The Great Wedding Cake Experiment - Practice Makes Perfect

My hand, as compared to a 15" cake layer

I have always loved a challenge. So, when my old college friends Jared and Sara phoned me up and said they were getting married a little alarm went off in my head...maybe I could make their cake?!?! Could I do it? Would it be a success?

Before I knew what I was doing, I had volunteered and was spouting out potential flavor choices. The poor bride and groom had no choice at this point but to accept my offer and we went forward from there.

Originially, I had anticipated on making two three tiered cakes each a different flavor. Fortuitously, the party guests weren't quite as many as anticipated and I was spared this insane undertaking, and only ended up making on cake with three tiers in only one flavor.

Once the mission was undertaken, it sunk in that I actually had NO idea how to bake a wedding cake, so good ole google to the rescue. I spent an afternoon looking at online wedding cake recipes just to get an idea of ingredient proportions and then actually just made one of my favorites - the vanilla layer cake from The Best Recipe.

I then started practicing, because practice makes perfect right? At least I hoped so because I started focusing on how perfect all of the wedding cakes at all of the weddings I'd been to had looked.

My first practice run was just a flavor trial. I was attempting vanilla cake with cherry preserves and homemade marzipan in between the layers and wasn't quite sure what kind of frosting yet, but it had to be something that withstood the dreadfully hot upstate New York heat.

The cake flavors turned out delicious and I decided that I needed to do a frosting with cream cheese for extra thickness and ability to withstand the heat.

The next trial run involved comparing cake flour to regular flour. The recipe calls for cake flour...but I wanted to see for myself what the real difference was. Turns out the cake flour actually made the cake kind of "pancake-y", so I got to stick to the regular unbleached all-purpose which is both more readily available AND cheaper - a cherry on top.

The last trial cake was to figure out how many batches it would take to make a 15 inch tier, a 12 inch tier and a 9 inch tier, each with three layers. My cake testers this time around (mom and boyfriend) both agreed that the cake too closely resembled pound cake. But, alas, we departed for the East Coast in a mere two days and I wasn't going to start messing with the cake at this point.

RECIPE

Marzipan

2 cups blanched almonds
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
3 - 8 tbsp water

In a food processor, pulse the almonds until finely ground. Add in the powdered sugar and almond extract. With the food processor running add one tbsp of water at a time until you have a thick, pliable paste. Be careful not to add too much water or your marzipan will be too gooey. If this happens add more almonds (already ground!) and powdered sugar.

*This is the recipe I used for in between the cake layers, but the marzipan was too thick the way this recipe is written. To make the marzipan more spreadable, I slowly drizzled in some half and half with the food processor on until I had reached my desired consistency.

Healthy Pie #1: results are in!

So, the first healthy pie met its slicey finish and was not, altogether, a failure. In fact I think that a few tweaks would make it rather good indeed.

The crust was a little on the salty side, but was otherwise very tasty. I am definitely a fan of the whole wheat crust and I think it would add a tremendous amount to a savory crust-needing dish like quiche or pot pie.

I think that the whole experience was a little tarnished by the fact that I simply not a big fan of apple pie, which this one was. Next time I will definitely try with berries (my favorite pie filling) and report back.

Here's a thought for the day: If pie were healthy, would people still eat it?

Healthy Pie? The search begins...

I LOVE pie. In fact, if you follow me a bit further through these posts, you'll see that it factors greatly in my life. Pie, to me, is comfort. It is the perfect blend of flavors - a little salty, a little sweet - meeting blissfully on the tongue.

Being that I love pie AND that I desire to eat it on a daily basis, but that I DON'T desire to blow up like a giant blueberry, I am starting the search for the perfect, healthy-ish pie. At least healthy enough that you feel ok eating it for breakfast...several times a week.

This is no easy feat, some would even say impossible. But I am determined to prevail.

Pie number one is apple...not my favorite pie flavor, but I had all of the ingredients onhand so I went for it.

Naturally, the apples themselves are fairly healthy, so that's a good start. I also went with the wholewheat crust, so you at least capitalize on the benefits of the whole grains. I used Trader Joe's Whole Wheat White flour, thinking that at least it would be lighter than conventional whole wheat flours.

Picking ripe apples was another key - I wanted to accentuate the natural fruit sugars of the apple, without adding processed sugar. I did add about 4 tablespoons of brown sugar this go round though.

Lastly, for a little bit of intensity, I added about half a cup of grated Dubliner Irish Cheddar. This may be the wild card in these ingredients...we shall see...the pie is in...stay tuned for the results!

The dough recipe used for Healthy Pie #1 is:

RECIPE

2.5 cups whole wheat white flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1.75 sticks unsalted butter (if using salted, reduce salt above)
6 Tbsp ice water

combine flour, salt and sugar in food processor. Pulse in butter to size of peas (10 pulses). Add in ice water and pulse until it forms a ball. Divide ball in two and roll into a top and bottom crust. Put in fridge while prepping other ingredients.

