APPLE CAKE SMACKDOWN!

Beranbaum’s Apple Cake with Crumble Topping.

What are the elements of a good apple cake? Simplicity? Apple-ness?  Do you prefer a crumbly topping? Nuts? Chunky apples? More apple or more cake?

CHOCOLATE TWEED ANGEL FOOD CAKE

I don’t generally like angel food cake.  Often, I find it tooth-achingly sweet and the angel food cakes I’ve had in the past are often cottony and dry in texture.  Instead, I am a huge fan of chiffon cakes and have many favourite recipes I repeatedly make when I want to make a cake that doesn’t require frosting and can be eaten out of hand to satisfy my cake-tooth.

So why am I making an angel food cake if I profess to not even like them?  What is so appealing to me about angel food is its lack of added fat and the seemingly saintly virtue of having less of all the bad things like refined sugar and white cake flour (look ma, fewer calories and saturated fat!)  There is no leavening agent either.   Wouldn’t it be great if an angel food cake were so virtuous and tasted good too? and was not dry but moist? and not cottony?  or overly sweet? 

Today I am embarking on an angel food cake recipe quest.  Just like my chiffon quest, my macaron quest, my chocolate cupcake quest and my epic journey with the Wilton Castle Cake (aka Ariel’s Underwater Castle), I’ll be following recipe instructions to the letter and researching my subject matter to ensure proper technique and ingredients are employed to yield best results.  I’ll be testing a bunch of recipes from my vast collection of cookbooks and my favourite food blogs in order to find a foolproof recipe that yields angel food characteristics that I deem important:

• a  tender crumb; not a cottony texture
• not overly sweet
• flavourful and tasty!

First, I am going to give Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Rose’s Heavenly Cakes another try with her gorgeous-looking “Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake”.  The picture in her cookbook  is enticing with its “Chocolate-Spangled Whipped Cream” frosting and dark chocolate garnish of Valrhona Les Perles  studded all over the frosting.  What I find particularly attractive about this cake is its name!    I like a recipe to have a creative name indicative of its qualities.  The texture seemed moist but mind you, if it’s layered and frosted with Whipped Cream frosting of course it should be moist.  I would like to eat this angel food cake sans frosting just to be purist and test whether it is capable of being eaten out of hand on its own.  I don’t expect it to be as moist and tender as chiffon, but I would like to see it come pretty close!  wishful thinking?

All went well as I followed the recipe exactly and weighed all my ingredients.  When I do a recipe quest, I never stray from the exact instructions.  I do not adapt.  I do not substitute.  This way I can have a better idea of whether or not the original recipe works well or not.  If it does, on subsequent testing, then I go about adapting flavours and stuff.  The instructions were easy to follow and I appreciate how angel food cake doesn’t require a whole whack of ingredients. 

Even the baking time was brief compared to baking a chiffon.  It was almost half the time in the oven compared to a chiffon.  I brought the cake out of the oven when it was golden brown and had the deep cracks that were indicated in the instructions.  I immediately turned it upside down and allowed it to cool for about 2 hours before even attempting to try to remove it from the pan.
Hit the link for the verdict and scroll to bottom to see the recipe.

UNAPOLOGETIC CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

Have you ever wanted to just have a plain old chocolate chip cookie that hasn’t been mussed with or fussed with—and wanted it now? Right now?
That day came.  Today.

I wanted a chocolate chip cookie that reminded me of youth-- when I’d sit in front of Scooby Doo on the tube after school with a glass of WHOLE milk and a plate of cookies on my saucer that I’d take a bite of just so…so I could fit it into my milk glass and dunk it.  And the cookie would saturate with milk and it would yield gently in my mouth, dissolving into sweet crumbly bliss. The chocolate chips tasted of blackness and I’d chug the glass until I’d spy the sandy chunks of lost cookie bits trailing with the wave of white.   I’d tilt back to let it ride the milk into my mouth.

QUICK CUPCAKE FIX

Here’s a quick post about getting a fast fix of sugary chocolatey goodness by baking a really yummy one-bowl chocolate cupcake. I used Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe from her Cupcakes book.

The verdict? Yes, it’s quick and easy and you can do it all in one bowl. I like that. In addition, you don’t have to worry about softening butter. It uses veggie oil. That helps for moistness too.

