MangiaMore: BOOZY yellow birthday cake and chocolate ERMINE frosting

RER 4.21.18

Oh, I do love a good birthday cake. Especially, when I get to make the cake for someone very special’s birthday. Not only do I get to make it, which is an odd mixture of stress and joy, but also I get to eat said cake, each step of the way. #anditsnotevenmybirthday

I have about a million tabs open on Chrome on my phone, so preparing to make this birthday cake merely involved thumbing through the tabs and some quick reference searching (can you make buttermilk? the answer is yes!).

It only seemed fitting that I make Hummingbird High’s boozy yellow birthday cake. There is something about eponymous about yellow cake and birthdays.   Annnnd Birthday is even in the name of the cake. Done. Yellow cakes have been a challenge for me—once a disaster, once a success— so I was excited to gain some more experience in yolky, buttery deliciousness. 

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Ten egg yolks, much sugar, and much butter, and a tired arm later, I gained that experience and a beautiful batter that was a pretty yellow and tasted like sugar cookie dough.

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RER 4.21.18

Instead of orange peel to go with the Grand Marnier, I opted for almond extract mixed in the sugar before adding it to the rest of the concoction. Love, love almond cakes. This cake had just a hint of almond, but it definitely added an earthy opulence to this yellow birthday cake.

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Next came the frosting. The birthday boy has grown tired of traditional American buttercream frosting, but severely enjoyed the flour/ermine/boiled buttercream I made a while back, topping of a highly delectable almond sheet cake.  Yellow cake deserves chocolate frosting. So, I referred to Pastry Chef Online for a chocolate ermine frosting. This is where things got tricky. It started strong, but my cocoa powder was clumpy and that stayed through to the final result. Then, I was challenged with stubborn frosting. Something was separating, so I tried heat and cold and powdered sugar (even though the recipe did not call for it) and beating forever. In the end, it turned out ok, but it was less attractive than I wanted for a birthday cake. Oh well. Turned out pretty tasty, though: light and not too sweet, sweeping and fluffy.

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RER 4.21.18

Then, there was the booze. I did not forget about the booze. What’s a celebration without booze!? Grand Marnier is not a staple in our household bar, so I went with Disaronno, our tried and true friend. All it took was a little heat, water, and sugar to make the sweet syrup that would be dabbed on the two layers. I say “dabbed” because without a pastry brush, improvisation was involved—that Downy paper towel. Wish I got more of that syrup onto the cake and less on my fingers. The bites where the cake absorbed the most of the sweet stuff were magnificent.

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RER 4.21.18

All in all, I love birthday cake. And this cake definitely fit the bill. My birthday boy enjoyed it too, so I’m happy. I think we should start celebrating half birthdays, because more birthday cake… halfy birthday to you. 

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4.30.18

RER 4.21.18

MangiaMore: lightened HUMMINGBIRD cake

RER 3.27.16

I generally equate coconut cake with Easter. In fact, there has been the rare occasion that I have eaten coconut cake outside of Easter or that I did not enjoy coconut cake on Easter. The two just go together in my mind—like peanut butter and jelly would, if I could eat it. Cake and holiday meld to one (but not really).

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This Easter, however, was one of those rare occasions when coconut cake was not devoured on the holiday. This year was a little different. Why? Who knows? Perhaps, spring break sprung and there was so much to do, or a newish job caused sharp ups and downs, or downtime is the new norm. Perhaps, we have all been more wary of sweets and what we eat (by all, I mean everyone in my family except for me). Have no fear; cake was still involved.

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Hummingbird cake has been a hot topic here for the last couple weeks or so—something about a yoga teacher needing the southern specialty for her mother’s birthday. The anecdote sparked interest and a Google search (or two), and eventually, led me to make a lighter version Hummingbird cake for Easter.

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At first, I was alarmed by the quantity and the diversity of the fruits that come together to compose this cake. A lighter version means less oil and more fruits (more banana and applesauce). Sure, I have had banana bread and banana cake, I have made applesauce cake, and I am mildly familiar with pineapple upside-down cake. But all three—together— sounded nuts.

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That is until I ate my first slice. Banana is the only really prevalent flavor in the layers of not-so-sweet cake. It is not intense, but round and full, reminiscent of the banana bread I am familiar with. The applesauce vanishes into pure moisture, holding the dense cake together. And the pineapple pieces are only discernible when encountered, but the studs are sweet and tangy, like the scrumptious cream cheese frosting blanketing the cake. This recipe was a breeze (once the bananas were ripe enough—we put the bananas in a brown paper bag with a super ripe avocado) and definitely an easy classic.

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3.27.16