Cake 2: Vanilla Cake with Lemon Filling

The cake baking, wedding planning and flower shopping weekend is over. We had many successful ventures and some provided us a few challenges (namely the cakes). It is a good thing we decided to make two cakes - as the altitude put up a little fight.

Our first challenge was an unexpected one. After mixing the batter, baking and cooling the cakes, we found removing the cakes from the pans to be quite a task. Normally I swear by my Wilton cake pans and Wilton Bake Easy spray - at home my cakes literally fall out of the pans. However we had to work to get these cakes out of the pans and ended up with quite the plate of "crumbs" in the process.

Once the cakes were cooled we applied the filling (which turned out great) and stacked the layers. We began frosting the cake and about half way through we realized we were not going to have enough frosting...and that the frosting was melting. The melting was 100% my fault for frosting the cake on the counter right on top of the running dishwasher. We rushed the melting cake outside to cool it and decided to let it cool overnight.


The finished cake turned out great. It took more effort than normal to get here - but we were very happy with the resulting look and taste of the cake. To decorate the cake we purchase an orchid that we may use in the floral arrangements.




We cut into the cake at the groom's parents house, and the happy couple practiced cutting the cake as well.

Denver Cakes Game Plan

I arrived in Denver, CO last night and am thrilled to let the weekend of wedding fun begin. The bride, groom and myself made a cake game plan last night. We will be baking two different cakes this weekend - so I thought I would share the recipes with you, just in case anyone wants to bake along with us.

Vanilla Cake with Lemon Filling and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Grooms Request

Vanilla Cake (from Magnolia Bakery)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350, grease you baking pan of choice (I use Wilton Bake Easy ). In a large bowl cream the butter until smooth, add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add each egg and beat well.
Combine the flours in a separate bowl. In a measuring cup combine the milk and the vanilla extract. Alternate adding the flour and milk to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Bake for 20-25 min and let cool in pans for 10 min before taking the cake out.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (From McCormick)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
  
• 1 package (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Beat the butter and vanilla until creamy. Pour in four cups of sugar and the milk, beat until smooth. Add additional sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Lemon Filling (From Wilton)

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• Juice of medium lemon
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add water and whisk until well blended. Whisk in egg yolks, lemon peel and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly; until thick and bubbly. Boil one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature, without stirring.

White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling and White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

White Chocolate Cake (from Wilton)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 4 ounces (2/3 package) white chocolate , chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter , softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In small microwave-safe bowl, heat milk until hot, but not boiling. Add white chocolate; stir until chocolate melts. Add vanilla; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Add flour mixture alternately with melted chocolate mixture, mixing until just combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Raspberry Filling (From Emeril)

• 2 12 ounce packages of frozen raspberries (not packed in syrup)
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 1/2-2 cups granulated sugar (or to taste. 2 cups will be pretty sweet)
• 2 T of lemon juice (optional)
• 5-6 T of cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

In a saucepan combine the raspberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the raspberries have broken down. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain with a fine mesh sieve. Return the stained mixture to the heat. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/2 cup of water. Whisk the slurry into the raspberry mixture. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool completely.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (From Wilton)

• 14 oz white baking chocolate
  
• 2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Melt candy melts according to package directions. Allow coating to cool slightly, stirring occasionally (don't let it set up). In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese (preferably with a flat beater) until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the cooled coating until blended and smooth. Beat in the butter and lemon juice.

Birthday Cakes

In honor of my birthday yesterday, I spend a little time looking into the history of the birthday cake.

The origin of the birthday cake is very similar to that of the wedding cake, so I will skip past the European origins as most of it is listed in my post Wedding Cakes: A History.

The birthday cake (as we know it) has been an essential element of Western cultural birthday celebrations since the 19th century. Originally birthday cakes were a sign of wealth and status, over time they have become common to most celebrations regardless of wealth.

It appears that most traditional birthday cakes contained birthday candles, but not quite as we know them today. The tradition of candles seems to have a religious background in all cultures. The first cake with a candle is said to have come from the Greeks - who would place candles on cake and then offered then to Artemis, God of the Moon. Because lighting a candle on a cake made it glow like the moon. The Germans would place the candle in the center of the cake to represent the "light of life." Originally when people blew out the candles on their cake it was believed that their wish was carried to god and their prayers would be answered.