I swirled some vanilla bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream on my mini chocolate cupcakes and then decided to get fancy with a variegated pink buttercream. I just plopped pink and white buttercream blobs in my piping bag and it came out looking all swirly pink. It’s kind of neat. It looks fancy but it’s quick and easy too.

The buttercream is so smooth and delicious I don’t know if I can ever go back to a simple confectioners’ sugar & butter concoction again! It rivals my favourite Beranbaum buttercreams which use a sugar syrup method or a boiled sugar and corn syrup method. At least the Swiss Meringue method doesn’t require you to boil sugar. My only pet peeve is all those egg yolks I have left over…and yes, I do know what I can do with all those egg yolks (pastry cream, creme brulee etc.) but you know how I like things all neat and tidy!

THE BEST CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES EVER: CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH VANILLA SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

I know it doesn’t look like I’ve been searching for the best darned chocolate cupcake recipe, but I have. I have tested Corriher’s Deep Dark Chocolate Cake recipe and the Cooks Illustrated Dark Chocolate Cupcake recipe against my favourite go-to recipe by the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.

When I tested the Corriher recipe, I found the flavour okay but it certainly didn’t beat out Garten’s recipe. I found the Garten recipe superior in ease of technique and less fussy as you didn’t have to use as many eggs (nor did you have to separate and save 4 whites from the extra yolks you needed). For the extra richness the yolks added to the Corriher recipe, I didn’t find the cupcake any more flavourful. For some strange reason, I also found little pockets of unmixed flour in the baked cupcakes, which is my ultimate pet peeve. I had sifted the dry ingredients so that shouldn’t have happened. I had followed the directions carefully, so I wasn’t happy. Initially, I thought that the technique of adding the flour into the warm hot cocoa mixture was the problem, but I’m not too sure. In any case, it wasn’t a foolproof recipe and it didn’t work out for me.

So, it was with apprehension and a bit of excitement that I picked up a copy of Cooks Illustrated from the newstand and noticed they had a recipe for a Dark Chocolate Cupcake. I chose to make it for Bebe’s birthday. Yes, I know I made her chocolate butterfly cupcakes already for her birthday party, but that was her “warm-up birthday party” for her friends. I had used Corriher’s Deep Dark Chocolate recipe for those cupcakes but didn’t bother to post the recipe because I generally don’t post recipes that don’t pass muster in my kitchen. I have made Corriher’s Whipped Cream pound cake many times however, and that is my go-to recipe for pound cake.

I made these particular cupcakes for Bebe’s actual “real” birthday, July 27. Yes, she’s a big girl now…all of 6 years old. I also liked that the CI recipe only made 12 cupcakes. I really didn’t have any need for the usual batch of 24 cupcakes that a recipe yields. To make a perfect birthday weekend, we like to spend the real birthday together as a family. Bebe specifically requested chocolate cupcakes and with her permission, I was able to forgo the usual pink colour in the buttercream.

So, we went on a Stanley Park train ride in the morning, went to Maplewood Farms in North Vancouver and visited the Lynn Canyon all in one weekend for her birthday. Bebe’s favourite activity, I think, was having a picnic on the rocks along the rushing shallow water of the creek.

As you can see, people like to stack rocks and make inukshuks along the water in Lynn Creek. The icy mountain water is so refreshing in this heat wave and the shallow pools of water are perfect repositories for your feet as you sit on a rock munching on a submarine sandwich and fresh fruit. Ahhh!

This Dark Chocolate Cupcake yields a perfect top for decorating as it doesn’t have pointy domes. The cake’s crumb is strong enough not to crumble so you can inject some fillings inside for a surprise, and most importantly, it tastes really chocolatey! I think it beats out all of the recipes I’ve tried so far (and I’ve tried many) in terms of flavour. It incorporates Dutched cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate which you melt with the butter. I appreciate that I didn’t have to cream room temperature butter because sometimes it’s a pain to remember to bring it out of the refrigerator and if I leave it out too long, the butter can get too soft. So, for my future chocolate cupcakes, this will be my favourite recipe.

I like to decorate my cupcakes with fresh organic flowers from my garden. These are Johnny Jump-Ups. They look quite similar to the sugar violets I used to decorate. I have a variegated variety that is violet, yellow, orange and various permutations thereof. It’s gorgeous!

