The 30 Cakes of Gina’s Wedding by ecc

[rottiedogs]

The 30 Cakes of Gina's Wedding
Submitted by ecc on August 19, 2003 at 12:26 pm

DESCRIPTION
The 30 Cakes of Gina's Wedding

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under cakes

INSTRUCTIONS
First of all, there's only 22 recipes here. There were 30 cakes at the wedding reception, but the other eight came from the restaurant (they were the ones that were level and symmetrical; mine were the lopsided, sloping ones).

Second, these recipes were typed up as a gift to my sister Gina. She can cook but she hasn't done much baking. I didn't edit out the little notes and opinions meant to be helpful to her. I might even be wide of the mark on a few things, but if it gets her to be more comfortable trying to make a cake, I'm not going to worry about it.

Third, the recipes are not my own creations, though a few of them are my own amalgamations of other recipes. Many of the recipes come from King Arthur's Baking Sheet. All of them are credited.

Fourth, I knew there would be a lot of non-drinkers at the wedding so I left out or substituted for all the alcohol (besides extracts) in the recipes. I have noted those substitutions so you can add the booze back in as you like.

Last, I'd be happy to email anyone a copy of these if you want the bigger-type version. It's 41 pages long, but they can be assembled in a binder with page-protectors so that you don't have to turn the page in the middle of any one recipe. My email address is ericacchrist@yahoo.com

Coffee Chocolate Pudding Cake

This recipe comes from Bert Greene’s The Grains Cookbook. He calls this “The Semi Chocolate Challenge”. Though it looks dense and rich, it is actually pretty light on the tongue as well as being delicious. This cake freezes well. I have adjusted the late, venerable Mr. Greene’s recipe in the following ways. He only calls for 1/3 cup sugar and I used ¾ cup. If the idea of biting into a solid café au lait appeals to you, then use 1/3 cup sugar. If you’d like this cake to taste like dessert, use ¾ cup sugar. Also, he only calls for ¼ teaspoon of salt and as far as I’m concerned, there’s never a reason to use less than ½ teaspoon of salt.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 cups brewed coffee
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
¾ cup sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup semolina
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

More whipping cream for frosting

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Set aside.
3. Combine the coffee and cream in a medium-size saucepan. Heat slowly to boiling, the reduce the heat and stir in the sugar and salt. Slowly stir in the semolina and cook, stirring constantly, 10 minutes. [This is tough going, I usually give up and move on before ten minutes is up] Transfer to a large bowl.
4. Stir the chocolate mixture into the semolina mixture, and beat in the eggs and egg yolk. Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan. Bake 1 hour. Cool completely on a wire rack. Loosen the edge of the pan with a knife and remove the sides. You may dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar. Frost or serve with whipped cream.
5. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients and implements:
· Use good chocolate. I used Ghiradelli to make this cake for the wedding.
· To make vanilla sugar: Slice a vanilla bean lengthwise and put it in a jar. Fill the jar with sugar. Let it steep for a week or so before you start using it.
· Semolina is basically Cream of Wheat, but do try to find semolina flour. If you can’t find it at the grocery store, any co-op will have it.
· If you don’t have a springform pan, get one. I use mine more than any other baking pan in my kitchen.

Buy this cookbook! Bert Greene The Grains Cookbook, 1988, Workman Publishing, New York

Sourdough Chocolate Cake

This no-holds-barred recipe is from Adventures in Sourdough Cooking and Baking by Charles D. Wilford. The sourdough doesn’t make this cake tangy or weird. It adds richness and depth—nobody would guess the secret ingredient was sourdough! This cake freezes well. I made only one adjustment to this recipe. He calls for 2 cups of sugar and I used only 1½ cups. You could probably even go down to 1 cup of sugar and still not suffer from un-dessertiness.

1½ cups fresh, room temperature sourdough starter
4 oz. sweet cooking chocolate
½ cup boiling water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
½ tsp. salt

1. Assemble all ingredients and utensils. [Mr. Wilford is never fails to include this instruction at the beginning of all his recipes] Let all ingredients come to room temperature.
2. Grease and flour 2 nine-inch round cake pans. One 9 x 13 pan works also. Three eight-inch round pans work also if you’re feeling ambitious.
3. Preheat oven to 350ºF
4. Put the chocolate and boiling water in a small pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Pour into a glass or china bowl and add the baking soda. Stir until blended; the mixture will foam up. Cool to lukewarm.
5. Cream the butter and sugar together [five minutes in the mixer; it should get pretty fluffy]. Add the egg yolks, one by one, mixing well after each addition.
6. Mix in the vanilla and the chocolate mixture.
7. Stir together the flour and the salt in a separate bowl.
8. Add ½ cup of the sourdough starter to the now chocolate batter, then ½ cup of the flour, then the next ½ cup of the starter, then the remaining flour, then the last of the starter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat until batter is smooth.
9. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold them into the batter.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan(s).
11. Bake for 35 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
12. Let cool for about five minutes in the pans. The cakes will shrink obligingly from the edges of the pans. Then turn them out onto a rack to cool.
13. Frost however you like. I used an old-fashioned white frosting for the cake I made for the wedding. Recipe follows.

Notes on Ingredients
· I won’t bore you with a treatise on sourdough. There’s lots of stuff out there about it and it’s pretty easy to make and maintain. But if you want to make this cake and need some sourdough starter, let me know the day before you want to make it and I’ll give you some sourdough starter.
· Unsalted butter is almost always called for because it allows you to control the amount of salt in the recipe. I’ve also heard that unsalted butter is generally fresher than salted; because salt acts somewhat as a preservative, it will extend the shelf-life of butter.
· Use good chocolate. I used Ibarra Mexican Sweet chocolate for the cake I made for the wedding. Ibarra has a little cinnamon added, which is a flavor I think works well with sourdough. Also, Ibarra comes in disks that are 2.1 ounces, so there was a touch more chocolate in my cake than the recipe called for.
· I used Mexican vanilla. It seemed appropriate to use since I had used Mexican chocolate.

Old Fashioned White Frosting

This recipe appeared in an issue of “The Baking Sheet”. See below for info about it.

1 cup (8 oz.) milk
" cup (1 ½ oz.) all-purpose flour
big pinch of salt
½ cup (1 stick, 4 oz.) unsalted butter, soft
½ cup (3 ¼ oz.) vegetable shortening
1 cup (7 ½ oz.) sugar [use bakers’ or superfine if you have it]
½ cup (2 oz.) confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
2 tsp. vanilla

1. Combine the milk, flour and salt in a small saucepan. Whisk until all lumps are dissolved. Cook over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens. This does not take very long.
2. Cover and refrigerate milk/flour mixture
3. Beat together butter, shortening, sugars and vanilla. Beat until creamy.
4. Add the chilled milk/flour mixture and beat until just blended. It should be pretty fluffy.

Notes on ingredients:
· Bakers’ sugar is finer than regular granulated sugar. It dissolves into the other ingredients more quickly and easily. It will make the icing a little smoother. Regular granulated sugar will work, though.

Citrus Cake

This recipe came from the back of the Baker’s Catalogue of the King Arthur Flour Company. They call it a “Margarita Cake” but as it has no tequila in it I would hate to either put someone off or disappoint someone by calling it that. Because this cake it so worth trying! It is light, refreshing and even good enough to eat without the suggested fresh fruit and whipped cream accompaniment. I did make a couple adjustments to their recipe. I used only 1 ½ cups sugar instead of the 1 ¾ cup the recipe calls for. I raised the amount of salt to ½ teaspoon from ¼ teaspoon (see above). Also I chose to use orange oil instead of lemon and lime oil in the cake, for variety.

