So a friend of mine is organizing a cakewalk for this Friday night, and I offered to make a cake for her.
Thing is, I have a bit of a culinary reputation to maintain, but I haven’t done a lot of cakes. Any ideas for something that will blow them away? I do have some rudimentary decorating tools.
One more catch–I have to get the cake to her on Wednesday, so it still needs to be good after a couple of days of good storage.
Any ideas?
Can you do cupcakes instead of a single cake? It’s easy to make cupcakes look fabulous with very simple decorating techniques. I can show you (well, I can show you examples) if cupcakes are acceptable, and I have some great recipes, too.
If not, then let’s see… this is a fabulous almond cake, but really doesn’t need frosting and therefore doesn’t look fancy. Ooh! This almond cheesecake is to DIE for. Man, I’ve gotta make that again soon, it is so good. I’ve also done it as cupcakes and it works great.
This triple-chocolate cake is good and is quite a looker – decorate it with chocolate curls/shavings and you’re good to go. And this chocolate-hazelnut concoction is really, really yummy, but you’d have to use commercial stabilizer in the whipped cream, or use a Cool Whip-type product, and it would have to be refrigerated.
Those are some of my standbys when I want to impress people and I’m not doing cupcakes. If I had to choose one, I’d choose the almond cheesecake just for flavor, and I’d swirl in a little raspberry coulis before baking, to give it a marbled look, and I’d forego the sour cream topping – I found it unnecessary. If you’re going for looks, go for the triple-chocolate layer cake: it’s very impressive and yummy, too.
It’s close to Halloween, so how about a thoracic cavity cake?
This weekend, I made The Joy of Cooking’s Black Bottom Cupcakes. My husband proclaimed them the best cupcakes he’s ever eaten. They’re like homemade Hostess cupcakes–chocolate cake, creamy center, chocolate frosting. Makes 16 cupcakes.
Preheat oven to 350.
Beat in a medium bowl until smooth:
8 ounces of cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
Add and beat until smooth:
1 large egg
Stir in:
1 cup chocolate chips
Set that bowl aside. In another bowl, whisk together thoroughly:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Add:
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
Stir with a spatula just until smooth. Fill muffin cups about halfway full of the latter (chocolate) mixture. Place a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the cakey part of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Makes 16 cupcakes.
For the frosting, I like* Joy*'s quick chocolate icing.
That’s just so fucking awesome that I can hardly stand it!
If you want to do a proper cake, how about this Coconut Layer Cake? It’s gorgeous, delicious, and will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. I make it for Easter, and it’s always a big hit.
If you decide to make it, remember to use cream of coconut, not coconut milk. Think pina colada, not Thai curry.
Our wedding cake: Chocolate cake, raspberry ganache, white chocolate cover.
You can even go all Betty Crocker on it and it will still amaze some people.
This Double Caramel Turtle Cake is scrumptious and fun, but might not last so well for a couple of days.
Italian Cream Cake has been known to make my mother sit up and beg.
And for a really good, basic white birthday cake, this White Cake with Meringue Icing is totally killer. I have made a boxed chocolate cake and put that meringue icing on it and had people lining up for my fantabulous cake recipe. Seriously good stuff.
Either of the last two should last alright in the fridge.
There’s about 8 or 10 fabulous looking cake recipes in the back of the current issue of Southern Living – the November issue, I believe. They’ll knock your socks off.
Yeah - my wife is a slave to the Southern Living recipes, so I’m about 20 pounds heavier now. They’re great.
I guess for a cakewalk you need a real cake? I make a killer baklava which would keep well for a few days.
longhair’s chocolate cake recipe
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa (hersheys dutch process dry cocoa)
2 rounded teaspoons baking soda
1 cup soured milk (add a teaspoon of vinegar to the milk)
(no, i don’t know why. that is how mom taught me to do it)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup hot water (add last)
combine all dry ingredients, then add liquid ingredients, with hot water last. put into 9x12 floured baking dish and bake at 350 till a toothpick in center comes out dry, (approx 45 minute)raises hand, lunges out of chair Oooh! Ohh! I know! I know! Pick me!!!
Y’know the kids’ science experiment, mixing vinegar and baking soda to make explosive bubbles? Same think in cake making - you mix an alkaline something, like baking soda, with an acid, like vinegar (and milk) and it makes a gajillion bubbles. Your flour mixture then catches all those bubbles, the egg hardens it in place, and you’ve got a flour disk make light and fluffy with a bunch of tiny bubbles.
The recipe probably originally called for buttermilk, another acidic liquid. But soured milk is a time-honored substitute for buttermilk.
I once tasted a cake made with milky way bars, later I found a recipe and tried to make it myself but I misread the amount of baking soda and used too much. It became a volcano cake in the oven, thankfully I had put the cake pan on a cookie sheet. It still tasted wonderful. I found a recipe here that looks like the same recipe.
Friend WhyNot,
You are right. Try the cake. it is outstanding
You’re not kidding! I wonder what the ribs are made of. And that Zombie Cake at the bottom is no joke either.
The ribs are made of white chocolate – she has a how-to for the thoracic cavity cake, along with a bunch of other cakes.
Why, no, I did not spend a couple of hours on that site yesterday, why do you ask? 
About the soured milk – put the vinegar/lemon juice into the cup first, and then measure to the correct amount of milk. It probably doesn’t matter too much for something like this, but for larger amounts it can knock your recipe off.
I think a genoise is the most impressive of cakes. There are many variations, but it’s quite impressive.
Here’s a link to a chocolate one, which doesn’t sound bad. Chocolate Genoise - Joyofbaking.com *Video Recipe*
I make a vanilla one for special occasions.
It is Wednesday so too late, but I suggest you invest in a copy of The Cake Bible.
The cake is a lie! 