Elliot said he would like to make a cake from scratch today, so that was our special Labor Day project. He actually had his heart set on making the "drum cake" in
Betty Crocker's Cookbook for boys & girls. It involves making a double-layer round cake that is decorated like a drum using candy. Unfortunately, we didn't have the round cake pans OR the candy-canes we needed for that recipe. So we had to settle for a one-layer rectangle cake decorated with chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows. It was a big disappointment for Elliot, but he was a good sport.
We used the chocolate birthday cake from
The Grand Central Baking Book: Breakfast Pastries, Cookies, Pies, and Satisfying Savories from the Pacific Northwest's Celebrated Bakery, one of my favorite cookbooks of late. Then we tried this recipe for chocolate icing from the
Food Network website.
The icing turned out pretty well. It was sweet but not TOO sweet, and it tasted really chocolate-ly. So I'll count that as a success. Apparently, Megan and Ben hate icing, so I am the only one enjoyed it, though. The cake was not such a success--it was really dry. I think I overbaked it, which is bizarre because I took out the cake 15 minutes earlier than the recipe said I should! The recipe had us baking the cake for a full hour, which seems way too long. I wonder if there was an error in the cooking time... Anyway, the cake was edible, but it wasn't all that good. Elliot pushed his plate away after a few bites and said he had had enough. Seeing Elliot turn down dessert is a rare, rare occurrence. We decided we will try again, until we get it right! At least making it was fun. Anybody have a great cake recipe?
-Kristin
Seeing as I hate cake and I hate icing, I was really a poor judge of this baking project. However, I can say that the cookies Kristin brought back from Fairway for me were just heavenly - no doubt about that!
- Megan Leigh
6 comments:
Poor Elliot has been such a sport lately. I hope something turns out extra good for him soon.
I snuck a peek at the kitchen behind you! It looks nice and BIG!
I would have eaten it! I love icing - why even bother with a cake if there is no icing????
I'm with you Kaye. I don't understand all of these no icing people. And Cate, our kitchen is one of my favorite things about our new place! I think it is the nicest kitchen I've ever had!
What size cake pans do you need for the drum cake? Maybe we have some laying around that we can send. Oh how I always wanted to make those fancy cakes in those books!
I think we could do 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pans. I guess I should just get some, huh? We have so many random kitchen things, and we always seem to need more!
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