Today the number of candles on a cake will correspond with the age of the birthday person. According to tokenz.com - there is an additional tradition of adding an extra candle for good luck. This one I was unaware of - but I like!

I also learned in my reading that if a cake fell while it was baking it was considered to be a bad omen/bad luck for the birthday person in the coming year.

Altitude Alterations

This week I travel to Denver, Colorado to visit my sister. Instead of baking a cake prior to leaving and then another while with her. We decided it would be better if I baked two while I was in Denver because: 1) it is probably best if the bride and groom taste as many cakes as possible and 2) the altitude will require some alterations in the ingredients/baking time, so the more experience I can gain on the home turf the better.

In preparation for this two cake weekend, I decided it was best to do my research on the challenges that we will face with the altitude.

According to epicurious.com when you reach 2,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level, altitude starts to affect baking, in three significant ways:

• The higher the elevation, the lower the boiling point of water. My main concern here is that dense batter and dough will take longer to completely bake in the center.

• The higher the elevation, the faster moisture evaporates. Epicurious lists a few things here that I will have to adjust for: The ratio of liquid to solid changes, potentially weakening the overall structure of whatever you're baking. Flavors tend to be less pronounced and baked goods dry out and go stale at an accelerated rate. This last point will take some planning, as we will make the cakes a day or two in advance.
  

• The higher the elevation, the faster leavening gases expand. Meaning my cakes may rise too far too fast and as a result it will sink in the center or collapse when cooling.

To my luck I was able to find some great troubleshooting tips online:

• Strengthen your batter by reducing sugar (take out 2T for each cup), or adding eggs, egg yolks, or slightly more flour or increase liquid (2-4T for each cup).
  
• Increase the oven 15 - 25°F and decrease the baking time by up to 20%.
• Fill cake pans only half full, not the usual two-thirds, as high-altitude cakes may overflow.
• Solid shortening gives better results at this altitude because it holds more liquid.

This will be my only cake practice in the high altitude so it is most important that I take good notes about any minor adjustments, so I will remember to make them in August. If you have experience baking in high altitude, any and all tips are more than welcome!

Poll Results: Favorite Cake Flavor

The poll results are in and our winner is Chocolate Cake with 45% of the votes.



As you can see Vanilla Cake came in a close second, with 36% of the votes. The four cake flavors in this first poll are considered to be the most common flavors, later we will poll more of the unique cake flavors like Red Velvet, Carrot Cake and German Chocolate.

Cake 1: From Start to Finish

I received a great comment on the cake from a co-worker:

"Cake was great! Moist and flavorful. But, it did seem like the chocolate
overpowered the lingon a bit - would have liked to taste more of these."

The feedback is wonderful and I agree, I need to spend some time working on making good filling. The lingonberry filling was too runny and therefore I could not make it as thick as it should have been. So on the next cake, my goal is to make a thicker filling.

Cake 1: Chocolate Cake with Lingonberry Filling

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting and Lingonberry Filling

My first cake is done, and I must say I am quite pleased with the way it came out. We will see what my "focus group" aka my coworkers think.

For the cake, I chose a new recipe from Hershey's for "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake. I was very impressed with how moist the final cake came out, wondering if this is a result of the 1 cup of boiling water that the recipe called for. This recipe does have a frosting recommendation but I decided to do use a buttercream frosting instead and for the filling I mixed lingonberries, left over from my Norwegian feast with the buttercream.

For the buttercream frosting I used one of my favorite recipes (below), from the Magnolia Bakery in New York City. The result is a smooth and creamy frosting that spreads and pipes well.

My opinion on the final product: cake is moist and extra chocolaty, filling was good, frosting tasted good - but I need to work on applying it so that it is smooth and seamless.

The buttercream recipe is: 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 6-8 cups icing sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Norwegian Feast

Note - this post is not about wedding cakes.

Last night my cousins and I successfully pulled off an incredible dinner party. For six hours we cooked and baked a feast of Norwegian favorites. There were a lot of requests for recipes, so I have included them below**.

Buying Lutefisk at Erickson's Delicatessen.

First Course

• VALNØTTER OG OST
  
• LUTEFISK
  
• Brie with Lingonberries and Flatbread

Top down: Valnotter Og Ost, Sandbakkles, Mandler Kake, Rommegrot, Lefse

Second Course

• RØMMEGRØT
• LEFSE

Jesse putting out the third course.

Third Course

• JARLSBERGFYLT PAPRIKA
• AGURKSALAT
• KÅLROT

Jesse preparing the potatoes for Kokte Melne Poteter.