Sunday Supper #1

One of my favorite days growing up was Sunday. The threat of Monday morning and the return to school was certainly trumped by the delicious anticipation of Sunday dinner. My mother is a great cook, but no night was better than Sunday - for Sunday she pulled out all of the stops.

I have held on to this tradition and have tried my very best to keep it as my own. So last Sunday I did a full on Sunday Dinner for us and our good friends Lindsey and Jesse.

On the menu was:

Fresh baked pain a l'ancienne (country bread) with Irish butter
Marinated Flank Steak
Tomates a la creme
Baby dumpling quash and potato mash

and last, but certainly not least,
Blackberry Pie



The bread was really fun to make, though it is definitely an all-day process with the multiple rising times and all. The end result was fantastic though - especially slathered with some of the buttery goodness.

The steak is an old standby, but when paired with the tomates a la creme (creamy tomatoes) it was superb, hence recipe to follow. I made the squash and potato mash because we received the baby dumplings in our weekly CSA box and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them in the heat of summer...so mashing them in with potatoes it was and the result was velvetty sweetness, a little too sweet for my taste, but the guests loved it.

Lastly came the pie. I happen to love blackberry pie, especially in summer as it seems to pinpoint the very essence of my youth. Pie crust is always a daunting task and there are many philosophies on what ingredients make the best pies. One of my all time favorite cookbooks, The Best Recipe put together by Cooks Illustrated, suggests that a mixture of veggie shortening and butter makes the flakiest tastiest crust. I, however, had no shortening on hand so I went the all-butter route. I would have to agree with them though that it wasn't as flaky as I would have liked, but tasted good all the same.

Another pie item discussed in The Best Recipe is what type of pie pan to use. They say that the Pyrex glass pie pans are the best for even baking of the top and bottom crust, but a metal pie pan does a pretty good job too - you just can't see the status of your bottom crust as you can with the Pyrex. I naturally threw these rules by the wayside and went with my super-cute ceramic pie pan that I just love! And lo and behold, my bottom crust did not get cooked through and I was reminded that The Best Recipe is most often right.

The pie was good nonetheless and made breakfast for several mornings thereafter - I LOVE pie for breakfast.

And thus ends, another Sunday supper at the Red Door.

RECIPE

Tomates a la Creme

4-5 tomatoes, halved
3-5 oz of heavy cream
1 large pat of butter
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in the pan at medium heat. Put the tomato halves in cut-faced down and cook for five minutes. Poke many holes in the rounded sides of the tomato to allow juices to flow. Flip the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cream and salt and pepper and cook for another five minutes. Serve immediately, very hot.

The result is a creamy, saucy dish that does a great job of being a gravy for the steak and potatoes.

Sunday Supper

One of my favorite days growing up was Sunday. The threat of Monday morning and the return to school was certainly trumped by the delicious anticipation of Sunday dinner. My mother is a great cook, but no night was better than Sunday - for Sunday she pulled out all of the stops.

I have held on to this tradition and try my very best to keep it as my own. So last Sunday I did a full on Sunday Dinner for us and our good friends Lindsey and Jesse.

On the menu was:

Fresh baked pain a l'ancienne (country bread) with Irish butter
Marinated Flank Steak
Tomates a la creme
Baby dumpling quash and potato mash

and last, but certainly not least,
Blackberry Pie

The bread was really fun to make, though it is definitely an all-day process with the multiple rising times and all. The end result was fantastic though - especially slathered with some of the buttery goodness.

The steak is an old standby, but when paired with the tomates a la creme (creamy tomatoes) it was superb, hence recipe to follow.

First Post Jitters

It's an interesting thing blogging and beginning what you hope will be a long legacy of ramblings is no easy feat.

I've toyed with the idea of just starting out as if this blog had been in existence for years, which of course it hasn't, but that seemed too presumptuous.

So, why am I writing this blog? Well, because I love all things to do with food. I love eating it, cooking it and most of all, talking about it.

Every trip I take revolves around food. While most people are researching the must-see relics of their destination, I am pages deep in an internet search to find the places I have to try. I spend many vacations stuffed to the gills, but with very happy tastebuds.

Cooking for me is the most salient source of therapy...I lose my self in the creative mingling of ingredients, using cookbooks only for inspiration and gettin' just a little crazy with flavor combinations. Some work out well, some not so much. But it's all about the anticipation.

I used to be a food writer for the local paper here in Santa Barbara - the Santa Barbara Newspress, but the paper itself is not doing so hot and so I pulled my chute. As naturally follows, I miss writing about tasty morsels and the processes that create them, so here I am.

If you like my food-inclined stories then I am a happy girl, Buddha belly and all.

So, bon appetit!