One Great Cake

It's a brand new day here at My Sweet Blog. 

I, Gitu "Bake from a Box" Mehra, have finally turned the corner on baking cakes from scratch, and I have Richard Festen of Baking Arts to thank (read about my first experience with Baking Arts here.)

I recently took Richard's "One Great Cake" class, and he shared a simple recipe for a delicious butter cake which has been working very well for me.

"One Great Cake" at Baking Arts

More importantly, I finally learned how to make Swiss Meringue Butter Cream. How did I ever make a cake with anything else? I actually like this stuff... so silky in my mouth!

The smoothest most delicious frosting I ever made

If you've never made SMBC before, it can be a little intimidating on paper (at least it was for me - I haven't dabbled much in recipes that call for a candy thermometer.) But watching Richard make it in person changed that. As it turns out, you don't really have to measure the temperature of the egg whites, you can just stick your (gloved  *wink wink*) finger in it to test it. If it's too hot to keep your (gloved *wink*) finger in there for a few seconds, it's good to go. 

Action shot: whisking egg whites over a bain marie

I just googled SMBC and Martha Stewart's recipe came up, and it pretty much says the same thing. "Hot to the touch" is what you're looking for. I guess I was just looking at the wrong recipes before.

You can learn about Richard Festen's classes at Baking Arts, or buy one if his DVD's by clicking here.