So, here’s my take on the perfect cupcake. It’s a combination of vanilla buttercream and chocolate cupcake. I like vanilla swiss meringue buttercream swirled atop the CI Dark Chocolate Cupcake. I don’t like sprinkles, but hey, if you have kids you have to put them there, don’t you? I went halvsies with the girls and left mine sprinkle-less because I don’t like the crunch of the sprinkles distracting me from enjoying the silky smooth buttercream.
****update:  check out a Caramel version of the Buttercream here.

***P.S.  I have been receiving a few comments from people who do not think the crumb is moist enough.   I never said the crumb would be super-moist, but it is superior to every other cupcake for CHOCOLATE FLAVOUR.   For this particular application: a chocolate cupcake with a huge buttercream swirl, this crumb is strong enough to create structure that won't buckle under a heavy buttercream swirl.  This cupcake is superior for FLAVOUR AND CAKE DECORATING PURPOSES WITH BUTTERCREAM.  Not for eating frostingless. Anything with a moist cupcake crumb would not hold up to the rigors of cake decorating...the huge swirl of buttercream frosting that I tend to employ.  If you want a moister crumb, try the Garten recipe  I mentioned before near the beginning of my post.  It uses just cocoa powder, coffee and buttermilk and no real melted chocolate is used.  That being said, this recipe isn't dry either.   Everyone's expectations for a perfect cupcake is different.  This one rocks for flavour and beauty.  It is perfect for bringing to parties.  Veggie oil based batters will always give you a moister crumb, so look for recipes incorporating oil if you like a moist cupcake.

DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
(from Cooks Illustrated, “American Classics 2009”)
(makes 12 cupcakes; do not double recipe…make two separate batches if you need more)
**Cakebrain's note:  IF YOU LIKE REALLY MOIST/WET CUPCAKES, THESE ARE NOT FOR YOU.  MOVE ALONG TO THE QUINOA CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE RECIPE.  These cupcakes are perfect for cake decorating purposes, which requires a crumb with structural integrity and that will hold up to buttercream and other decorations.   To ensure a moister cupcake with this recipe, ensure you WEIGH YOUR INGREDIENTS CAREFULLY.  Do not dip and scoop/pack your dry ingredients.

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) Dutch-processed cocoa
• 3/4 cup (3 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) sour cream

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (1/2 cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.
2. Combine butter, chocolate and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to touch.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl to combine
4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined; then sift in remaining flour mixture and whisk batter until it is homogenous and thick.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

I highly recommend that instead of the suggested Easy Vanilla Buttercream that incorporates butter and confectioners’ sugar, that you frost the chocolate cupcakes with a Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The Swiss Meringue Buttercream is smooth, silky and not overly sweet. It pairs beautifully with the dark chocolate. The best part of this particular buttercream is that it isn’t grainy, pipes beautifully, and holds up well even in warm weather.
SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
(from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes; makes about 5 cups)

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 T sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.
4. (optional) To tint buttercream, reserve some for toning down the color, if necessary. Add gel-paste food color, a drop at a time (or use the toothpick or skewer to add food color a dab at a time) to the remaining buttercream. You can use a single shade of food color or experiment by mixing two or more. Blend after each addition with the mixer (use the paddle attachment) or a flexible spatula, until desired shade is achieved. Avoid adding too much food color too son, as the hue with intensify with continued stirring; if necessary, you can tone down the shade by mixing in some reserved untinted buttercream.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

I’m trying my green thumb out by growing two blueberry bushes in my backyard. I chose two different varieties and only one this year has a handful of berries. I hope when they establish themselves in a few years I’ll be able to harvest enough for making blueberry muffins!

Corriher’s recipe for Blueberry Muffins again incorporates 1/2 cup of whipping cream beaten to the soft peak stage. The muffin was moist, but didn’t have much structure/strength to hold up well. It crumbles easily. She indicated you could beat the batter well (unlike the traditional muffin method) to increase gluten formation and increase structure. I did this, but the muffins were still very soft. That’s okay though. I had them in muffin liners and that helped.