CAKE
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), soft
1 ½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon orange oil
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup lemon whole milk yogurt

GLAZE
2 tablespoons Key lime juice
2 tablespoons water
½ cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan.
3. Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition.
5. Mix in the lemon rind, juice and orange oil.
6. Stir in about a third of the flour.
7. Stir in half the yogurt.
8. Stir in the next third of the flour.
9. Stir in the rest of the yogurt.
10. Stir in the rest of the flour.
11. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
12. Bake for about 25 minutes in a 13 x 9 inch pan. [In the rose bundt pan it took almost 50 minutes] It is done when a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
13. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes.
14. Make the glaze: heat the lime juice, water and sugar until the sugar melts.
15. Turn the cake out onto the serving plate or platter. Brush with the syrup until all the syrup is absorbed.
16. Cool completely.
17. Serve with whipped cream and berries.
18. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:

· Orange oil is very, very concentrated orange flavor. It isn’t the same as orange juice or orange rind. If you can’t get your hands on any orange oil, you’ll have to use about a tablespoon of orange rind.
· Key lime juice isn’t that hard to come by, but you will probably have to find it in a specialty store. I’ve seen it at Williams-Sonoma for example. The Baker’s Catalogue does carry it as well.
· Use whole-milk yogurt. You’ll get a much better crumb (the texture of the cake) and it will keep better.
· For baking, yogurt is basically interchangeable with cream cheese, sour cream, ricotta, or quark BUT in this case the acidity of the yogurt reacts with the baking soda for leavening so I would recommend leaving well enough alone and using yogurt.
· I, of course, use King Arthur Flour to make all my cakes.

King Arthur Flour Company’s new cookbook, The Baker’s Companion, is due out in the fall of 2003. I can’t wait to get my copy—I’ve already advance ordered one!

Pear & Almond Tart
(CONTAINS NUTS)

This recipe comes from an issue of “The Baking Sheet”, a bi-monthly baking newsletter published by the King Arthur Flour Company. It was in a larger article about fruit tarts so the crust, the filling and the assembly are in separate sections. This tart is rich, delicious and surprisingly elegant. This tart keeps well in the fridge for days. It also freezes well.
It doesn’t look anything like a tart when I make it—apparently I have volcano-kitchen, because everything I make rises up and overflows if it gets half a chance. Anyhow, this thick tart, if you will, is easy to make but does require a few hours of time. The only changes I made to their recipe were small adjustments in the flavoring, which I will note in the recipe itself.

CRUST
This sweet pastry dough recipe will be enough for two tarts. Just throw the other half in your freezer and keep it until you need it for something else. It will keep for about 3 months.

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
4 ½ cups flour
a pinch of salt

1. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl after each addition.
3. Sift the flour and salt.
4. Gradually add the flour to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead a few times.
6. Divide the dough into two pieces and form each piece into a ball. Flatten the balls into disks and wrap in plastic. Chill at least one hour before using.

FILLING
This is called Frangipane filling, which is the name for a custard with almonds. I am giving you the whole recipe though in my kitchen (see above), half is just about enough. At any rate, with the whole recipe you will have some leftover.

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), very soft
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract [Use less if you prefer]
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cups ground, blanched almonds
½ cup all-purpose flour

1. If you can’t find ground almonds, put 8 ounces (1/2 lb) of blanched almonds in a food processor and quickly grind. Careful, though. Food processors heat their contents and almonds will get oily if they are warmed.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the almond extract.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Sift the flour and mix it with the ground almonds.
6. Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
7. Refrigerate until ready to use.

ASSEMBLY
Once you have done the crust and the filling, it’s just a matter of putting it together and baking it. So you see you could do all that a day ahead even.

1 pastry crust
1 frangipane filling
1 can pear halves (in juice, not syrup)

1. Preheat oven to 375º
2. Roll the dough out between two sheets of plastic to about ¼ inch thick. Return the dough to the fridge for about ten minutes.
3. Grease a 9 inch round or rectangular removable-bottom tart tin .
4. Slice pear halves length-wise as thick or thin as you like. I slice them thin because they cook in more and then they are a more subtle presence in the tart. Set aside.
5. Take dough out of the fridge and remove plastic from one side. Lay this naked side into the prepared pan. Gently and quickly press the dough into the form of the pan. Trim the excess from the top. Patch any holes. If it gets too soft to work with, chill it for 10 or 15 minutes and then finish up.
6. Fill the dough-lined pan about 2/3 full with frangipane filling. Don’t fill it any more than that; it rises during baking!
7. Artfully lay out the pears. Or not, if that’s too intimidating. In my experience, the filling engulfs them anyway. But just in case your tart behaves itself as mine have not, try to arrange the pears nicely.
8. Place the tart tin on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes or until the tart is golden brown.
9. You can glaze the finished tart if you like. This is especially good if the filling has not engulfed the fruit; the glaze will seal the moisture in the fruit. To glaze: heat a little apricot jam and put it through a sieve. Then brush the smooth, warm glaze lightly on the fruit.
10. Let cool on a rack, in the pan. In my experience, this tart is pretty runny until it is completely cool. I actually refrigerate it overnight to make sure it is set. But do serve it at room temperature.
11. Enjoy!

The Baking Sheet is a great newsletter if you like baking. I’ve subscribed for several years and have made many great breads and desserts from recipes I’ve read in the Baking Sheet. It’s published six times a year and you can get more info at http://www.bakerscatalogue.com

Strawberries and Cream Cake

This recipe is also from “The Baking Sheet” published by the King Arthur Flour Company. You can use whatever berries you like and/or have on hand—blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries. You could use a mix of berries. This is a super easy recipe. The only change I made to their recipe was in the cream part. They call for sour cream and I used Quark. I just thought I’d be more German about it. As I noted above, you could also substitute yogurt or cream cheese—though it’s so nice and easy to use something soft and easy to mix, I’m not sure I would use cream cheese unless that’s what I had in the fridge and I didn’t want to go to the store for something else before I made this cake!

1 ½ cups All-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla

1 quart berries, sliced if they’re big

2 cups Quark (1 pint, 16 oz.)
1 egg
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease a springform pan
2. Mix flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, egg and vanilla. The mixture will be pretty stiff, you might have to knead it to make it come together in the end.
3. Pat the dough into the bottom of the pan. It will be a little more than ½ inch thick.
4. Spread the berries over the dough.
5. Beat together the Quark, egg, sugar and vanilla. Spread this mixture atop the berries.
6. Bake the cake for one hour. Edges should be lightly browned.
7. Cool to room temperature.
8. Enjoy!

Notes about ingredients:
· Make your own Quark! It’s easy, though you must plan ahead if you’re going to use it in a recipe. Mix four parts whole milk and one part buttermilk (for example, one gallon whole milk and one quart buttermilk). Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours or so. Put it in a big, shallow pan. Heat slowly until the quark separates. Scoop out cheese into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and let drain, in the fridge, overnight.

