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.

My Sweet Cake Pan

Happy Valentines Day!

In today's edition of I Love Daiso, I'm celebrating the holiday by featuring this heart-shaped cake pan with the words...

!!!

My friend, Amanda, surprised me with this after I took her on her first trip to Daiso last year. She spotted it and snuck it into her basket when I wasn't looking (awwww!)

I don't have the packaging any more, but I think it actually may have been billed as a "chocolate pan." Maybe for molding candy? That would be one big-ass piece of candy. Although Valentines Day is a fine day for a big ass piece of heart-shaped candy. Or if it is indeed a cake pan, that would be one small and crunchy heart-shaped cake.

I don't really care what it's meant for. "My Sweet" cake pan hangs on the wall in my kitchen. I like to think of it as signboard for my pretend cake shop : )

I Love DAISO! The Preview

 I think "I Love Daiso" should be a blog all its own. Have you ever been in a Daiso shop before?

My first and favorite Daiso in San Francisco's Japantown

For the uninitiated, Daiso is the most awesomest Japanese housewares shop. EVER. Actually it's more than just housewares. It's a veritable treasure trove of things you never knew you needed (banana holder, anyone?)

Screen grab of the Daiso Web site "products" page. And this doesn't even scratch the surface.

Daiso is ridiculous. And I mean literally ridiculous. Once, my friend Amanda and I unwittingly killed a couple of hours making our way through the aisles of Daiso, just reading the "Japlish" (aka Engrish) phrases found all over their product packaging. We died many times over. I looked up the Daiso Web site and found a blurb which pretty much sums up our outing that day:

"Find Surprises & Fun!"

Why am I raving about Daiso on a blog dedicated to cake decorating? Because they have some kick-ass cake decorating supplies, of course! And I don't just mean in their cake decorating section either. I've found many an unexpected addition to my collection of cake toys in Daiso's craft section and bento section. There's also a wealth of fun packaging, party supplies, and food products that a creative caker could put to good use.

And did I mention, almost everything in there is $1.50?!

Keep your eyes peeled - I'll be sharing my finds with you in posts that I'll tag with (you guessed it) "I love Daiso!"

Love for EVERYONE (Plus One Way to Get a Perfectly Flat and Smooth Buttercream Top)

Today, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
That makes this a fine day to share one of my favorite cakes:

A friend had asked about having me make a cake to celebrate Pride weekend in San Francisco last June. He didn't end up needing one after all, but I was so excited about the idea, I made one anyway. As it turns out, the weekend I made this cake was also the weekend New York state voted to legalize gay marriage.
(Aaaand, it was also still my birthday month, so there was that...)

Because a rainbow flag, rainbow letters and rainbow sprinkles weren't enough...

... I also made it rainbow inside.

I showed the rainbow cake process in this picture montage from another post.

I had really been struggling with getting a smooth, flat top on my frosting and used this opportunity to try out an interesting new technique I came across on Cake Central: icing the cake upside down. I thought the results were pretty flawless.

I didn't take any of my own pictures, but here's a collage I made with pictures from the Cake Central post:

Click on the picture to see the full tutorial.

It's basically four steps:

1) Tape a piece of parchment to a board and pipe on a circle of BC, the exact size of your cake (this will be the top of your cake!) Freeze or refrigerate until firm.
2) Place your prepped cake on the frozen circle of icing, fill and layer as needed, and then ice the sides (hence, icing "upside down.") Move quickly! Chill again till firm.
3) Remove the cake from the fridge/freezer, and quickly and carefully flip it over onto your board. Leaving the parchment on top, chill yet again.
4) Once the top is nice and stiff, gently peel back the parchment paper. Perfection!
 
Until this post, I actually forgot how well this technique worked for me. I have to do this again, perhaps on an 8 inch cake (though I'd certainly recommend starting with a 5- or 6-inch if you're trying this for the first time - easier to handle.)

Total game changer!

I hope you like, and I hope you try.

Mirror Mirror: In the Oven

2011 was the year I joined a book club. I read three books, went to one meeting, and we have all but given up trying to get our next gathering on the books.

I'm thinking 2012 could be the year of what I like to call my new "cake club," Bakers Dozen San Francisco.

This is what a cake club meeting looks like

As explained on its website,

"Bakers Dozen is a nonprofit group of baking professionals and enthusiasts gathering to exchange information in a quest for knowledge and excellence."

The group typically hosts three luncheon meetings a year, a field trip (to a local farm or ingredient producer, for example) and occasional special interest workshops. Each meeting has a theme, a panel discussion of experts, or presentations from book authors.

There's also a very active online discussion group - so I basically have a network of bakers eager to advise me on any cake quandary that should crop up.