These muffins stayed moist into the second day and I nuked one for 15 seconds to get that warm, freshly baked sensation again. It was very good. My mother really liked them and took a few back to her condo to eat for breakfast and snacks. These were really good, but I don’t think the whipping cream added any more flavour of complexity to this quickbread as it did to the previous recipe I made with the pound cake. I’ve had muffins just as good without the incorporation of this ingredient.

BLUEBERRIES AND CREAM MUFFINS

from S.O. Corriher’s BakeWise: the Hows and Whys of Successful Baking

(makes 12 medium (2 3/4 x 1 1/8 inch/7 x 2.8 cm) muffins)

• 2 cups (8.8 oz/249 g) spooned and leveled bleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (9g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
• 1 1/4 cups (12.3 oz/349 g) sugar
• 1 large egg (1.75 oz/50g)
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) canola oil
• 1/3 cup (79 ml) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon zest (grated peel)
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) orange zest (grated peel)
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups (7.4 oz/208 g) fresh blueberries
• nonstick cooking spray
• 1/4 cup (1.8 oz/52 g) coarse sugar or granulated sugar, for topping

1. Arrange a shelf in the lower third of the oven, place a baking stone on it, and preheat the oven to 425°F/218°C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar for a full 30 seconds
3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg with a few strokes, then beat in the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and lemon and orange zests
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Beat together with a hand mixer or by hand. Stir or beat well. This batter is almost too tender, so do not hesitate to stir vigorously.
5. In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form when the beater is lifted. Beat just a little beyond this soft peak stage. Stir about one-quarter of the whipped cream in to lighten the batter. Then, fold the rest of the whipped cream into the batter. Fold the blueberries into the batter.
6. Spray two 6-cup medium (2 3/4 x 1 1/8 inch/7 x 2.8 cm) muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray.
7. Fill muffin pans almost to the top. Sprinkle the muffins with coarse sugar. Turn the oven down to 400°F/204°C and leave the oven door open for about 10 seconds. Place pans in the oven on the stone and close the oven door. Bake until well-risen and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
8. Cool the muffins in the pans for about 5 minutes. Jar the edges of the pans on the counter to loosen the muffins, and carefully remove them to a cooling rack.

CHRYSANTHEMUM POUND CAKE

To heck with editing pics in Blogger. It’s a pain. I still haven’t figured out why I can’t move pics around my post by right-clicking and dragging anymore. So I’m giving this Windows Live Writer a go today to see if it’s any easier. I am also trying out Windows Live Photo today for the first to see if it’s easier than Picasa. It seems to have more features and it’s quite easy to use.

The other day, while browsing around for bundt pans at the Cookshop in City Square, I saw these cool Nordicware pans. The one I chose was the 10 cup Chrysanthemum pan.

The pattern is intricate and the pan is hefty. I like!

The “petals” in the pattern create a lot of CRUST, and as you know from my sidebar’s ongoing “Who Love the Crusties” poll, a humongous majority of people are into the crusties and covet the brown bits. So this pan’s for you.

I chose a pound cake recipe from one of 5 new cookbooks I purchased recently. I really ought to take some pics of my bookshelf. It’s bursting with way too many fantastic cookbooks. I found this winner from Bakewise, by Shirley Corriher. The book is hugely thick but I soon found out that most of the pages were filled with “The Math” and explanations of formulas. Much of the explanations are redundant (extracts are repeated throughout the book). I could do with a lot less of the repetition and instead with more stories, recipes and illustrations. Despite the redundancies, so far I’m on board with Corriher’s excellent and in-depth knowledge. What’s important to me is whether the recipe works…and can be duplicated by the home baker.

I can honestly say that this is the best pound cake recipe I’ve ever baked. The staff at work concur when I brought them some leftovers and I received rave reviews. The crust was amazing. The interior crumb was moist. It was everything a pound cake should be. And more!

On the first day, fresh from the oven, the pound cake had a nutty aroma and flavour profile. I practically inhaled a quarter of the cake on my own and had to go on the treadmill and run for 90 minutes to alleviate my guilt. On the following day, the pound cake was just as moist and the crust was still crispy and delectably crunchy and crumbly. It was fabulous.