Chocolate Oblivion Torte
(GLUTEN FREE)

This recipe is from Rose Levy Beranbaum and it appears in both The Cake Bible as the Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte and Rose’s Celebrations as the Elkin’s 25th Anniversary Silver Snowflake Cake. This is the cake that I made as individual cakes for Annelise’s wedding. The cake is made of only butter, eggs and chocolate so it’s pretty intense. Instead of frosting or whipped cream, I follow her example in Rose’s Celebrations and cover it in fondant, a rolled icing made mostly of sugar. Since the cake is very much a bittersweet chocolate cake, the sweetness of the fondant is delicious—not too much! Even though there are only three ingredients (not including the fondant), I wouldn’t call this a simple cake to make. It isn’t difficult to make, but some of the steps have to be taken pretty carefully. The only changes I made to her recipe were in the chocolate. The recipe calls for 1 ½ lb. bittersweet chocolate and I made it with 1 lb. bittersweet and ½ lb. semi-sweet. It’s pretty tough going if it’s all bittersweet chocolate.

1 ½ lb. chocolate, bittersweet or a combination of bittersweet and semi-sweet
9 large eggs
1 ½ cups unsalted butter (3 sticks, ¾ lb.)

1. Preheat the oven to 425º
2. Butter a springform pan and wrap the outside of it with two layers of aluminum foil. You will be setting the cake in a water bath in the oven, so make sure the foil is really tight at least 1 ½ inches up the pan.
3. In a large metal bowl set over hot water (bowl should not touch the water), combine the chocolate and the butter and let it stand, stirring occasionally, until smooth and melted.
4. In another large bowl or the bowl to your stand mixer if you have one, whisk the eggs and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. You don’t want to cook or curdle the eggs so stir constantly until the eggs are warm to the touch.
5. Remove the eggs from the heat and use a whisk beater or the whisk attachment to your mixer and beat the eggs until they have cooled to room temperature, they are tripled in volume and soft peaks have formed. This will take about five minutes and it is very dramatic.
6. Fold half of the eggs into the chocolate mixture. Don’t fold the chocolate into the eggs, you’ll lose all the air you just beat into the eggs. Fold until the eggs are almost incorporated then add the other half. Fold until no streaks of egg remains. Remember to run the spatula all the way down to the bottom of the bowl where the heavier part of the mixture will settle.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and set the pan in a larger pan—a roasting pan or a bigger cake pan. Add about an inch of very hot water to the larger pan and place both in the oven.
8. Bake for five minutes and then put a piece of buttered tin foil on top of the cake and bake for 13 more minutes.
9. The cake will look soft and not done but take it out of the oven anyway.
10. Let it cool on a rack for 45 minutes.
11. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 4 hours.
12. To unmold the cake, run a hot, damp towel around the outside of the springform. Run a thin spatula around the inside of the springform then release the form. Turn onto a plate or cardboard round. Rose says to refrigerate it for at least 12 more hours before the icing/decoration phase.
13. Though Rose provides detailed instructions for making fondant and working with it, I confess to having bought fondant from a catalogue to ice this cake. Either way, if you find yourself rolling out fondant to ice this or any other cake, sprinkle cornstarch on the counter to prevent it from sticking and work fast, it dries out. Keep extra fondant covered tightly at room temp.
14. However, the cake is perfectly delicious with just a whipped cream garnish as well.
15. Enjoy!

Notes about ingredients and utensils:

· Use good chocolate! I used Callebaut for this cake. Rose suggests Lindt Excellence (which I used for Annelise’s wedding) or Valrhona extra bittersweet (my editorial note about that is that I think it’s a bit rich of Rose to call for a ultra high end chocolate made in France and only usually available to professional chocolatiers; though I’m sure it’s fabulous chocolate).
· Don’t use a wooden spoon to stir the chocolate unless it is one that is reserved only for chocolate. Wooden spoons pick up smells from everything they come in contact with and so does chocolate. Try smelling a wooden spoon in your kitchen and see what I mean. I have a wooden spoon that I only use for chocolate (I wrote ‘chocolate’ on it in permanent marker). Otherwise use a plastic spoon. From all the candy bars we eat, you wouldn’t think that chocolate is actually sort of delicate and fussy, but it is.

You can’t go wrong with any of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s cookbooks. The detail she provides is astonishing, though it can be daunting. Rose’s Celebrations is the one that also has a recipe for making your own lox. I have used that recipe with great success.

Orange and Chocolate Filled Pound Cake

If you’re looking for something that’s a far cry from a typical bakery cake, this is it. This cake is very rich though it’s light on the tongue (the orange flavor helps with that). That is a good combination for a dessert! This recipe appeared in the “Baking Sheet” as ‘Sicilian Cassata’, though they call it that with the caveat that they have simplified the recipe to make it easier for the home baker—original recipes call for pistachio paste, candied pumpkin, silver sugar balls among other things. It is traditionally served at Easter. This cake freezes well, icing and all. If you don’t have all dang day to make this cake, you can just buy a pound cake and make the filling and icing yourself. I did some substituting in this recipe and changed the flavors a bit, but that just had to do with what I had around and what I was out of…

POUND CAKE
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, 8 0z), cut into pieces
4 oz. cream cheese or sour cream
1 tbsp. vanilla
6 eggs, separated
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour or cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 300º
2. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan. If you use a pan smaller than this, it will overflow. The batter doesn’t rise much, though, so if the batter nearly fills the pan you should be OK.
3. Beat the butter and sugar at medium speed in a mixer for ten minutes. It should be a very light cream color. Beat in the cream cheese or sour cream [or yogurt] and the vanilla .
4. Add the egg yolks one at a time; beat to combine after each addition.
5. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix slowly until just combined.
6. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.
7. Gently fold the whites into the other batter.
8. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for ten minutes, then remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a rack.
10. If you are not finishing the cake right away, wrap the cake in plastic and store at room temperature.

ICING
12 oz. (2 cups) coarsely chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (chips are fine)
¾ cup black coffee
1 cup (8 oz., 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate in the coffeee.
2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a mixer and beat in the chilled butter, one piece at a time. Keep at it! Even if it looks like the butter doesn’t want to melt into the mixture, it will eventually. The icing should be completely smooth.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic and refrigerate until it cools to spreading consistency. Don’t forget about it or it will harden!

FILLING
1 lb. Ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
1 tbsp. vanilla extract or whatever flavoring in whatever quantity you think will be good
2 oz. coarsely chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (chocolate chips crushed with a meat pounder are fine)

1. Combine ingredients in a bowl.

ASSEMBLY
1. Slice the pound cake, horizontally, into three layers.
2. Place the bottom layer on a serving plate and spread it with half the filling. Top it with the middle layer and spread the remaining filling on top of it. Top with the final layer of the cake.
3. Spread the cake thickly with the icing. If your filling is dripping and leaking out like mine was, the icing will seal it in nicely. You will have enough icing to even do some fancy decorating if you want.
4. Refrigerate the cake until you’re ready to serve it. A 24-hour mellowing period will allow the flavors from the filling to seep into the cake and the icing to really set.
5. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:
· As you can tell, I used a hodge-podge of stuff, whatever I had around. Even the chocolates I used were a mix of what I had on hand: Callebaut, Schokinog, Baker’s. Because this cake has a mix of flavors, I had a little more leeway with the ingredients. If it were just chocolate or just orange or just pound cake, I would have been more deliberate about my ingredients.
· Cake flour is very fine and almost always bleached. The idea is to make the flour as light as possible so the texture of the cake will be very fine and light. A cake that is as enriched as this one (which is to say, a cake with so much butter and so many eggs) will be fine with all-purpose flour if that’s what you have or if you don’t want to use flour that’s bleached. My choice is, of course, King Arthur’s ‘Queen Guineviere Cake Flour’ which I get from their catalogue. Other cake flours are available at more grocery stores.

