More cake!!

To celebrate a birthday, a special cake was needed. The cake is the perfect summer-time cake, although perhaps it would be better earlier in the summer, when strawberries are in season.

The base was High Ratio White Cake from the CIA Baking and Pastry book, which is not pure white, since it does have some egg yolk in it. This cake needed to be extra high, so the recipe was doubled and each cake was cut into two layers, with one of the layers reserved for future use.

First, we prep the pans:

Then, we mix up the batter. In a high-ratio cake, there is a high ratio of sugar to butter. All of the dry ingredients are mixed in with the butter and 50% of the wet ingredients (milk, eggs, and vanilla in this case). Then, to develop structure, this is mixed for four minutes. The remaining 50% of the wet ingredients are added in three additions, mixing for two minutes after each addition.

Mmm, cake batter.

These layers baked up very nicely.

The next day, it was time to assemble the cake. Slice up strawberries, enough for each layer and the top decoration.

And then whip up the cream. This time, it was stabilized - just like Rose Levy B. does.

Assemble carefully: Cake, whipped cream, strawberries, cake whipped cream, strawberries, cake, whipped cream, lots of strawberries!

The finished cake!

Life in the kitchen was interrupted by a visit from this guy:

The kitchen is not large, and he is not a small dog.

But back to the story of the cake. When we last left it there were two layers of yellow cake, nearly 5cm high. They needed to be dressed up and what better to do it than chocolate frosting? The frosting was a new recipe for this chef, based on sour cream, not butter or sugar. To 2.25cups of sour cream, 15oz of melted, yet cooled, chocolate chips were added. And .25cups of corn syrup.

This was chilled a little to make it stiffer, and then it was time to ice the cake.

And since it was a birthday cake, it definitely need a few sprinkles!

Reviews were good, although this chef prefers a sweeter frosting...

A Single Sunday Night Chef

The Sunday Night Chefs have separated, not due to anger but due to circumstances. Though there will be a high proportion of the Chefs living in an East-Coast-Liberal-Elite state in the very near future, only one Chef currently has the password to this site. These will be stories from the kitchen of that Chef.

Two things were going on in the kitchen tonight - Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables and Best Birthday Cake. The gnocchi were from Martha's Everyday Living magazine-ette (it's much smaller than a regular magazine). This magazine started arriving one day, completely unexpectedly. Best Birthday Cake is from Smitten Kitchen, via Porter House.

Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables:
This was a simple recipe, one that can truly be an "everyday food." Though this chef is experienced with gnocchi, even owning a gnocchi board, to be an everyday food, store bought gnocchi were used. The summer vegetables were "locally grown," which Harris Teeter defines as being from somewhere six hours away or less. Zucchini, yellow squash and garlic were up first - into the saute pan with a little olive oil and salt. Then some grape tomatoes for two more minutes - just enough to release the juices.



In a separate pot, the gnocchi were boiling away.

*Le Creuset was hiding in the background, trying not to be noticed. He doesn't have a cupboard to call home in this apartment's kitchen.

Once the gnocchi were cooked and buttered, they were mixed into the saute pan and topped off with a little basil.


Stir it around and yum! A delicious dinner.



The birthday cake was in the first stages tonight. The cake will be presented to a coworker on Friday, but this chef knew and Smitten Kitchen agrees that it is much easier to frost a cake while it's frozen.

This is a serious cake. Over four cups of flour, two cups of sugar, two cups of buttermilk, and a cup of butter. Plus a few other ingredients.



Popped into the oven for 40 minutes at 350 and:


Two beautiful cake layers, both nearly 5cm tall. These guys will be into the freezer tonight, getting ready to be dressed in chocolate sour cream frosting on Thursday night!