I hope that all the moms and grandmas had a wonderful day yesterday. I was lucky enough to spend the day with Mom Muse and my two sisters, Calliope and Poly, who are the most wonderful mothers to my nephews.
This is the time of year in my family when there is constant cake. There is a birthday, anniversary or occasion every weekend, and it seems like one cake is finished just in time for the next. So, in the interest of our family waistline, I bought 7" cake pans to make a cute little cake for our celebration. I decided to use my go-to chocolate cake recipe King Arthur Flour's Devils Food Cake. If your only experience baking a cake involves a box, I encourage you to branch out. Homemade cake is a luxury, and not all that much more difficult to make. If you can cream butter and measure ingredients, there should be nothing holding you back.
I really am terrible when it comes to photographing my kitchen projects. I forget to take a picture when the cake is all frosted and lovely. Instead, I wait until there is just one ugly, half-nibbled slice left. Sorry.
Anyway, the smaller cake pans allowed me to cut down the recipe by one quarter (so 75% of a normal size layer cake). I could have cut back even more - to 60% - but since my pans are professional quality, they are also deeper than normal. So, the extra batter was well used; my cake came out tall and chic. And 32 minutes in the oven left it impeccably moist. This cake is so tasty that all you really need is a sprinkle of confectioners sugar or a dollop of whipped cream. However, it being Mothers Day, I opted for a spiky halo of marshmallow icing.
The end result: cake bliss. And not too many leftovers. Really, it was the perfect amount, too. It makes 12 nice size slices - plenty for my family to enjoy a slice each and have a few leftover for later nibbling. Yum!
Anyway, there is a time and a place for "the box". But if you want a truly special cake, this is a real winner.
Tomorrow, I promise to get you up to date on my sewing. There are definitely things to show, just nothing 100% done or photographed. Stay tuned!
This is the time of year in my family when there is constant cake. There is a birthday, anniversary or occasion every weekend, and it seems like one cake is finished just in time for the next. So, in the interest of our family waistline, I bought 7" cake pans to make a cute little cake for our celebration. I decided to use my go-to chocolate cake recipe King Arthur Flour's Devils Food Cake. If your only experience baking a cake involves a box, I encourage you to branch out. Homemade cake is a luxury, and not all that much more difficult to make. If you can cream butter and measure ingredients, there should be nothing holding you back.
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| All that's left |
Anyway, the smaller cake pans allowed me to cut down the recipe by one quarter (so 75% of a normal size layer cake). I could have cut back even more - to 60% - but since my pans are professional quality, they are also deeper than normal. So, the extra batter was well used; my cake came out tall and chic. And 32 minutes in the oven left it impeccably moist. This cake is so tasty that all you really need is a sprinkle of confectioners sugar or a dollop of whipped cream. However, it being Mothers Day, I opted for a spiky halo of marshmallow icing.
The end result: cake bliss. And not too many leftovers. Really, it was the perfect amount, too. It makes 12 nice size slices - plenty for my family to enjoy a slice each and have a few leftover for later nibbling. Yum!
Anyway, there is a time and a place for "the box". But if you want a truly special cake, this is a real winner.
Tomorrow, I promise to get you up to date on my sewing. There are definitely things to show, just nothing 100% done or photographed. Stay tuned!