The only problem I encountered with the recipe was that it called for a 12 cup bundt pan. None are to be found nowadays in cookware stores in Canada. The staff at the Cookshop said they stopped making those a while ago. People use 10-cup bundt pans according to them. The store only carried 10-cup bundt pans but I know I could have used my angel food cake pan. That would have been boring though. So I bought the cute chrysanthemum pan.

btw, posting through Windows Live Writer--so far-- is easier than blogger. I like it. I’m going to keep using it until I find something better. This is so user-friendly I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner! I guess I didn’t have problems before and I tend not to fix things unless they’re broke!

The most intriguing element to Corriher’s pound cake recipe was the addition of whipping cream beaten to the soft peak stage. What it adds to the cake is moistness and a dimension of nutty butteriness. She adds this whipping cream element to some of her other cakes too and I have a feeling those recipes will be winners as well. I’m going to try one of her other recipes for Bebe’s 6th birthday cake. No, I’m not going to outdo myself like I did last year with the Ariel Castle Cake. I don’t think I can top that. I’m just going to go girlie-girl and do a simple cake with flowers. She wants chocolate of course. I’m thinking white frosting. Maybe a really tall cake…taller than it is wide!

CHEF HEATHER HURLBERT’S MAGNIFICENT MOIST WHIPPED CREAM POUND CAKE

from BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, by Shirley O. Corriher

Makes one large 12-cup (2.8 L) Bundt cake, of 24 small fluted cakes

• 2 T each butter and flour to prepare the pan or pans
• 2 cups (16 oz/454 g) unsalted butter, cut in 2 T (1 oz/28g) pieces
• 2 3/4 cups (19.3oz/546g) sugar
• 1 T (15 ml) pure vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs (10.5 oz/298 g) room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups (12.1 oz/343 g) spooned and levelled bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
• 2 cups (8 oz/227 g) fresh or frozen and thawed blueberries, optional

1. Generously butter a 12-cup (2.8L) Bundt pan or 24 fluted brioche tins. Add 2 tablespoons (0.5 oz/14 g) flour and rotate the pan to coat. Dump out any excess.
2. Arrange a shelf in the lower third of the oven, place a baking stone on it, and preheat the oven to 350degreesF/177degreesC.
3. With a mixer on medium speed, beat the butter to soften. Add the sugar and continue to beat (cream) until very light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and the bottom of the bowl at least once. While creaming, feel the bowl; if it does not feel cool, place in the freezer for 5 minutes and then continue creaming.
4. Beat in the vanilla. On the lowest speed, beat in the eggs one at a time.
5. Add the flour in several batches, and mix just until blended well.
6. Place a medium bowl with the beaters and the heavy cream in the freezer to chill for 5 minutes. Then with the cold bowl and cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form when the beater is lifted. Whip just a little beyond the soft peak stage.
7. Stir about one-quarter of the whipped cream into the batter. Then gently fold the rest of the whipped cream into the batter. If using, fold in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
8. Place the cake in the oven on the stone and bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out moist but without crumbs, 50-60 minutes for the Bundt pan, about 20 minutes for small tins. Place the cake in the pan on a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan by jarring it against the counter. Invert the cake onto the serving platter to finish cooling.

*NB: Cakebrain’s Chrysanthemum Bundt Pound Cake was made with a 10-cup Nordicware bundt pan sprayed with Pam. I poured in enough batter to reach about 1 1/2 inches from the rim and poured the remaining batter in a small 2-cup loaf pan. I adjusted baking time for the loaf pan to 50 minutes and the bundt for 65 minutes. I didn’t use a stone in my oven. My baking times were slightly longer than called for in the recipe as the tops still jiggled slightly.

FUJI APPLE PIE

an unorthodox apple pie: precook the filling!

this crust was easy to work with, but I'm looking for something even better!

I love apple pie and I'm still searching for the best flaky, tender, flavourful crust. The most recent recipe I tried (Barefoot Contessa) incorporated butter and shortening but I wasn't that impressed by the flavour (not buttery enough!) and the flakiness was somewhat lacking. It was okay. Not bad but not worthy enough for me to post.

A technique I did fiddle with was precooking the apple pie filling. I hate it when the crust sets up high and the filling shrinks down low in some recipes. You're left with this huge void in between the top crust and the filling. From research, I have found that in some recipes that the filling can be cooked ahead of time and then popped into the unbaked pie crust to be baked again. This seemed intriguing.

