Ellen Pallooza Dessert - Part Three!
The World's Best Birthday Cake
I've made this cake before, for my Sisters birthday (in May) more specifically and tried with all of my might to get my Mom to choose any other Birthday Cake. She persisted that she wanted the Birthday Cake I made for my Sister and I certainly can't say I blame her.
The cake itself is delicate and beyond moist! A true dream as far as vanilla cakes go. As you know and I'm sure have tried plenty, vanilla cakes can be VERY boring and almost flavorless. This cake is far from boring and once you add the icing...HEAVENLY! Yes, I'm using the word heavenly here! Take a moment and let that sink in.
Who created this masterpiece of a recipe that I simply follow to the letter like I'm reading the ingredients and recipe of Aurora's Chicken Pepperoni that I'm going to serve the Governor? (Major Props if you get that random movie reference) None other than Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery in Boston. Remember her name? We last talked about her when I made her Banana Bread. Her recipes will be visited quite frequently on my blog so I highly suggest, as I have done before, purchasing her book on Amazon or wherever you can find it. I will never share a recipe of hers or any other cookbook author here unless they grant me explicit authorization to do so. Most cookbook authors whose books I bake out of, I have communicated with in some form or another. I don't intend to and never have asked because of my level of respect for their art of developing recipes.
This recipe can be found in the Flour Cookbook on pages 164 through 167 - there is a picture on one of those pages but the rest is instructions. It is an intermediate recipe. I certainly wouldn't say it's extremely complicated. It is just time consuming and if you are going to make it I suggest reading and re-reading the recipe several times before beginning so that you are prepared.
Below you will see the ingredients displayed for your viewing pleasure. It does have more ingredients than most standard vanilla cakes but they are all special in their own way! I highly suggest you go with high quality ingredients from the eggs, butter, vanilla, etc. The higher quality the ingredients you use to bake with, the higher quality product you produce. For my twitter friends #FACT!
You are going to be combining these ingredients slowly and skillfully to produce this amazing cake. I forgot to take photos of the cake just out of the oven so you'll just have to trust me on this one. Once you get to the frosting you'll know why I was a bit pre-occupied when the cakes were coming out of the oven.
Below you will find the ingredients of the frosting displayed.
The frosting is referred to as a Fluffy Chocolate Ganache Frosting because you begin by making a simple ganache (chopped chocolate and heavy cream) and allowing it to cool to room temperature. After it has cooled you combine it with the other ingredients and whip it with your stand mixer until it turns into something you've never tasted before. A delightful combination of bitterness (if using bittersweet chocolate like Joanne recommends) and sweet that are a revelation when paired with the delicate bite of the vanilla cake.
Let's take a moment to gaze at the beauty that is shiny, velvety delicious ganache.
The ganache lightens a great deal in color when combined with the other ingredients of the frosting.
I have done my best to show you that you need to buy the cookbook and then immediately make this cake. Don't believe me? Let's take a look at the finished product.
Needless to say, my Mom was thrilled with her Birthday Cake and I received compliments from almost all of her guests!
Please stay tuned for the next installment of Shauna Bakes coming your way soon!
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