There's nothing in the world I love more than a good cupcake, but recently I've been into cakes. I like cakes because they look so pretty when you make them. Something about all the layers and fillings, the different things you can do to the frosting- designs, decorations etc... ANYways...after eating the most incredible piece of cake at
CakeLove in Tyson's Corner, I went back to the register and bought 3 more pieces to take to my family and the cookbook. Ridiculous, I know. But the cake was SOOO GOOD! Here are my first two attempts at the recipes.
First, two Saturdays ago I made the "New German Chocolate," a chocolate butter cake with coconut buttercream. wow. If you haven't had buttercream, it is SO good. I like it best at room temp, its nice and fluffy, smooth, but still rich and the flavor is out of control. If you eat it chilled it melts in your mouth, dissolving into a puddle of bliss. Even better, its not hard to make and it is definitely worth the effort! Here's my take on Warren Brown's classic:
I am still working on my photography skills, this is using the "food" setting on my camera. The cake was ridiculously good, and I think I even overcooked the cake slightly. I highly recommend it.
Last Saturday I made a vanilla butter cake with a raspberry buttercream and a chocolate ganache. I dont know which cake I liked better! The flavors all went together just beautifully and the raspberry ganache was great. You add raspberry puree to the basic buttercream recipe and voila, amazing frosting. Again, my interpretation:
It doesn't look as pretty...the ganache was still uneven and hadn't set yet. You can see the raspberries peeking out... This buttercream was an italian buttercream from the book that required whipping egg whites and making a sugar syrup, but it was worth it. I have another piece in the fridge now just waiting for me... yum.
