to finally, finally present Sewing Project the 1st. Hooray!

Baking Project the 2nd

Let me introduce you to Baking Project the 2nd: a party cake! Inspiration came from Cream Puffs in Venice, and upon reflection I have decided to join the Daring Bakers. I'm certain my little brother won't make fun of that. Which reminds me of the first craft blog I ever visited... Wendy Knits. Dear little brother emailed me the link, and made some snarky comment about Team Homely.

I digress. I was planning a bachelorette party for my dear friend M (whose wedding is full of projects - exhibit A - just full! hooray!), and I thought a cake was in order. I sumbled upon this beautiful cake by Dorrie Greenspan via Cream Puffs in Venice, and it just had to be. I chose a lemon cake, with lemon curd AND fresh strawberries AND strawberry preserves AND whipped cream in there.

I had read a lot about troubles with the cakes rising properly. I took all precautions (including bringing my oven thermometer, and using Swan's cake flour), and alas, I had the same problem. I very much enjoyed rubbing the fragrant lemon zest into the sugar though. The cake layers were only about two inches high each, not enough to go cutting through without fear of breakage, so I just forged along and went with two layers...

The lemon curd was a recipe from epicurious, which I was perfectly happy with -- easy and successful.

And so -- with fresh strawberries cut up, I layered first preserves, then cut strawberries, then lemon curd, and whipped cream last. And here's what that looked like:




I topped that with the second cake layer, covered the whole thing with whipped cream and decorative fanned strawberries, and carved an M on the top, in honor of the bachelorette.







It was good -- I loved everything except the cake -- it was too dense. But that's ok. The bachelorette loved it and we were a happy bunch.

Tagged!

I'm all up for a good game. Are you? If you want to see some A to Z tidbits about iloveprojects, you can see that here.