Flourless Poppy Seed Cake
(GLUTEN FREE)

This recipe comes from Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers. Subtitled “Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” this cookbook is probably the most beautiful one I have. The pictures of the cafés are almost as good as the pictures of the desserts! Rick gives great background information about and cultural context around each of the recipes. This cake is very unusual—moist, nutty and sweet. There is no flour and nothing in the place of the flour. It is almost solid poppy seeds! This cake freezes well. I did not change the recipe at all as it is very simple. Besides, it is unlike anything else I’ve made so I wouldn’t really know where to begin making adjustments.

10 tbsp (5 oz., 1 ¼ stick) unsalted butter, as cool room temperature
5 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 ¾ cup (9 oz.) poppy seeds, ground
½ cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Lightly butter an 11 x 8 baking dish
3. Beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute on medium speed in an electric mixer
4. Beat in the eggs yolks, one at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Beat in the sugar
6. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until the form soft peaks. Stir about ¼ of the egg whites into the butter mixture. Fold in the remaining egg whites. Before the whites are completely incorporated, fold in the poppy seeds. Then fold in the cream.
7. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and bake until the cake is lightly browned on top, about 45 minutes.
8. Let cool on a rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and/or serve with whipped cream.
9. Enjoy!

Notes on utensils and ingredients:
· Poppy seeds are pretty oily so they should be stored in the fridge or the freezer so they don’t go rancid. To grind poppy seeds, you can use your mini-prep food processor, or a coffee grinder. If you are very patient, you can use a mortar and pestle. The seeds are tiny, so it will be hard to tell if they are ground or not. Overall, the mixture will darken and thicken a little. I ground mine in a mini-prep and I spun them for almost five minutes (on and off) to get them ground.
· You can use a square baking pan also. The thing about a rectangular one is that the middle is more likely to be cooked before the edges darken too much.

Buy this cookbook! Rick Rodgers Kaffeehaus, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2002, New York

Caramel Cheesecake

This is another recipe from “The Baking Sheet” in which it is entitled ‘Dulce de Leche Cheesecake’. This cake has good depth of flavor without being cloying. It doesn’t taste overwhelmingly caramel-y, to my taste. It is also very easy to make. And after making all these cakes, I was relieved to get to a recipe that didn’t require separated eggs and folding one thing into another!

Dulce de leche is spreadable caramelized milk and sugar popular in South America. I actually made this with cajeta, which is similar but made with goat’s milk and from Mexico. One could, easily, use regular caramel also. This cake freezes well (without the glaze). I used Neufchatel instead of cream cheese (see ingredients notes). Also, I added a little Ceylon cinnamon to the crust.

CRUST
1 cup (4 oz., 8-9 whole graham cracker sheets) graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon
2 tbsp (1 oz.) brown sugar
3 tablespoons (1 ½ oz.) butter, melted

FILLING
14 oz. dulce de leche (or cajeta or caramel)
1 ½ lb (3 eight oz packages) cream cheese, softened
½ cup (3 ½ oz.) sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Combine crust ingredients.
3. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch pan or springform pan
4. Set aside 1/3 cup of the dulce de leche
5. Combine the cream cheese and the sugar in a mixer, mixing on low speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl in between each egg so everything gets well mixed.
6. Add the rest of the dulce de leche, the vanilla and salt and blend until smooth.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared crust and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325º and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until the center is set. Turn the oven off and prop the door open. Leave the cake in the cooling oven for 45 minutes – this is to help prevent it from cracking.
8. Remove the cake from the oven, loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Refrigerate still in the pan. After it has cooled a bit, cover it and refrigerate overnight.
9. Take the cake out of the pan. Before serving the cake, warm the remaining dulce de leche and spread it evenly over the top of the cake.
10. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:
· Neufchatel is the same as cream cheese but is a little lower in fat and it is made with vegetable rennet instead of animal rennet. I think overall it has a lighter, slightly less cheese-y flavor.
· Ceylon cinnamon is also known as true cinnamon, and it is preferred for baking in Mexico. So I was just going with the Mexico thing.
· I used Mexican vanilla also.
· I got the Cajeta from one of the Super Mercados on Nicollet. I’ve gotten dulce de leche from a co-op, though it’s getting pretty popular so I’m sure some groceries have it now. I have used cajeta in making ice cream—it can also be used as a topping for ice cream.

Another great recipe from the Baking Sheet! There is a special offer for the Baking Sheet in the August issue of the King Arthur Flour Baking catalogue!

Walnut Applesauce Cake with Honey-Cream Cheese Frosting
(CONTAINS NUTS)

This recipe comes from Nick Maglieri’s Perfect Cakes. It’s a great cookbook because it has a good variety of recipes and because his instructions are clear. The recipes I’ve made from it have all turned out very good. However, I did not do a test run of this cake before I made it for the wedding. The only thing I can say from making it once is that I barely had enough frosting to cover the whole cake. I am by no means an expert froster so that could be due to operator error, if you will.

CAKE
3 cups All-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 ½ cups dark raisins or currants
1 ½ cups walnut pieces
½ pound unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce

FROSTING
8 tablespoons (1 stick, 4 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
One 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mild honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

GARNISH
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts

1.) Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan, line it with buttered parchment paper or foil for easy turn out.
2.) Stir together the flour, soda, salt, and spices in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the raisins and walnuts. Add 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture, tossing to coat; set aside.
3.) In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium speed until soft and light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.
4.) Beat in one-third of the flour mixture, then beat in half the applesauce, and scrape again. Beat in the remaining flour mixture. Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
5.) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
6.) Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake emerges clean. Cool in the pan on a rack.
7.) To make the frosting, combine the butter, cream cheese, honey, and vanilla in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle and beat on medium speed until soft and light, about 3 minutes.
8.) Invert the cake onto a cardboard rectangle or a platter and remove the paper. Run knife around the sides to release the cake. Spread the frosting on the top of the cake, then sprinkle with the chopped walnuts.
9.) Enjoy! (I hope)

Notes about ingredients:
· I used Neufchatel instead of cream cheese. See Caramel Cheesecake above.
· Nick calls for a mild flavored honey for the frosting, but I think you do want to taste the honey so I used a middling flavored honey. I believe it was a “thistle” honey. Clover honeys are usually pretty mild.
· Nick gives instructions in the recipe for making your own applesauce, which is easy enough and worth it when apples are in season. Let me know if you want the recipe.
· I did use freshly grated nutmeg. Since nutmegs stay good basically indefinitely, it’s best to have a few around and grate them when you need some nutmeg. It’s just so much better than ground nutmeg in a jar.

Buy this cookbook! Nick Maglieri Perfect Cakes, 2002, HarperCollins Publishers, New York

Tres Leches Cake

This recipe for the famous Mexican cake came from the back of one of the spring catalogues from the King Arthur Flour baking company. I made it for some family get-together and Mike declared that it was his new favorite cake, so I had to make it for the wedding! It is a wonderful cake. The texture is moist but not soggy. It’s rich but not heavy. And it’s simple but not boring. Watch out! It’s loaded with milk and sugar—the three milks of the name are cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk (or dulce de leche if you like, see above). It needs a resting period, so make it ahead of time.