My mother had purchased 4 lbs of local organic Fuji apples at the annual Apple Festival at UBC. Precooking the apples on the stovetop totally worked out for me and I was happy with the consistency of my apples. Whereas previously with some recipes, I'd have about 3 cups of apple juice pooling around the bottom of a soggy crust, now I had a nice dry crust and a filling that held up when sliced. It wasn't all cornstarchy either. I was worried that the filling would overcook, but it hadn't done that at all.

Now, I just have to fix the crust problem! I realize the shortening is there to help alleviate the sunken filling syndrome, and it also helps with tenderizing, but I could really tell the shortening was there. I wasn't so impressed with the flavour. I have yet to try ATK's vodka instead of water technique. Perhaps it'll be my next crust to make.

Anyone out there have the best darned pie crust recipe?

BIB'S FIRST BIRTHDAY CAKE: ANNA OLSON'S SWEDISH BUTTER CAKE

I've had The Perfect Cake: 150 Cakes for Every Taste and Occasion, by Susan G. Purdy, sitting on my bookshelf for a while. I go back to the same butter cake recipe all the time because it's easy, not too sweet and has a fine tender crumb. It's simply delicious. It also keeps well. I've used it in all of my Wilton Cake Decorating classes when I had "homework" to do. Layers split well and there are endless variations one can achieve with the basic recipe.

"Anna's Swedish Butter Cake" is my favourite butter cake recipe (that's from Anna Olson by the way). I'm using it for Bib's First Birthday Cake. Here's the recipe.

Anna's Swedish Butter Cake
(from Susan G. Purdy's The Perfect Cake)
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces; 240 g) plus 2 T sifted all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 230 g) lightly salted butter (not margarine), at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz; 300 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 t almond extract (vanilla extract can be substituted)
confectioners' sugar (optional)

• Prepare two 9-inch round cake pan(s) by spreading solid shortening on bottom and sides; dust evenly with flour; tap out excess. Position rack in centre of oven. Preheat oven to 350degrees F.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt onto a piece of wax paper. Set aside
  With a wooden spoon in a mixing bowl or with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and well-blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
• Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, beating after each addition, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Stir in the almond or vanilla extract
• Spoon batter into the prepared pans, level the top, then spread the batter slightly toward the pan edges. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes for a tube cake or 30 to 35 minutes for layers, or until the top is golden and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
• Cool the cake in its pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then run a knife blade around the edge of the cake. Top with another rack or plate, invert, and lift off the pans. Cool the cake completely before sifting on confectioners' sugar or adding a frosting of your choice.

I'm going to frost this cake with a Rose Levy Beranbaum buttercream: the Neoclassic Chocolate Buttercream. It uses egg yolks as opposed to egg whites, which is a plus because I want to minimize the amount of allergenic ingredients in the cake. Allergenic proteins are primarily found in the egg whites--babies aren't supposed to have egg whites for a while.

Neoclassic Chocolate Buttercream (makes 4 cups/1 3/4 lb/800g; enough to fill and frost two 9-inch by 1 1/2 inch layers)

(from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible )

6 large (3.5 fl oz/ 4 oz/112 g) egg yolks, room temperature
sugar (3/4 cup/5.25 oz/150 g)
corn syrup (1/2 liquid cup/5.75 oz/164 g)
unsalted butter (2 cups/1 lb/454 g) (must be softened)
optional: liqueur or eau-de-vie of your choice (2-4 T/1-2oz/28-56 g)
6 oz extra bittersweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted

• Have ready a greased 1-cup heatproof glass measure near the range
• In a bowl beat the yolks with an electric mixer until light in colour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan (preferably with a nonstick lining) and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a rolling boil. (The entire surface will be covered with large bubbles.) Immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measure to stop the cooking.
• If using an electric hand-held mixer, beat the syrup into the yolks in a steady stream. Don't allow syrup to fall on the beaters or they will spin it onto the sides of the bowl. If using a stand mixer, pour a small amount of syrup over the yolks with the mixer turned off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Stop the mixer and add a larger amount of syrup. Beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup. For the last addition, use a rubber scraper to remove the syrup clinging to the glass measure. Continue beating until completely cool.
• Gradually beat in the butter and any optional flavouring. Incorporate the melted bittersweet chocolate. Place in an airtight bowl. Bring to room temperature before using. Rebeat to restore texture.
• Store: 6 hours room temperature, 1 week refrigerated, 8 months frozen

