All Cakes Considered Cake Catch-Up

Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, #37


Whipped Cream Cake, #38, which was a bit of a failure both in looks and taste.


Honey Buttercream with Apricot Jam, #39, which was awesome!


Alma's Italian Cream Cake, #40


Sour Cream with Orange Buttercream, #41


Devil's Food Cake with Raspberry Jam & Quick Fudge Frosting, #42


Dark Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, #43, which was delicious!


Triple Chocolate Orange Passion Cake, #44

My least favorite cake to date...

Cake #36, Martha Washington's Great Cake, baked 1.31.2011, was my biggest disappointment to date. Apparently I took too much cake baking time off (over the holidays) plus my cake journeys restarted with a more difficult cake. Overall I wasn't happy with this cake...it appears to be baked fine but the taste is off...a little too much mace or maybe I measured badly. My (mis)adventure began by forgetting to prepare the pan correctly...I totally blanked on putting parchment paper in the bottom of the pan but I sprayed it liberally with the flour baking spray. Next was my lack of a scale in order to properly weigh the fruits and nuts called for in the recipe. I did my best conversion over to cups as I could but the cake lacked the flavor I was expecting. I had lemon for the zest but my lemons were not giving me a whole lot so I am not sure I had a full teaspoon...it was close. This recipe called for 10 eggs (yup, you read that right) seperated and the whites beat to soft peak. After that you start folding them into your creamed butter. I had done what I was suppose to in letting my butter come to room temperature...the problem was that room temp was still pretty cool since I don't blast the heat in the house. So the eggs and butter had issues coming together. After the creaming everything was folded into the batter and I am folding challenged at best. I did manage to get everything incorporated and the batter looked like it was suppose to. I poured it into the pan and put it in the oven, only to immediately realize that I had forgotten the raisins. So out it came and the raisins hastily added and poorly mixed. The recipe called for it to be baked 1 hr 15 minutes but because I was really concerned about this one getting overcooked and my oven runs hot I took it out at 1 hr 5 minutes. After it was removed from the pan (thank goodness!) I started worrying that it was still overcooked because it is such a dense cake. After it had cooled I beat up the frosting (more egg whites) but it never reached a stiff stage. I did manage to get it all over the cake and it back in the oven to bake at 200 for a hour for the merignue to harden. After an hour I took it out and it wasn't fully hardened but I didn't dare keep baking not knowing what it would do to the cake. I let it cool again before partaking. It is edible but it definitely isn't my favorite cake. There are so many areas I could have made a critical mistake but I think it was more a lot of little issues that made this cake disappointing. I don't think I'd recake this one either because the recipe itself is a pain in the neck.

Out of touch but I've still been baking...

Cake #30 was Faux Fruitcake baked on 11.7.2010 and it was delicious. I have a HUGE sweet tooth so it might not appeal to everyone. Instead of apricots or some other orange real fruit this recipe called for candy orange slices (hence faux). This cake was sticky and sweet...yummy!

Another episode in recaking...

...for my mother's birthday. I recaked the 2nd cake from All Cakes Considered, the Brown Sugar Pound Cake. I baked it on 11.11.2010 and it came out really good. Of course my decorating skills still need major work!

Wow, I've been out of touch with my 4 followers ;-)

Cake #29, 10.31.2010, Peach Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! This cake was super moist and delicous although it did not taste much like peaches.

Cake #30, 11.7.2010, is Faux Fruitcake made with candy orange slices with dates, coconut and pecans. It is very sweet but I loved it.

I haven't done any cakes from All Cakes Considered because I've been in a period of holiday craziness, vacation and pumpkin baking...see next post.

Cake #28, Paula Dean's Apple Cake

Cake #28 is Paula Dean's Apple Cake which I baked with macoun apples like the last apple cake. In addition to apples it had pecans and coconut along with an awesome buttermilk sauce.

This cake is delicious!!! It isn't the prettiest cake but it makes up for it's looks with it's amazing taste.

Cakes # 26 & 27

Cake #26 was Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting (10.10.2010). I love just about any cake with frosting but I have found that making frosting the right consistency is a challenge for me...it has been hit or miss with mostly misses. The same goes for this cake although it wasn't as bad as my first attempt with frosting so at least there is an improvement. I thought perhaps I baked it a tiny bit too long (like maybe 2 minutes) but mostly I am pleased with this cake.

Cake #27 was Apple Cake, 10.16.2010 and it was delicious! I made it with Macoun apples even though the recipe called for Granny Smith. I was afraid that it was going to be an oily cake based on another review of this recipe but it proved to be not at all the case. My main complaint is that the baking time was off. It said to bake the cake for 1 hour but it took more like 1 hour and 15 minutes. Also it said I could bake it in an 8 inch square or 9 inch round. I chose the square and I had a bit of overflow problems during baking. But the flavors of this cake...Mmmmmmm!!!!