CAKE
1 ½ cups All-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 eggs, separated
½ tsp. cream of tartar OR 1 tsp. lemon juice
1 ½ cups sugar
1/3 cup cold water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract

TOPPING
1 cup heavy cream
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk OR dulce de leche
1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Separate the eggs. In another bowl, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar or lemon juice until soft peaks form.
5. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg yolks until they’re pale yellow and fluffy . Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture falls from the beaters in ribbons—like very soft taffy.
6. Add the cold water and extracts.
7. Mix in the dry ingredients.
8. Gently fold in the egg whites.
9. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or so, until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
10. Mix the topping ingredients together. If you are using dulce de leche instead of evaporated milk you’ll need to mix it in a little at a time to make sure the mixture is smooth.
11. Using a fork, poke holes all over the cake—it’s still warm, remember it’s only been 15 minutes since it’s been out of the oven. Pout the mixture slowly over the cake and spread it if you have to. The cake should absorb all the liquid.
12. Refrigerate the cake for several hours or overnight. This allows the flavors to meld and the texture to set.
13. Spread with whipped cream just before serving. Serve with fresh fruit. Refrigerate any leftovers.
14. Enjoy!

Notes about ingredients:

· I used sweetened condensed milk and not dulce de leche which I realized was a little lazy and inauthentic of me but that was how I made it when I made it the first time that Mike loved so much so my excuse is that I didn’t want to risk having it be not as good.
· I used Mexican vanilla, of course!
· The cream of tartar is to stabilize the egg whites, which helps prevent a pool of unwhipped egg whites at the bottom of your bowl. But if you don’t have it or lemon juice, the cake will survive.
· Some recipes call for some brandy or rum in the topping. There’s no need for it.

Dark and White Chocolate Cheesecake

This is another recipe from Perfect Cakes. When I did a test run of this cake, all I had to do was say the name of it and people wanted to try it. It has a dramatic appearance as well. It is a very good cheesecake. It’s rich so a small slice will do. One of these cakes can easily serve a dozen or more people! The recipe is fairly involved, though none of the steps are difficult or complicated. One thing: it calls for a layer of chocolate cake, pre-made. So the cake gets baked twice, but don’t worry, it still tastes good. Nick references another recipe in his book for a good chocolate cake layer to use. For my test run I used a layer leftover from a different experiment, but when I made the cake for the wedding I used the recipe he referenced. I think you can use any chocolate cake layer as long as it’s a fairly sturdy cake (ie not a light or genoise-style cake).

2 lb cream cheese
1 cup sugar
5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 large eggs
5 oz white chocolate, melted

One 9-inch layer Devil’s Food Cake, sliced into two layers

One 3-inch deep 9-inch springform pan, bottom buttered and lined with parchment or wax paper: one 10 x 15-inch jelly-roll pan (or any larger pan to set the springform pan into)

1.) Preheat oven to 350º
2.) In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat half the cream cheese on the lowest speed until smooth, no more than 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and beater. Add ½ cup of the sugar in a stream, beating for no more than 30 seconds. Stop and scrape again. Add the melted dark chocolate, beating only until it is absorbed, no more than 30 seconds. Beat in 1 teaspoon of the vanilla. Add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, mixing only until each is absorbed. Stop and scrape after each addition and transfer to another bowl if you only have one mixer bowl.
3.) Make the white chocolate batter following the same procedure as for the dark chocolate batter, using the remaining ingredients.
4.) Wrap heavy-duty aluminum foil around the bottom of the springform pan to come at least 1 inch up the sides. Place one of the cake layers in the bottom of the pan. Pour the dark chocolate batter into the pan. Place the other cake layer on the batter and pour in the white chocolate batter.
5.) Place the pan in the jelly-roll pan and pour warm water into the pan to a depth of ½ inch. Bake the cheesecake for about 75 minutes, or until it is lightly colored and firm except for the very center. Remove from oven and take the cheesecake pan out of the hot water. Remove the foil and cool completely on a rack.
6.) Wrap the cheesecake in the pan and chill overnight. Unmold by running a dull knife around the edges. Release the springform.
7.) Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients and utensiles:

· Use good chocolate! I used Callebaut for this cake.
· I used Neufchatel instead of cream cheese. See Caramel Cheesecake above.
· I am often sloppy about what size pan I use. But take if from me that in this case if you use a 8 ½ inch springform pan that’s only 2 ½ inches high, you will not have enough room for all that cheesecake. (that’s what trial runs are for!) So do use a 9 inch springform pan.

Orange Torte
(CONTAINS NUTS)

This is another recipe from Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers. He says that it dates back to the Congress of Vienna (1815) and that it is a specialty of Dalmatia (a province along the Adriatic coast). It is challenging to make this torte look good (I tried twice) but it is a delicious treat no matter! The cake is made with bread crumbs and ground almonds so it has a very interesting texture. I was surprised, when I did my test run, how many people were excited about the prospect of eating a piece of Orange Torte. I mean people were clamoring for it! The orange curd part of the recipe was also a challenge. In fact, I never did get mine to thicken much. But you just have to embrace imperfection and get on with the cake.

TORTE
2/3 cup plain dried bread crumbs
1 2/3 cups (5 ¾ oz.) sliced, blanched almonds
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar, divided
grated zest of ½ orange
¼ cup fresh orange juice

FILLING AND FROSTING
¾ cup sugar
grated zest of 1 orange
½ cup fresh orange juice
4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp (2 oz.) unsalted butter
3 large egg yolks
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350º Grease a nine inch springform pan.
2. In a food processor, grind the almonds with the breadcrumbs until the almonds are finely ground.
3. Beat the egg yolks and ¼ cup of the sugar until they are very thick and light in color, about three minutes at high speed.
4. Beat in the orange juice and zest.
5. In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining ½ cup sugar and beat until they are stiff and shiny. Fold about one fourth of the whites into the yolk mixture. Add the almond breadcrumb mixture and fold in briefly. Add the remaining whites and fold until everything is combined. Spread in the pan.
6. Bake about 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Run a knife around the inside of the springform and then release the spring. Turn onto a rack and remove the bottom. Turn again to cool, right side up. Cool the cake completely.
7. To make the filling and frosting: whisk the sugar, orange zest and juice, lemon juice, butter, egg yolks, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly (warning: it will stick to the bottom of the pan and brown and then burn if you don’t stir constantly) until the mixture comes to a full boil.
8. Transfer mixture to a bowl, set immediately in a larger bowl filled with ice. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened and cooled [as I said above, mine never thickened that much. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!]
9. In another bowl, whip the cream until very stiff. Fold in half the curd (it will soften the whipped cream somewhat).
10. Cut the cooled cake into two layers. Place the bottom layer on a cardboard round or a serving platter. Put the remaining curd on it [mine was pretty runny, so this was a trick. But I swear it will taste good no matter what!] Top with the second layer, cut side down [this just cuts down on crumbs flying around while you’re trying to ice the cake]. Frost the top and sides with the whipped cream mixture. Refrigerate until the icing sets, about one hour. Cover loosely or with a cake dome, and chill another four hours or overnight.
11. Rick says to garnish it with an orange, cut into fancy slices and arranged like the spokes of a wheel.
12. I say eat the cake and enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:

· I use dried zests from Penzey’s. I keep them in my fridge and they work pretty good. Fresh zest is better, more potent. If I was making ONE cake for a birthday or something, I could be persuaded to use fresh zest. But dried zests are the amateur-multiple-cake-baker’s friend.
· You can buy bread crumbs. You can also ask baking friends or sisters for bread crumbs if you need them.
· You can save the egg whites leftover from the orange curd recipe. They’ll last in the fridge for a few days. Make a meringue or some choux paste or one of the cakes below.