Bakers Dozen Web site

This week, I went to my first Bakers Dozen luncheon. The theme was "Mirror Mirror: In the Oven." Instead of all reading the same book, everyone was given the same recipe and instructions for pound cake. We were asked to make the recipe and bring the cake to the meeting, along with a card indicating what brand of flour, sugar, and butter we used, so we could compare and contrast the results.

Two cakes baked in the same kitchen with the same batch of butter and sugar, in the same oven,
the same pans, with the exact same mixing time to the second. Everything controlled for, except for the brand of flour. 

I followed the recipe and instructions to the T. In the spirit of experimentation, I even kept the oven temperature at the prescribed 350, despite knowing that my oven runs hot and that it would likely result in an overdone cake. The crust turned out a little browner than I would have liked, but I didn't think it didn't hurt the overall taste and mouth feel.

My pound cake

Another member made her cake with exactly the same brands as I did: King Arthur Flour, C&H sugar, and Trader Joe's butter. Her cake looked significantly different.

My Cake Counterpart

I think I probably ate the equivalent of a whole pound cake by the time I was done tasting. And that was all before lunch.

Pre-lunch snack

Just like in a book club, we gathered to discuss our thoughts. Who used bleached flour? Who used unbleached? What's the water content in the different brands of butter? What's the protein content in different brands of flour? Did you use a dark or light loaf pan? Or glass or aluminium? Pure vanilla or artificial? How did these factors affect the flavor, crumb, density, moistness, crust of the cake?

*Head spinning* It all tasted good to me.

I was easily one of the youngest ones in the group, and one of only a handful of new members. While I did meet several baking hobbyists like myself, I got the impression that most of these ladies (there were only 2 men that I saw) had devoted much of their lives to the business of baking. It was fascinating, especially coming from someone who, until last week, baked primarily from a box.

One of these things is not like the other

So maybe the book club didn't work out. I have a feeling I'll have better luck with these guys.

Free Cake Books

Look at the new cake decorating books I picked up today!

I picked them out online a couple of days ago, and they were waiting for me with my name on them today, at my local library. I've been pleasantly surprised recently, by the number of fun cake decorating titles carried by the San Francisco Public Library (including the popular "Hello, Cupcake!" series.)

Have you checked your online library catalog lately? If you're like me and are always looking for new sources of knowledge and inspiration (or you just like looking at cake stuff), you may want to.

Cake Fail: My First Scratch Cake

Last July I made my first cake from scratch since I took up cake decorating. As you may recall from a previous post, I'm unapologetic about the fact that my cakes all start with a box mix. But my husband had come across a cake contest at a local cookbook store and encouraged me to enter. So I was going to make a scratch cake, using an untested (by me) recipe, and, of all things, have it be judged by a roomful of experts.

Easier on the eyes than it was on the palate.

To make things even more interesting, we were one week into a two-week cleanse and sugar was off limits. I was going to bake my cake, but wait until it was time to serve it at the contest, to taste it.

It was a series of ballsy moves that ended up doing a number on my ego.

First attempt at using transfer sheets. First ruffle rose. This was a day of firsts.

I picked one of the chocolate butter cake recipes from "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It was in the section titled "Simply Delicious Foolproof Cakes." I even went out and bought a scale to weigh the ingredients, just like Rose advises. Surely "The Bible" wouldn't let me down? 

My cake, at the contest, sitting pretty on her pedestal platter. I love alliteration.

My two-tiered creation elicited a lot of "oohs" and "aahs" as we walked into Omnivore Books. It was the most intricately-decorated cake in the room. Too bad we weren't being judged on our decorating skills. (Note how I didn't claim to have the "prettiest" cake; there were a lot of natural beauties on display.)

I made the rounds, did some major cheating on my cleanse, and cast my vote.
I didn't vote for my own cake because 1) I'm ethical, and 2) it was the worst tasting cake in the room. 

The worst.

You probably already gathered that from the title of this post.

I was seriously humbled.

Even the OB topper (for "Omnivore Books") didn't buy favor with the taste-testers, made up mostly of the other contestants.

My cake tasted almost a tad spicy. Any guesses? It had a very fine crumb, which I thought was a good thing, but was overall very dry in the mouth. 

The aftermath. See how fine the crumb is?

And here's the kicker: A few people actually came up to me and said that they noticed something different about the middle layer of my cake, and that they liked it best. What I failed to mention to you, dear reader, is that...

(wait for it...)

I HAD SNUCK A LAYER OF BOX-MIX CAKE INTO THE MIDDLE!
I had a spare 8-inch chocolate layer in the freezer and had decided to use it to make my cake taller.

Busted.

It just goes to show how many people, baking experts included, prefer box-mix cake and don't even know it (you can read my post about that here.)

Has anyone out there tried making one of the chocolate butter cake recipes from The Cake Bible? Or any other of Rose Levy Beranbaum's cake recipes? I'd love your insight.