For Monica… and I hear it was good
I saw this cake awhile ago and was impressed that she gave it a 9.5! I mean how can you see a recipe rated nearly perfect and not want to put it in your mouth?
Lately I’ve been craving sweets. I always crave sweets but for several weeks I’ve wanted soft cookies, cakes, donuts, biscuits, etc. Lately it has been summer, and hot, and crazy, and the house is messy, and stopping at the grocery store is so low on my list of priorities it is embarrassing to mention. Then the cravings for blackberries set in and lately many banana recipes have been tickling my fancy but timing is everything with fresh ingredients so I decided with vacation looming around the corner that I would tackle that cake!
I went to the store and bought the ingredients not already in my pantry. I bought the three cake pans, I discussed the need for the candy thermometer with Monica and I was prepared. I toyed briefly with the notion that being home most of the week with a triple layer cake and only myself and my children seemed like a bad idea but there is no time like the present.
Now my vacation was a little wacky. I had missed more work than expected with my grandfather’s heart attack and was running out of paid time off. I’d promised this vacation to my kids however and was personally very much in need of the down time. To make this all happen I worked a full day Sunday when my kids were with their dad and I worked half a day on Monday so I could take the rest of the week off.
Monday I worked, visited my grandfather, picked up my kids, hung out with them and called it a night. Tuesday I hung out with my dear friend Becca, looking at photos from my parents’ 35th anniversary and using the Internet at my sister’s. It became apparent that the cake would have to wait until my return from the coast.
Somewhere in these few days I got notification that my dad would be down the last Saturday of my vacation and intended to do a family dinner around his family-famous lasagna. This would be the perfect opportunity to make the cake. My family is large and even without all of us in attendance we’d be a good match for the triple layer confection. A late return from the coast Thurs night meant I had 3 helpers for the cake extravaganza on Friday.
We set out to make the cake on Friday so it would be ready for dinner on Saturday. Before swimming we got the baking out of the way.
helpers
cooled
After swimming, showers, food and saying goodbye to my nephew I set out to make the frosting and assemble the cake. My son was eager to help with the frosting as well and we started compiling tools and ingredients. It became apparent that my candy thermometer was no where to be found. I searched high and low, E helping too even though he had to keep asking what it would look like. I’d noticed through the evening that I wasn’t feeling so tiptop and stress wasn’t helping. Desperately, I turned to the magnificient Jacob to see if I could borrow a thermometer from him. Thankfully he was home and willing and I threw my kids in the car and drove to his house.
Arriving at home, I realized how horribly unwell I now felt and I was fading fast. The recipe calls for boiling sugar so I decided it best to tackle it on my own. I shewed the children out of the kitchen and set to work. Now Jacob is a professional in his own right and always owns high quality tools. I was impressed and excited to put this thermometer to work. I quickly realized I had a problem, as his thermometer is clever and has a stand to keep the mercury off the bottom of the pan my pan was too large, the liquid too shallow to touch the bottom of the thermometer. I’d already begun cooking the liquid at this point and scurried to find a smaller pan, still too shallow and a smaller pan still… ah, just barely!
Happily I thought “the end is in sight”. I set to mixing my egg whites, keeping a watchful eye on my brown sugar syrup. Everything was coming together or so I thought until it became apparent that my syrup was going to boil over and was not yet near the magical 238 degrees needed. I called my son in to keep whipping at the eggs and kept a careful watch over the syrup, pulling it off the burner at times to keep hot sugar from coating my stovetop. I did realize at some point that while it bubbled and bubbled it wasn’t oozing so I tried to leave it alone and managed to until I had decided enough was enough even though I still had not hit the magical temperature. In the end a few drops of syrup were lost to the stove and a bit dribbled in my mixer but the frosting came together. Actually, I’m not entirely sure that it came together properly, never having made this type of frosting before (I chose the buttercream) and I’m not sure it ever curdled but it looked and tasted right.*
I don’t have a cake stand but I have a nice platter and I don’t have any fancy tools or even an offset spatula but I set to work with my spoon and butter knife. I remembered the trick of doing a thin layer and then chilling the cake before doing the outer pretty layer so I was pretty proud of myself until I realized I know nothing about making any type of design. I did also use frosting to even out the lopsidedness of the cake.
Frosting Phase1
Frosting Phase2
I fell asleep and slept soundly until morning… nope
I fell asleep and woke up every couple of hours to blow my nose, rearrange myself on the bed with my two children and eventually slept on the floor in the living room (I had many houseguests)
I awoke in the morning to the knowledge that I was not well, sleep had not improved my symptoms and lasagna dinner with cake dessert were likely to be unappetizing with my lost sense of smell. I spent ALL day Saturday in bed, waking only to find a tissue and swallow ocassional pills. Fever, cough, runny nose, itchy throat, body aches… oh my.
I did rouse myself at dinner time to sample the lasagna, after all it is my favorite food in the world. In answer to their question of taste, I informed my family that I could tell the garlic bread was salty and that was about it. How sad! I knew at that point I wouldn’t try the cake that night. I was looking SO forward to it. Along with Monica’s addition of cinnamon to the frosting I’d added some to the cake itself. I love Mexican Hot Chocolate and was attempting my own meld of flavors. I returned to bed with the promise they would wake me before cutting the cake so I could snap another photo.
dessert
I’m not going to lie. I’ve eaten the cake. I think it is good. Do I think it is great? No but here comes the disclaimer and my reasoning for why you should try this cake! Can I taste properly? I don’t think so. Five days later and I’m still sniffly and using tissues at an alarming rate. Spicy foods aren’t spicy, I can’t discern the flavors of my salt water taffy.
My family and friend tell me it is amazing and amusing. I hope that was a typo on his part. The cake is gone. The kids loved it! My sister tells me it went perfectly with the Neopolitan ice cream and that the cinnamon wasn’t overpowering which is good. My dad’s only complaint? He likes the icing better when it is more solid and chilled. I did notice the “crumb” that Monica spoke of and agree it is wonderful. I’ve never made a cake with cake flour before so I am not an expert at its contribution to the texture but I will make this cake again and soon. I feel I’m missing something wonderful here.
Monica, I do have to say that I do wonder how well the frosting came together because I thought it did still have a bit of that “greasy feeling on the roof of your mouth” and I know nothing about how my constant removal from the burner affected the syrup, let alone not reaching full temperature. I’ve considered making this cake again with the frosting from your grandmother’s cake.