RECIPE REVIEW: DECEMBER MISSION: GREENSPAN'S BLACK AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE

greenspan's black and white chocolate cake: let's say it had potential but came short in delivery. i had to decorate with tons of white and dark chocolate shavings to distract people from the ugly sides of the cake
the dark and white chocolate mousse components taste great on their own. the dark mousse is like chocolate pudding and the white chocolate mousse is truly a soft whipped cream. here you can see the cake layers have compressed the mousses and were sliding around so that the layers were no longer centered.

I am disappointed with this particular recipe from Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Everything else I have made by Greenspan has been so spectacular and yummy. Her cookie recipes were foolproof and delicious.

Let's just say yesterday was one of my more challenging days as an amateur baker. With the white chocolate mousse component curdling on me 3 times, I thought that I was going to ditch the component and replace it with my favourite white chocolate mousseline buttercream recipe. However, I persevered and stuck with Greenspan's recipe just so I could give it an honest chance.

i was worried about the cake not turning out so I made the barefoot contessa's chocolate cupcakes with a buttercream frosting

In the end, I don't think my perseverence was rewarded well enough. The flavour was okay but the appearance of the cake was not that impressive. Because of the softness of the white chocolate cream, it was almost impossible to frost the cake properly. Greenspan's illustration of the cake clearly indicated gorgeous even layers of thin cake and dark and white chocolate mousse. In my rendition of the cake I followed the recipe to the letter and it certainly didn't have the "wow" factor that the cookbook's illustration had.

we couldn't find a "0" to follow the "4"

A problem I discovered upon serving the cake was that the weight of the layers compressed the mousses so that they squished out the side of the cake, making the layers of mousse thinner than desired. This I hadn't expected. I also had to keep the cake quite cold or it would melt. This meant that the cake layers were not as good texturally. The cake component was okay; nothing comparable in flavour or texture to the cakes I've made from the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It was more dense than I would have liked, bordering on almost dry (but not quite).

here you can see the mousse layers. the white chocolate mousse layer in particular has been compressed by the weight and is too thin for my liking

The dark and white chocolate mousses tasted really good. However I felt the cake layers didn't complement them well. I would have liked a lighter crumb--kind of like more chiffon-like cake layers because of the need for refrigeration and the delicateness of the white chocolate cream.

When I served it to my friends, I had to apologize because I knew before we cut into it that it wasn't up to snuff. My usual cakes are moist and rely on Beranbaum's cake components. Her buttercreams are to die for and her cake recipes are foolproof and flavourful. She's my go to for cakes. My friends were polite and said it was good but N. was honest and said it wasn't as good as my previous cakes. She felt that the cake layers were almost too dry as well.

This is why from now on, I'll stick to my Beranbaum buttercreams. This way, when the cake layers come to room temperature (which is important for the best flavour and texture) the buttercream will still be looking good. I like the fact that I can rapidly create a flawless surface with buttercreams too.

The Verdict: I won't be making this cake again as it's not worth the amount of time and there's too much potential for failure. It's too finicky and the instructions for the white chocolate cream component were too general. I would have liked to know how long to whip the cream with the melted white chocolate. I would have liked to know what temperature exactly the white chocolate mixture should be before adding it in to the whipped cream. I shouldn't have had to research it online. As well, the results were so-so. It wasn't a total disaster but I had to work really long and hard to salvage this one.

The Lessons Learned:

Never add melted white chocolate to whipped cream to make a mousse without checking the exact temperature of the chocolate...no, no, touching it won't do--you need a thermometer!

Never add the dark chocolate cream component to a plain buttercream base in the hopes of recycling leftovers as it will curdle the whole batch of perfectly good buttercream. You can add leftover ganache to buttercream but you can't add a whipping cream-based mousse because of its higher water content.

Never try salvaging a curdled batch of chocolate mousse by melting it and refrigerating it because it's a waste of time and it'll curdle again anyway

Chocolate doesn't like whipping cream but it loves butter

Your friends will still love you even if you screw up a cake