Fourth Course

• KJOTTKAKER
• KOKTE MELNE POTETER (this is a "family secret")

Friends enjoying the food.

Fifth Course

• SANDBAKKLES served with Lingonberries
• MANDLER KAKE

** Some of the above recipes are not exactly what we prepared, but the closest that I could find documented online.

The Plan

Some of you may had read my first post and thought "You really think you can make a wedding cake, complete with fondant, multiple tiers, layers and filling. And you think you can make it look good?" Well I would be compelled to answer yes to your question, the answer more correctly would be - that's not the plan.


After paging through 28 bridal magazines (shown above), countless photos on theknot.com and many planning discussions we have decided against the traditional wedding cake. We will instead have a small single tier cake at every table and then a more unique, possibly two tier, cake for the bride and groom to cut. Some tables may even luck out and get cupcakes.

With this approach my focus needs to be less on creating a breathtaking masterpiece and more about perfecting multiple delicious flavors. Consistency will also be a must, as each cake will need to be of the same caliber. To achieve this I will need to determine the following:

1. What cake flavors will we be serving
2. What frosting/filling combo will be used on each cake (butter cream is a solid option, but a chocolate ganache is incredibly tasty)
3. How many cakes will we need (this one will have to wait until we have the RSVP's)
4. How will we decorate each cake, will they all be the same or should they all be different
5. Will the altitude screw up my plans??? (The wedding is in Denver, CO)
   

I will begin by tackling 1 and 2, as I feel they must be addressed as a unit. So the search begins for cake, frosting and filling recipes. Please send along any you have or post them below in the comments.

Wedding Cake: Norwegian Style

You may or may not be aware that us Halverson sisters are close to 100% Norwegian. We were raised enjoying Norwegian favorites at holidays and have grown to love our heritage. It seems only fitting that we should then explore what us Norse do for a wedding cake.


Kransekake, which means ring cake, is a traditional Norwegian desert that is eaten on special occasions. Made from almond, sugar and egg whites, the cake is hard to the touch and chewy when you bite into it.

My sister plans on having a Kransekake at her wedding, however I am off the hook as my Grandmother will be making it.

Wedding Cakes: A History

To begin this adventure I decided to take a look back at where the Wedding Cake tradition started.

It all began in the Roman empire... according to Smithsonian.com's post "The Strange History of the Wedding Cake", marriages were sealed when the groom smashed a barley cake over the bride’s head for good fortune. Not quite where you expect a beautiful tradition to begin, however maybe this explains our modern tradition of shoving cake in your spouses face when you "feed it" to them.

The earliest wedding cake recipe is from 1685 and is for Bride's Pie. Unlike the tasty desert pies we have today, Bride's Pie was filled with oysters, pine kernels, cockscombs, lambstones (testicles), sweetbreads and spices. The pie was considered the most important dish at the wedding and as a guest it was rude not to eat a bite of the pie (happy we have moved on from this tradition).

A traditional bride's cake, complete with white icing, first appeared in the 17th century. Similar to having a white dress, white icing on a wedding cake symbolized purity. White icing was also seen as a status symbol because pure white sugar was very expensive. The term "Royal Icing" comes from the use of white icing on Queen Victoria's wedding cake in 1840.

A few historic royal cakes:

Queen Elizabeth II cake weighed 500 pounds and stood 9 feet tall.

Princess Diana's 5 foot tall cake took 14 weeks to complete.


King Abdullah and Queen Rania, and this is only one of two cakes.

For a more complete history read "Wedding Cake: A Slick of History" by Carol Wilson here.

She said "YES"

On November 24, 2009 my sister became engaged and I accepted the position of her Maid of Honor, wedding planner and cake baker (amongst other things). As an avid baker, I was thrilled to take on the challenge. This is not just a cake though, it is my sisters wedding cake and it needs to be the best cake I have ever made.

So, with the start of 2010 comes the start of my first blog. We have begun the countdown to the wedding (207 days to go) and that means we have 205 days until I need to be prepared to bake the best cake of my "career".

Practice truly does make perfect - so each week, for the next 30 weeks, I will be trying something new. My fondant skills need smoothing, buttercream recipes need tweaking, filling flavors require tasting and cake batter needs blending.

So welcome to my batter babble. I hope you will enjoy my posts and please give me feedback, let me know what looks good or sounds good!