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A Piece of Cake
April 2005: Third Slice
Newsletter written by Anne Byrn April 22, 2005
A Word from the Doctor
A Word from Workman
Recipe Swap
Do Share
Doctor the Doctor
Hot Tip
Next Issue
A Word from the Doctor
Recently my friend Dayna, a devotée of Mexican food, asked me to bake a Tres Leches Cake for a birthday dinner party. Might it be topped with strawberries, she asked sweetly, as the birthday mom loves fresh strawberries? Hmmm, I'll admit I was challenged. While decadent and delicious, the Tres Leches would never make my top-ten list for gorgeous cakes. It is traditionally baked in a 13-by 9-inch pan, is smothered in a mixture of three milks (thus, the name in Spanish) and left to soak and marinate in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, you can hardly cut it into pieces because it is so soft from all the milk.
But, as I studied my recipe (from The Dinner Doctor) I envisioned springform pans, a smothering of berries and whipped cream, and candles all aglow. So I filled my 10-inch pan about two-thirds full, and I had a little batter left over to bake in a much smaller springform pan, too. After these cakes were baked and cooled, I poked them over the entire top surface with a wooden skewer to make lots of holes so the milk syrup could soak in. I placed each pan with cake in it in a slightly larger pan to soak up any overflow from the milk syrup. And, I lightly draped the top of the pans with waxed paper.
After an overnight stay in the refrigerator, the cakes had soaked up every drop of the syrup, and they were plump and gorgeous. The smaller cake stayed home with my family, but the larger cake went straight to the birthday party with its garnish of whipped cream and strawberries. After the dinner dishes were cleared and the moms were chatting, I unfastened the rim of the springform pan and slid the cake and bottom rim onto a serving platter. I piled on the strawberries to cover the top of the cake, then I plopped the whipped cream in the center and candles around the cream. We lit the candles, sang "Happy Birthday," and dug in.
I must say, this was the most exquisite strawberry-shortcake-meets-coconut-Tres-Leches creation you could imagine. It truly melted in your mouth. I hope this spring you have the chance to bake with fresh strawberries in the market, and I hope you try this rendition. I also hope you try the two recipes I share this issue. Both requests came from readers of this newsletter.
So, here's to spring baking and being hopeful of a great year to come!
Anne
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A Word from Workman
You heard it here first. Anne and her cupcakes can be spotted at these new locations in the coming months. Don't forget to see if your town has already been expecting the Cupcake Tour to come to town.
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The dates without web sites are still being planned, so keep an eye on Anne's Tour Page for the latest details.
April 25 - Washington DC
April 26 - New York
April 27 - Good Morning America!
May 3 - Cincinnati
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
May 3 - Dayton
Books and Company
May 7 - Nashville
Davis-Kidd Booksellers
May 10 - Seattle
Third Place Books
May 20 - Phoenix
September 12 - Dallas
September 13 - Houston
September 14 - Lexington
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
September 15 - Memphis
Davis-Kidd Booksellers
September 19 - Birmingham
Books and Company
September 20 - Tampa/St. Petersburg
Barnes & Noble
September 21 - Raleigh/Durham
http://www.barnesandnoble.com |Barnes & Noble|
September 22 - Charlotte
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
And, as everyone knows, Mother's Day is coming up on May 8th this year. The Community Boardshould be all abuzz with baking ideas, tips, and reviews for those special moms.
To help everyone out with their Mother's Day baking, there's a new thread on the Community Board for people to share their childhood experiences baking with mom, favorite recipes that mother used to make, and suggestions for great Mother's Day treats. And since the board is full of busy bakers, why not add suggestions about how to doctor cake mixes to taste just like them using the Cake Mix Doctor method? If you have any questions, just ask at info@workman.com
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Recipe Swap
Trish Gaskin of Sarasota, FL, asked not too long ago if anyone had heard of a Cherry Angel Food Cake like her grandmother from Ohio used to make for Trish's birthdays in the 1950s and 60s. It was covered with a fluffy frosting. Debbie Pickard of Centerville, TN, and others sent in suggestions, and Debbie shared that her grandmother made a similar cake by placing maraschino cherries and some of the juice in the cake mix and adding a little cherry juice to a seven-minute icing. Thanks, Debbie, for your great advice, which evolved into the following recipe.
(Note that I add the chopped maraschinos to the frosting and not the cake. You can add them to the cake, but they will sink as the cake bakes.)
And thanks to Deb Carr of Greenville, SC, who sent me a funny story of the Cherry Chip Layer Cake packed for the family picnic in the mountains that somehow survived a steep, winding, bumpy ride back down the mountain even though it had been left on top of the car! I recalled, with a faint smile, the time I left the newspaper office in Atlanta on a Friday afternoon and drove several miles on I-75 before a frantic motorist in the lane next to me yelled out the window that my briefcase was on top of my car. I was able to pull over, yank it into the car, and miraculously, my briefcase and its contents, just like Deb's cherry cake, survived!
