Tonight's cake class was the introduction to Fondant. I have mixed feeling about Fondant. On one hand you can do some really cool stuff with it (anyone who has ever seen an episode of Ace of Cakes knows what I'm talking about). Fondant is like edible silly putty and just as much fun to play with. The downside of Fondant is, well it doesn't really taste like anything and it's got a heavy in the mouth texture. None the less, I was looking forward to playing with Fondant tonight.
Last week I let my coworkers vote on the flavor of cake for this week. Almond was the flavor picked. I picked the recipe, "Grandmother's snow-high almond cake" from the Pillsbury's Best Baking Book originally published in the early 1950s. It's a butter cake, meaning the fat comes from butter. Most cake mixes today rely on vegetable oil for the fat. I'm struggling with my "from scratch" cakes, despite my courses at the CSCA. Oil cakes turn out pretty good for me, but butter cakes are still not producing the exact results I'm looking for. This one wasn't an easy one either. After creaming all the wet ingredients minus the 4 egg whites, you then beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with some sugar and fold into the remaining cake mix right before pouring into pans and baking. I hoped with the beaten egg whites the cake would have a nice fluffy texture. The cake came out with a nice softness and a light almond flavor, but did not rise nearly as much as I had hoped it would. Back to the drawing, er uh mixing table.
I think the best part of this cake is the all butter almond buttercream frosting. There is a nice thick spread of it between the two layers of almond cake. Then the entire outside of the cake was frosted with the remaining buttercream and then robed in Fondant. I tried to roll it as thin as possible in order to not have it completely mask the flavor of the buttercream. I'm hoping they will meld a bit.
With the cold spell we had today in the Boston area, the first light snowfall we had yesterday, and the recipe title, I thought a snow themed cake was very appropriate. A slice of this and a steaming hot mug of tea or cocoa might be all you need to beat the winter chills.
3 comments:
You got it off the carrying plate, yay! Looks beautiful :) One other thing I was thinking about your cakes not rising ... Are you mixing wet and dry ingredients together, and then waiting a bit until you put them in the oven? That can cause cakes not to rise as much, since baking soda/powder start to do their leavening thing immediately.
This was my first experience with Fondant (on the eating side) and I have to agree with your assessment. The cake was lovely, the icing delicious, but getting a mouthful of fondant with it kind of over-powered everything. At least its easy to "peel off" so we can enjoy the cake itself, which rocks!
Your baking is the best perk that comes with this job!!
Mom says that your cakes might be prettier, but if you ask the CEO of Brown Baking Company, he'll tell you that she makes the best cakes.
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