Spanish Meringue Cake, #21, 8.15.2010

Due to the meringue topping on this cake the recipe called for it to be baked on the bottom rack setting. My oven likes to bake fast even with knowing the actual temp so I baked the cake for 35 minutes instead of the 40-45 called for by the recipe. It would appear that my oven bakes mostly normal when the rack is lowered but I didn't find this out until when we sliced into the cake. I did a test at 35 and baked it an additional 5 more minutes. Total time baked was 40 minutes but it would have needed at least 5 more or possible more. I did test the cake and thought that the goo that I saw was just very warm meringue since the recipe did warn you of that. However it was the cake itself which now had a gooey center. The parts that were cooked completely were very good however the meringue was a bit on the spongey side which may have been the underbaking or something else I did wrong with the whipping of the eggs. I am going to blame the underbaking for now though!

Coffee Spice Cake, #20

Yummy Coffee Spice Cake cooked in my new castle cake pan, 8.1.2010. The recipe for the drizzle made a ton so I have a chocolate moat around the castle. This was cake #20 and I can't believe I've made that many after so many years of avoiding the kitchen. I guess I am making up for lost time.

July Have the Cake Challenge!

Nothing like the last minute! I made the pavlova yesterday...I waited mostly because I was nervous about dealing with egg whites. I decided to make this recipe for the pavlova itself but liked the idea of adding more flavor to the filling so did the pastry cream recipe posted here along with the fruit sauce.

I was unable to remove the pavlova from the parchment pan without destroying it so it was served on the baking sheet. If I made this again I am not sure how I would get around the sticking. But regardless it tasted really good and was very interesting to make.
The layers on the pavlova are pastry cream filling, blueberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh blueberries.