Chocolate Coconut Mousse Cake

This is a recipe from the most recent issue of “The Baking Sheet”. They call it ‘Mounds of Coconut Mousse Cake’ after the candy bar that inspires this cake. It really is delicious and has a great look to it. It’s also quite a production to make. And it, like several others here, needs some time in the fridge, so there’s no way to make this last minute. However, this cake does freeze well, so it could be made way ahead. I suspect any good chocolate cake would fit the bill, but I used their recipe so I’m typing it up with the cake recipe included. They call for a little coconut flavoring in the filling and I didn’t have any so I skipped it. For me, coconut milk is strongly flavored enough. They also call for separating the coconut milk into the thick coconut milk and the watery coconut milk and I never managed to do this entirely successfully, but the cake was delicious anyway.

CAKE
4 large eggs, separated
½ tsp. cream of tartar or ½ tsp. lemon juice
¾ cup (5 ¼ oz.) sugar, divided
¾ cup (3 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (¾ oz.) natural or Dutch-process cocoa
1 ¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup (1 ¾ oz.) vegetable oil
6 tablespoons (3 oz.) buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

FILLING
1 can (15 oz.) unsweetened coconut milk
2 ½ tsp. (1 packet) unsweetened gelatin
½ cup (3 ½ oz.) sugar
2 cups (6 oz.) sweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup (8 oz.) heavy cream

FROSTING
3 tbsp. (1 ½ oz) butter
3 tbsp. (2 oz) corn syrup
1 generous cup (6 oz.) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325º
2. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar or lemon juice until foamy. Gradually add ¼ cup sugar and continue beating until the egg whites are stiff and glossy. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the remaining ½ cup sugar with the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the oil, buttermilk, egg yolks and vanilla until pale yellow. Add the dry ingredients and beat until well blended—about 2 minutes at medium speed in a mixer, longer by hand. Gently fold in the egg whites, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so everything is combined.
4. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch round springform pan. Bake the cake for 40 minutes and then raise the temperature to 350º and bake for ten more minutes. Don’t open the oven during the first 45 minutes.
5. The cake is done when a finger pressed gently in the middle doesn’t leave a print. You can also hear a faint crackling sound if you listen carefully.
6. Place cake upside down on a rack. Let cool for 30 minutes before removing it from the pan. [when you remove it from the pan, a very thin layer of cake sticks to the pan all around. Don’t worry about this]
7. Start the filling: open the can of coconut milk. If it has separated, carefully pour off the liquid and reserve. If not, pour it through a cheesecloth lined strainer and let drain for ½ hour. Then place the coconut solids [they are almost too soft to be called solids, but maybe that was just the brand I was using] in a mixing bowl. Pour the gelatin into the coconut ‘water’ and allow it to soften for five minutes.
8. Mix the sugar and coconut in with the solids. Whip the cream until it forms medium peaks. Fold half of it in with the coconut mixture. Warm the gelatin over low heat or in the microwave until it melts. Then fold it in to the coconut mixture. Fold in the remaining whipped cream and then refrigerate for one hour, for the filling to begin to set up.
9. Line a mixing bowl with plastic wrap. Smoothing out as many wrinkles as possible. Split the cooled cake horizontally and set one half aside. In the other half, cut four small wedges out at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock respectively. These notches will help the cake conform to the bowl. Don’t cut all the way into the center of the cake, just an inch or inch and a half in should do it.
10. Place the notched layer into the bowl, smooth side down. Spoon in the filling, spreading it a little over the top of the cake so when you put the bottom layer on, it will stick. Now place the second half of the cake on top (which will become the bottom when you’re done) and press down to seal it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight. A small plate that fits over the top of the bowl can be placed on top for a little weight to help seal the cake.
11. Make the icing: it is meant to be poured over the cake and then cooled. It will form a glossy, smooth icing. In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine all the ingredients and stir while melting. Remove from the heat and set aside to rest at room temp.
12. Unwrap the fully chilled cake, remove the weight if using, and place a serving plate over the bowl. Carefully turn the whole thing over. Remove the bowl and the plastic wrap. Pour the fudge frosting over the top and gently spread so it covers the whole cake. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
13. Enjoy!

Notes on Ingredients:
· Natural and Dutch-process cocoa have differing alkalinities. In this recipe is don’t matter because it isn’t leavened by an acid-base reaction. In other recipes it does matter. So always use the type of cocoa called for.
· Cococut milk is widely available and now also available in a ‘lite’ version.
· Use good chocolate! I used Callebaut for this recipe.

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

The recipe comes from Celebrate With Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers, a cookbook I got at the height of my cake making mania for the wedding. This is the only recipe I ended up using for the cake collection, though there are at least a few more that I would like to try soon. This delicious cake does taste strongly of both chocolate and strawberry. It is a dense cake, but it isn’t overwhelmingly rich. He calls it a ‘Pretty in Pink’ cake and calls for making it in three 6” round pans so it makes a small, high, round cake. I doubled the recipe and made it in my cool new deep square cake pan. What follows is the single recipe, which will bake two slightly thin regular cake rounds (or 3 six inch ones). He also calls for Wilderberry schnapps in the cake. I wanted the berry hint in the cake but didn’t want to use the schnapps so I made a strawberry reduction as a substitute: I mashed about ten strawberries, pushed them through a strainer and then cooked that down to almost half. I also increased the salt to ½ teaspoon (see above). His directions for making the icing are the definition of tedious so I didn’t follow them the first time I made the cake. The icing had that grainy, slightly lumpy look like a sauce that had broken. It tasted good, but it did not look good. So the second time, for the cake for the wedding, I bit the bullet and followed the instructions and the frosting came out looking great.

CAKE
2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¾ cup all-purpose flour
4 oz. Semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon strawberry reduction [or a berry schnapps, if you prefer]

ICING
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 oz. cream cheese, cut into pieces
½ cup strawberry preserves
4 or 5 drops of red food coloring [optional]

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Butter and flour the pans you are using.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler and stir until smooth.
3. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. [cocoa is very prone to forming lumps, so sifting it is always a good idea]
4. Beat the sugar and eggs in a mixer for three minutes on medium high speed or until frothy and slightly thickened. Add the chocolate and butter mixture and mix until combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix about 45 seconds. Add the reduction [or schnapps] and mix about ten seconds.
5. Remove bowl from the mixer and finish mixing with a rubber spatula. Spread the batter evenly in the pans. It is a thick batter.
6. Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. If you are using the smaller cake pans, bake for a shorter time.
7. Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes. Then turn out and refrigerate.
8. Make the icing. To begin, sift the confectioners’ sugar. Set aside.
9. Place the butter in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat for two minutes, until soft. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Mix for another two minutes until very soft. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed to combine, about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Beat on medium for ten seconds. Transfer the butter/sugar to another bowl.
10. Place the cream cheese in the bowl of the mixer. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, then increase to medium and beat for 2 minutes, until soft. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Beat on medium for another two minutes until very soft. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Add the strawberry preserves and beat on medium for ten seconds. Add the butter/sugar mixture and beat on medium for ten seconds. Add the food coloring, if using, and beat for 15 seconds.
11. Frost the cake. Marcel gives specific instructions for how to do this, but I didn’t follow them. If the icing gets soft, stop and chill the layers and remaining icing at any point. At least chill the whole thing for 1 hour before cutting and serving. Garnish with fresh strawberries, if you like.
12. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:
· This recipe also calls for cocoa. You may use either natural or Dutch-process for the same reason as above.
· As above in Caramel Cheesecake, I used Neufchatel instead of cream cheese.
· I did use red food coloring to make the frosting pinker. And I used fresh strawberries as a garnish.