Cherry Angel Food Cake with Cherry Fluff Frosting
Serves: 16
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 38 to 42 minutes
Cake
1 package (16 ounces) angel food cake mix
1 jar (10 ounces) maraschino cherries
Water to add to cherry juice to make 1 1/4 cups
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Frosting
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon reserved cherry juice
1 large egg white
3/4 cup marshmallow creme (half a 7-ounce jar)
1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries, if desired
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Set aside an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
2. Place the cake mix in a large mixing bowl. Drain the juice from the cherries, reserving 1 tablespoon for the frosting. Add enough water to the remaining juice to make 1 1/4 cups. Pour this 1 1/4 cups in the mixing bowl, along with the almond and vanilla extracts. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 1 minute more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.
3. Bake the cake until it is deeply browned and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 38 to 42 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately turn it upside down over the neck of a glass bottle to cool for 1 hour. Remove the pan from the bottle. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack, then invert it again onto a serving platter so that it is right side up.
4. Prepare the Cherry Fluff Frosting. Place the sugar, cherry juice, and egg white in a medium-size heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, beating continuously with an electric hand mixer on high speed until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. If your hand mixer has a cord, make sure to keep it away from the burner. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the marshmallow creme and beat the mixture with the mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, 2 minutes more. Fold in the chopped maraschino cherries, if desired.
5. Spread the frosting over the top and halfway down the sides of the cake. Serve at once.
No crazy stories introducing this recipe, just a plea from Jacque Stump of San Antonio, TX, for a spice cake recipe with an apple butter filling. Here is a delicious recipe I created and my family adored.
Apple Butter Spice Cake
Serves: 16
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 16 to 18 minutes
Assembly time: 10 minutes
Cake
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pans
Flour for dusting the pans
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain spice cake mix
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Filling
2 cups apple butter (see note)
1 large egg
1 medium orange
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
Topping
1 cup sweetened whipped cream
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mist three 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable oil spray, then dust them with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.
2. Place the cake mix, sour cream, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven. You may need to place one layer on a higher oven rack. If so, watch it carefully so not to overbake, or rotate the pans halfway during baking.
3. Bake the layers until they are light brown and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 16 to 18 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert them again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow them to cool completely, 30 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. For the filling, place the apple butter in a heavy saucepan. Place the egg in a metal bowl and beat until the egg is lemon colored. Zest the orange and halve and juice the orange. Add 1/2 teaspoon grated zest to the egg along with 1/3 cup orange juice. Set this mixture aside. Heat the apple butter over medium heat, stirring with a whisk, until it is steaming and bubbly. Pour half of the hot apple butter into the egg yolk mixture and whisk briskly to combine. Pour this egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining apple butter, and whisk briskly over low heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter, stir, and let cool.
5. While the cake and filling are cooling, whip the cream and chop the pecans. Reserve 1 teaspoon of the pecans for garnishing the top.
6. To assemble the cake, place one layer on a serving plate or cake stand. Top with half of the filling, and sprinkle with half of the pecans (1/4 cup). Top with another cake layer, spread with the remaining half of the filling and the remaining pecans (1/4 cup). Top with the third layer of cake, dollop the top with the sweetened whipped cream (or just confectioner's sugar) and sprinkle the teaspoon of reserved pecans on top. Serve, and store in the refrigerator.
Note: The apple butter is from a 28-ounce jar of Musselman's. You will have about 1 cup of apple butter leftover.
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Do Share
Linda Cochran of Elizabethtown, KY, writes in search of a layer cake recipe. "It is made with a white cake mix, and it uses toffee bars crushed in the mix and in the icing. You have to split the cake layers, making four." Does this recipe sound familiar? If so, send it to anne@cakemixdoctor.com
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Doctor the Doctor
Fran Richman of Waltham, MA, says that after the holiday season she was entertaining friends and wanted to bake something, but her husband pleaded, "No more chocolate!" Can you imagine? "He was chocolated out from the holidays. (That may be the key difference between men and women). So I decided to make a variation of your de-lish Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake. I turned it into an Apple Spice Cake. I switched out a spice cake mix for the devil's food and a can of apple pie filling for the cherry pie filling. Vanilla subbed for almond extract, and a bit of cinnamon and ground ginger rounded out the flavor." Fran used the two eggs the original recipe called for, but she baked her creation in a Bundt pan. "I then topped if off with your recipe for Hot Buttermilk Glaze. I am pleased to send one your way. Thanks for the inspiration."
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Hot Tip
Susan Blustein of LaVergne, TN, writes that she tops coconut cake with shredded unsweetened coconut from an Indian foods market. "The Indian shredded coconut is quite dry, and I was afraid it wouldn't taste right, but my thoughts were that it would, if sealed overnight, moisten up and be acceptable. Wow, did it ever! Coconut milk in the buttercream frosting made the shredded coconut get just moist enough. This was the best coconut cake I have ever tasted." Susan goes on to share another cooking tip: Lots of chopped fresh parsley is the secret to great tabbouleh, especially when you are beginning with a box of tabbouleh mix. "Tabbouleh is all about the parsley."
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Next Issue: June/July
Your questions and my answers. Summer baking ideas.
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