October Have the Cake Challenge

This is only my 2nd ever layer cake and my first try at dividing the layers. The request for this cake was chocolate, vanilla with mocha frosting for a birthday. All the recipes come from the fantastic cookbook All Cakes Considered by Melissa Grey.

With 3 of the 4 layers and their base mocha frosting. My dividing skills need work although the toothpick and string trick worked really well.

All fully frosting and ready for candles. If I eventually get really into layer cakes I am thinking a frosting and decorating class might be a good idea...right now I'm just happy to cover the cake completely with frosting.

It was a very tasty cake...my main issue is the fact that my cake building and frosting skills needs work. But it's taste that ultimately matters right? :-)

Cake Catch-Up

Cake #22 is called Honey Spice Cake with Rum Glaze and it was made on 8.22.2010. This cake is delicious, moist and has a strong honey taste. I would totally make this cake again!

Cake #23 was the Araby Spice Cake made 8.29.2010. While it was a very tasty cake and the frosting went perfectly with it, it did not excite me. Of course the frosting wasn't perfect b/c of the order I mixed the ingrediants but I would make the frosting again before I'd make the cake. It was closer to a coffee cake which I have discovered is not my thing.

Cake #24, Holiday Honey Cake made 9.6.2010 made for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. It was a good cake with just about every spice in the cabinet but it was boring for me. No glaze or frosting...another cake that would be really good with coffee but not as a dessert for moi.

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.

The Naughty Senator, #18

What a fun name...the flavors represents the rich (chocolate), debauching (rum) politician (peppermint) and it was my first try at a marbled cake, 7.19.2010. I was worried about splitting the batter correctly since I screwed that up on a previous recipe but I did much better this time. I could have marbled the batter a tiny bit more with a thinner spatula but it still came out nicely swirled. Next time (b/c there will be a next time for this cake) I'll bake it for about 5 minutes less as it was a touch dry and add a chocolate glaze.

Yummy Butter Rum Cake, #17

Cake #17, Butter Rum Cake, 7.4.2010 was delicious and more fun to make than the vanilla rum cake made earlier in the cookbook. So far I've had really good luck with the bundt pan and I love how the cakes come out.

This cake was delicious all on this own but the added rum glaze was amazing!

The Tunnel of Fudge Cake, #16

The Tunnel of Fudge (Cake #16, 6.29.2010) came about as what would appear to be a kitchen mishap. Due to the amount of sugar in the cake it does something with the flour which causes the center to bake liquid or at least very fudgy. On top of a lot of sugar it has a ton of butter...

2nd time using my bundt pan, 6.29.2010.

I was happy with how the cake looked all done.

The cake was awful good but I did not get the liquid fudge in the center but you can tell by the darker spot in the cake that the center is fudgy. Even though I baked it for only 45 minutes (the recipe called for 45-50) and my oven temp was correct I think I shall have to carve off an additional few minutes and see how it turns out. The cake looked a little dry around the edges but it wasn't at all.

Cake #15, Cocoa Bread with Stewed Peaches

This cake was a different chocolate cake...it had cinnamon and molasses in it which gave it a different chocolate taste. Not my favorite cake but I did like it. I would not have thought to put peaches over it but they went really well.

The cake fresh out of the oven, 6.20.2010.




Peaches stewing with sugar and water, 6.20.2010.




The finished cake, 6.20.2010.

Cake #14, Wacky Cake with 7-Minute Frosting

The cake for this recipe was super simple and kind of fun. This cake was common during WWII when certain items were short due to rationing. It requires an odd way of mixing the ingredients. One well with vanilla extract, one with vinegar and one with vegetable oil.

The 7 Minute Frosting is the first time I've attempted beat egg whites to any stage. For this I was suppose to aim for the soft peak stage and, honestly, I was nervous that I was totally going to screw this up. But as I beat the eggs, sugar and cream of tartar they started to get shiny and thicker. Soft peak it is! And this frosting tastes like fluff except better!

Cake left in the pan for less fuss and covered with frosting.

Cake #13, Chocolate Pound Cake, of All Cakes Considered

Ah the chocolate series has started in the form of Chocolate Pound Cake. I have never been a huge fan of chocolate cake (shocking huh?!) but this cake turned out to taste a lot like a brownie, which I do love.

This cake produces a metric buttload of chocolatey batter (I think I might be developing a batter addiction)!

Next time I need to trim the cake so that the bottom is even when I release the cake from the pan.

I was pretty pleased how the cake came out of the pan as it was very first time using my bundt pan.

I dusted it with confectioners sugar to make it prettier.

Moist, delicious and more attractive now that the bundt pan has been used....win, win and win!