Apricot Marzipan Cake
(MILK-DAIRY FREE)
(CONTAINS NUTS)

This is another delicious cake from Perfect Cakes. Frankly it was one of my favorites of the ones I made. It is rich, fruity and sweet. But since it doesn’t have a creamy frosting or filling, it doesn’t feel heavy or coat your mouth. This cake freezes well. Again, I was trying to make the dessert without any alcohol so I substituted apricot juice for the rum in the punch. It doesn’t give you the spiciness that you can get from rum, but I thought the punch had good depth of flavor (better than if I had just substituted water). And with the layers of apricot jam and the marzipan icing, one could argue that the rum is just gilding the lily anyway. The genoise (cake) recipe is separate in his cookbook, but I included it below because that’s the cake he calls for and it is also without milk-dairy, so not just any white cake would do if you were trying to make it milk-free. I had trouble making the genoise (the cake) in any way attractive but it is covered by marzipan so that is not a big concern. I just went out and bought marzipan. I have included the instructions here because it’s easy to make. Though it’s still easier just to buy it… Nick calls for tinting the marzipan pink and for additional decoration with chocolate and I skipped those things. Though the instructions are included here.

PLAIN GENOISE
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
½ cup cake flour
¼ cup cornstarch

PUNCH SYRUP
¼ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup dark rum [or apricot juice or…?]
¼ cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

APRICOT GLAZE
1 ½ cups apricot preserves
¼ cup water

MARZIPAN
4 ounces almond paste
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
About 1/3 cup light corn syrup
Red food coloring

Cornstarch for rolling out the marzipan

1.) Make the cake: preheat the oven to 350º. Butter and flour a 9” cake pan or springform pan
2.) Half fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat so that the water is simmering.
3.) Whisk the eggs, the additional yolks, the salt and sugar together in the bowl of a mixer. Place over the pan of simmering water and whisk gently until the mixture is lukewarm (about 100º or blood-warm). Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled (touch the outside of the bowl to tell) and tripled in volume. It should be thick and fall in ribbons.
4.) While the eggs are whipping, stir together the flour and cornstarch.
5.) Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Fold it in, making sure to scrape through to the bottom of the bowl with the spatula. Repeat with another third of the flour. And finally with the remaining flour mixture.
6.) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 minutes or until well risen, deep gold and firm to the touch.
7.) Loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Remove the sides or turn out of the pan immediately. Cool completely.
8.) To make the syrup: bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Cool, and stir in the rum, orange juice, lemon juice, and vanilla.
9.) To make the glaze, bring the preserves and water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Strain into another pan and simmer until the glaze becomes sticky. Set aside.
10.) To make the marzipan, in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, beat the almond paste and 1 cup of the sugar with the paddle attachment on low speed until the sugar is almost absorbed. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar and beat slowly until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the corn syrup a little at a time, stopping frequently and checking to see if you can knead the marzipan smooth; the marzipan will still appear crumbly, and you may not need all the syrup. Remove to a work surface and knead until smooth. Pull off a small piece of the marzipan and wrap in plastic. Add enough coloring to the remaining marzipan to tint it a pale pink, then wrap it in plastic.
11.) Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers and place one on a platter or cardboard round. Moisten with syrup and brush with glaze. Top with the second layer, moisten it, and brush with glaze. Place the remaining layer on top and brush the top and sides of the cake with the glaze.
12.) Dust a work surface with cornstarch. Roll out the pink marzipan to thin round about 14 inches in diameter. Drape it over the cake and trim away the excess. Gather the scraps together, and roll into a rope under your palms. Use the rope to finish the bottom of the cake. Use a paper cone to pipe a chocolate design on the cake with the melted chocolate. Finally, make a flower or other decoration from the reserved white marzipan for the center of the cake.
13.) Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream Cake

This is another recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum, though I found it in an issue of “The Baking Sheet” and not in one of her cookbooks. My first attempt at this cake for the wedding stuck to the pan so much that it only came out in pieces, chunks and crumbs. Not wanting to throw it away, I put it in a Tupperware container and brought it to work. They ate every delicious crumb! It’s sweet and rich and simple. Fresh fruit is a great accompaniment to this cake, but, really, it can be eaten on its own. The inimitable Rose calls for a Tahitian vanilla bean and the first time I made this I went on a wild goose chase to try to find one. I even looked while I was in London and couldn’t find one! So I made it with a Madagascar vanilla bean and it was fine. Since then, I have found a source for Tahitian vanilla beans. But more about that in the notes. Let’s get on with the recipe.

½ Tahitian vanilla bean
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (7 ¾ oz.) sugar
1 ½ cups (12 oz.) heavy cream
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 ¼ cup (8 oz.) cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and flour a bundt-style pan [grease it good! This cake sticks. I used my cool new deep square cake pan]
2. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use the tip of the knife to scrape the beans into the sugar. They will be sort of goopy, so be patient. Put the sugar and vanilla seeds into a food processor [or a mini-prep] and pulse until the tiny seeds are evenly distributed through the sugar.
3. Beat the cream until softly whipped. Add the vanilla sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the eggs, beating until they are evenly distributed.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Use a spatula to gently fold the dry ingredients into the cream mixture.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool the batter in the pan for 10 to fifteen minutes. The cake should shrink away from the sides a little bit. Then turn it out onto a lightly greased rack. Wrap it tightly after it is completely cool.
7. Dust with powdered sugar and/or serve with fresh berries, if desired.
8. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:
· For Tahitian vanilla beans, go to Ebay and clicks on stores. Search for ‘Vanilla International’. It’s a guy in Montreal who only sells vanilla beans. They are very good quality beans and his prices are very reasonable. It usually takes a week for them to get from Montreal to Minneapolis.
· Throw the used vanilla bean into a jar with some sugar to make vanilla sugar.
· I did use Tahitian vanilla extract as well. It is distinctly different from Madagascar vanilla and Mexican vanilla. It’s rich and flowery, almost Gewurtztraminer-like.
· As above for the Orange and Chocolate Filled Pouncake, don’t sweat the cake flour thing too much. It will make a little difference in the texture of the cake, but your cake won’t taste bad if you don’t use cake flour.
· Also, I used superfine sugar for this cake. Again, it makes a little difference in the texture.
· And, obviously, you can’t make a lower-fat substitution for the heavy cream.

Grasshopper Pie
(WARNING: CONTAINS MARSHMALLOW CREAM)

This recipe also comes from “The Baking Sheet”. I did not test it before I made it. The theory behind picking this pie was that I thought I ought to have at least one thing that would really appeal to kids—how many eight year olds do you know that can’t wait to get their hands on a piece of Hazelnut Dacquiose? In their introduction to the recipe, they say it’s a good one for making with kids. The recipe calls for ¼ cup (2 oz.) green crème de menthe and I made the non-alcoholic substitution noted below. I also used more heavy cream than the recipe called for, but only because I wanted to use up the heavy cream I had, so I have not changed the amount that the original recipe called for (though an additional ¼ cup did no harm to the pie). I must repeat that this recipe is untested: so I made all these substitutions and I have no idea how the pie turned out! It looked pretty great—as I was fixing it up the day before the wedding one person told me that he used to have a guitar that same mint green color; another said my whipped cream & oreo garnish on top had a cool art-deco look to it.

