This was an interesting and eye opening book about the radicalization of a Muslim teen in California – well worth a read! I gave it five stars – well written, interesting, timely.
A Good Country
Today’s Bake – Lemon Vanilla Bean Cake – 11-9-22
This cake has been my go-to cake for a triple layer 6″ cake with a lovely vanilla flavor, perfectly moist, and easily filled with all sorts of options. Today I followed the cake/filling recipe in Frosted (Bernice Baran), using lemon curd between the layers, but choosing an ABC frosting instead of the suggested American Meringue Buttercream.
Despite a dam of frosting, as well as trying the ‘seal it in technique’ (Georgia’s Cakes), the lemon curd oozed all over. It took several crumb coats and repairs before I could mask the lemon that insisted on blending with my ABC.
Speaking of ABC, I remain a fan of this frosting more so than any other I have tried, although I continue to work to make it not taste as sweet. Hard to do when it’s so full of sugar, but today’s experiment included: using Amish roll butter, adding in 2 TB super chilled heavy cream and 1 TB super chilled sour cream, 1 TB lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 TB meringue powder, and beating for about 15 minutes. Still sweet but less so – I feel like I’m getting there. And the texture was good for spreading and piping. So much patience required in this cake decorating business – cannot do it when I’m tired.
Today’s Bake – Pumpkin Marshmallow Cake – 11-6-22
Recipe from Bernice Baran’s Frosted – I’ve said it before, the recipes in here are just fantastic. Lots and lots of five star bakes IMHO.
First off, a three layer 6″ cake was the perfect opportunity to test out, side by side, the bake even strips mentioned in my previous post – they really do make a difference. Much less of a dome to the cake, but most importantly, a lovely finish to the sides – see for yourself (one on the left, no strip). If you are a baker, absolutely worth the $10. Note: I do think they bake a little slower, so you may need to add another 5 minutes to the bake time.
Now for the cake, LOL. Wonderful caramel chai taste on the drip – will use that in other recipes, just yummy, though not quite as thick as I would like. And the cake is very moist and has a great spiced pumpkin taste. The frosting – I took it upon myself to substitute giant orange pumpkin marshmallows instead of the regular marshmallows called for in the frosting. The taste is great (and I’m a fan of the color); I did run into an issue with the consistency of the frosting (a bit goopy and required several periods in the fridge) and the marshmallow left clumps of chewy toasty marshmallow in the frosting (not necessarily a bad thing, but you wouldn’t have been able to pipe this frosting). All in all, this is an amazing spiced cake, and I’m not even that much of a pumpkin fan! I may have to change my opinion!
My Forays Into Gluten Free Vegan Baking
The first question I get is ‘but why?’ and the more I’ve experimented, the more reasons I’ve found. It all started with my daughter who manages peanut allergies and dairy allergies in her family of three children, and then who decided she’d experiment with Gluten Free and Vegan baking for herself. When I got the question ‘can you bake three different cakes when you come next year (Kindergarten graduation, Smash Cake and Birthday Cake #1) but ideally make them GFV (as I’m terming it), I thought I had better start practicing 8 months out, since I had had little to no experience baking this way. So here’s what I’ve learned to date:
After experimenting with several different recipes, I honed in on one as my base to start with: https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-vanilla-cake/.
Cake #1 – I used King Arthur Gluten Free 1:1 flour, unsweetened coconut milk, apple cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp cherry oil in hte frosting. I also put a jam filling in between. The result: too moist, too much cherry oil, the jam filling made it fall apart, and a very floury taste. Rated a 3 out of 10.
Cake #2. Used Bobs Red Mill GF flour and coconut milk again. Added 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste. Used white vinegar instead of the cider vinegar. Used a scant 1/3 cup applesauce instead of the canola oil. Still too moist though taste was improved. Gave this version a 5 out of 10.
Cake #3. Used Oat flour. Added 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, used oat milk, used the apple cider vinegar, instead of canola oil/applesauce used a scant 1/3 cup mashed banana and added in 1 tsp banana flavoring. Not bad. I liked the oat flour consistency and the oat milk which was not nearly as creamy as the coconut milk. You have to like banana though. Maybe a 6 out of 10.
Cake #4. Used Oat flour again and the oat milk but decreased the amount to 3/4 cup. Increased baking powder to 2 tsp. Kept the cinnamon, used the apple cider vinegar but mixed it directly with the baking soda prior to adding, For the canola oil this time I used a heaping 1/3 cup of grated zucchini. Baked it at 335 instead of 350 for 36 minutes and used purple baking sleeves from Wilton. (First time using these – LOVE). https://www.wilton.com/bake-even-strips/191006397.html
BTW, in all of these I have used Country Crock plant butter for the frosting which I LOVE. It mixes smoothly, pipes beautifully, and doesn’t have the deep butter grease or taste (which I personally dislike) that comes with so many frostings. (Note to self: does not hold gel or oil based food color that well. How did I get it to work in #3?) Getting very close. This is a 7/10 maybe. No gluten free taste, a little too dense and still a bit too moist, but really close to being delicious. Next up: repeat same recipe, try with egg substitute added in.
The Diamond Eye – Worth a Read!!!!
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh my! What a great great book. Couldn’t put it down. Really enjoyed this. Well written and such an interesting topic. And based on a true story, even better. Everything from the characters to the setting and the plot were well described; had the tiniest bit of a questionmark at the ending but certainly not impossible.
View all my reviews
Today’s Bake – Caramel Apple Cake – 10-26-22
And yes, it’s a five star day! Woot woot on this cake! SO good.
A little secret. I’ve made caramel multiple ways and this time I cheated and used the Werther soft caramels, melted half a large bag with 3 TB water and added 1/3 cup of light cream, and presto. Delicious caramel. Just so much easier (okay, I also needed to use up this bag of caramels I’ve had sitting around forever!)
This cake is DELICIOUS. I used Gala apples as that’s what I had on hand, and yes, it took only two apples. The spices come through, the cake is rich enough to feed 10 people, but to make it more delightful I paired it with homemade vanilla caramel ice cream. Nope, not standing on the scale tonight, that’s for sure! Here you go: https://livforcake.com/caramel-apple-cake/
(Don’t laugh at my funny teddy – first time using molding chocolate. Fun!)
Today’s Bake – Lemon Velvet Cake – 10-23-22
I have recently decided that anything titled ‘velvet cake’ is the cat’s meow – these recipes seem to be made with buttermilk and you literally end up with a velvety textured cake this almost dissolves on your tongue. Today I tried a recipe from Sugar Geek, one of my favorite bakers, but I did run into a few issues. I went with three six inch pans, but there was almost too much batter and the rise was almost too tall. Next time I might try the 8 inch options. I also had a lot of trouble with the lemon curd in this recipe, finding 8 ounces of lemon juice to be just too much to get a thickened curd that was suitable for a cake filling – so that curd will be used later in the week, and my final product is frosting through and through. The only other lesson (and probably the biggest one) that I came away from is NOT to use cheap cream cheese – the store was out of Philadelphia brand and I went with the store brand – what a mistake. The cream cheese was much waterier (is that a word?) and hence the frosting much slipperier (that’s a word!) – and while cream cheese frosting is my favorite, I won’t make the mistake again of choosing something other than the Philadelphia brand.
But still yum! https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/lemon-cake-recipe/
Today’s Bake – Coconut Macaroons – 10-20-22
I don’t even like coconut, and these were amazing!!! I used a recipe from the new King Arthur Baking School cookbook I was gifted for my birthday with a few modifications: After the egg whites were frothy, added in the sugar and then beat on high for about 5 minutes until marshmallowy with almost stiff peaks. Then folded in the flavorings and coconut. BTW you can use unsweetened coconut if you soak it in a sugar syrup first for 15-30 minutes, then dry it on paper towels before folding it in. I baked at 325 for 18 minutes, needing two cookie sheets. These are topped with a dark chocolate-orange drizzle. Super fluffy, not too sweet, and very chewy. Excellent.
Today’s Bake – Carrot Cake – 10-19-22
Well it’s fall, and the fall colors got me thinking of orange, and pumpkins, and, well, carrots – and then I remembered a good friend who had shared her recipe for carrot cake some time ago. While I’ve baked for years, carrot cake has not been something I’ve made too often – it isn’t on my list of favorites and therefore it was shuffled to the bottom of the pile.
That might have to change, however, when I tried this recipe. Very moist. Nice rise to it. Beautiful presentation, cuts well. And one can never go wrong with cream cheese frosting.
The number one lesson from today, however? I tried Amish butter. Amish butter has a higher dairy fat content than American butter, and I have, to date, always been a store brand butter person. While this particular cake recipe doesn’t have butter in it (oil), the frosting and decorations do, and what a depth of flavor difference. While the cost may be prohibitive for it being my ‘go-to’ butter, it will certainly become my special occasion one!
Today’s Bake – Front Facing Choc Ganache and Choc Cake – 10-16-22
I have been wanting to try a front facing cake ever since I saw one on Facebook, and today was the day! I used a recipe I was familiar with (makes two 8″ layers, a dense but moist and firm cake – Black and White Cake from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson). I’ve made this recipe before and on a whim I added in 1 tsp of baking powder as my previous notes state it didn’t rise that much. I thought the baking powder made it a little on the dryer side around the edges (did not overbake), so this was my first time using a cake syrup to soften the cake just a tad. (Equal parts sugar and water boiled and then cooled and then brushed on the cake). I had leftover cream cheese frosting (this really is my favorite frosting, despite the fact I keep trying so hard to like the different buttercreams) so that went in the middle. My ganache was 8 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate to one cup of heavy cream; I chose semisweet choc as the cream cheese has the tang to it. The trick was lots of fridge time – cool the cakes and fill with cream cheese frosting. Chill. Cover with ganache. Chill. Cover with another layer of ganache. Chill.
Next was to slice off a section to make for a flat side, and to tilt the cake on it’s side. Chill. And then the stencilling (using some of the leftover cream cheese frosting). And chill.
I’m super pleased! I think this would be much tougher with a buttercream frosting that slid around – the ganache, when chilled, served as a solid chocolate coating to hold the cake in place.
This is delicious!
https://www.thesweetsensations.com/2013/06/vintage-cakes-black-white-cake/