CRUST
24 to 28 chocolate sandwich cookies (ie oreos)
¼ cup (4 tbsp., 2 oz) softened butter

FILLING
8 oz marshmallow crème (or melted marshmallows or marshmallow Fluff)
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp. peppermint extract
10 drops green food coloring
½ cup heavy cream

1. Crush the cookies or whirl them in a food processor. Add the butter into the food processor, if using, or mix the two together in a bowl.
2. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9”pie plate. You can reserve a little for garnish
5 eggs, separated
¾ cup sugar
¼ tsp. lemon oil or 1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 tbsp. lemon juice

HAZELNUT MERINGUE
3 cups hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
1 ½ cups sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 ¼ cups egg whites (from eight or nine large eggs)
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

BUTTERCREAM
½ cup egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
¾ pound unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup praline paste
½ cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts for finishing

PANS
One 9” springform pan, lightly greased, for the hazelnut cake
Three cookie sheets, lined with parchment; trace a 10-inch circle on each piece of paper, then turn it over, for the meringue layers

1.) Make the hazelnut cake: Preheat the oven to 375º. Pulverize the hazelnuts in a food processor (unless you have ground, toasted hazelnuts to begin with).
2.) Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a mixer on high speed until light and lemon-colored. Beat in the lemon oil (or rind) and juice. Fold in the ground hazelnuts.
3.) In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites till stiff but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the batter.
4.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven, remove from the pan and allow to cool.
5.) Make the Meringue: Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 300º.
6.) Combine the nuts, 1 cup of the sugar, and cornstarch in a food processor and coarsely grind the nuts. [if you have ground nuts, just mix thoroughly with the sugar and cornstarch]
7.) In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, whip the egg whites and salt with the whisk on medium speed until white and opaque. Increase the speed to high and gradually whip in the remaining 1 cup sugar. Continue to whip until the whites hold a firm peak.
8.) Use a large rubber spatula to fold the extract and the nut mixture into the meringue.
9.) Using a pastry bag filled with a ½ inch plain tube, pipe three 10-inch disks of meringue onto the prepared pans. You will have plenty of meringue to do this.
10.) Bake for about 30 minutes, until the meringues are firm. Bake in two batches if necessary. Leave on the pans to cool.
11.) Make the buttercream: combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer and whisk over a pan of simmering water until the mixture is hot and sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip the whites with the whisk on medium speed until cooled. Switch to the paddle attachment and beat in the butter about 3 tablespoons at a time. Continue to beat until the butter cream is smooth and thick. Beat in the praline paste [or the cooled coffee].
12.) To assemble: cut the hazelnut cake in two layers [you actually don’t have to do this if you want a thick cake bottom to the torte. But it will be thick]. Use one layer for the bottom of torte. Trim each meringue layer to an even 10-inch circle. You will only use two of the meringue layers. Spread the cake with buttercream. Top with a meringue layer and spread with more of the buttercream. Place a third layer on top and press gently to level. Cover the sides [not the top!] of the dessert with the remaining buttercream. Press the chopped hazelnuts into the buttercream around the sides of the cake. Chill to set.
13.) Enjoy!

Notes on Ingredients:
· Praline paste is ground hazelnuts and sugar. I made smoke come out of my mini-prep food processor trying to make this myself so I decided to just buy some. My mini-prep did recover, but I don’t think I’ll try that again. However, a full sized food processor should make short work of this.
· The King Arthur catalogue sells ground, toasted hazelnuts and almonds. If you want to toast your own, spread the skinned hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in a 350º oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are golden and aromatic. Grind in a blender or food processor.
· You could make this dessert milk-dairy free as well by substituting shortening for the butter in the buttercream. I did a test run of this with organic trans-fat free shortening from the co-op and it tastes just fine. The texture is a little slick; butter has a nicer texture.
· If you like to make recipes like this, it’s worth it to invest in a container of dried egg whites. You can get one in the baking aisle of most grocery stores. Otherwise you’ll have to make a lot of custard and pudding to use up those left-over yolks.

Spicy Banana Walnut Pie
(CONTAINS NUTS)

This recipe comes from Wanda Brown & Phyllis Goldin’s Waiting for the Dough: writings, drawings and non-prize-winning recipes. Wanda is a poet and Phyllis is a composer. They perform around the Twin Cities and have performed with my theatre company a number of times. The first show of theirs that I saw was called Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen and I have indeed used their easy chocolate truffle recipe several times! I did not test this recipe ahead of time, but when I emailed Wanda about it she said that the optional cardamom in the “no-problem pie crust” is actually the thing that makes the pie truly delicious—so don’t skip it! They call for margarine in the pie and butter-flavored shortening in the crust but I just used butter in both. If you use margarine and shortening, this recipe is milk-dairy free. They also say that you can substitute pecans, raisins, or dried apricots for the walnuts. This is not the most attractive pie, but it’s very easy to make and I trust that it tastes delicious!

“NO-PROBLEM PIE CRUST”
½ cup unbleached flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour [lacking whole wheat pastry flour, I used ¼ cup stone-ground whole wheat & ¼ cup all purpose flour]
½ tsp. ground cardamom [optional, but don’t skip it!]
½ tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
1/8 cup cold water

FILLING
¾ cup mashed ripe banana
3 eggs
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup butter, melted
1/3 cup corn syrup
2 tbsp. molasses or sorghum
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
¾ cup chopped walnuts

1. Make crust: Mix well flour, salt and cardamom.
2. Work in cold butter until all flour is moistened. Add just enough water to make a ball.
3. Roll dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap, turning from time to time to re-position the plastic.
4. Remove plastic from one side and put this naked side down into a pie plate. Remove the plastic from the other side and trim and crimp the edges. Chill until filling is prepared.
5. Preheat the oven to 375º
6. Make the filling: beat all ingredients except the walnuts in a large mixing bowl until well blended.
7. Stir in the walnuts.
8. Pour into crust-lined pie plate and bake 40 to 50 minutes until set and crust is nicely browned.
9. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.
10. Enjoy!

Notes on ingredients:
· I grated the nutmeg and ground the cardamom myself but that’s because I had these spices whole. There are enough spices in this that if you have good fresh pre-ground spices that will be fine. However then you miss the cardamom-aromatherapy session you get from grinding the seeds yourself. MMMmmmmm!
· Pastry flour is low-gluten flour. Using a low-gluten flour gives you more flexibility with working with the crust—lessening the risk that you’ll overwork the crust and have it come out tough. If you don’t have pastry flour (I don’t), keep the crust ingredient mixing to a bare minimum.
· I’ve never used sorghum in a recipe so I can’t comment on whether or not it could be better than molasses. However I would recommend a mild molasses because there are enough distinctive flavors in this pie that a strong or very dark molasses would be overkill.

To order this book @ $15 plus postage & handling contact
the Great River Road Arts Coalition (GRRAC)
154 Elm Street South
Prescott, WI 54021

Chocolate Mousse Cake with Cinnamon Cream
(GLUTEN FREE)

Another recipe from Nick Magleiri’s Perfect Cakes, I didn’t have a chance to test this recipe before the wedding. But I made it again today so I could taste it, finally. This is a very easy cake to make. It’s similar to the Chocolate Oblivion torte but the cinnamon cream gives it a unique and delicious twist. And it’s just not as extreme as the Oblivion torte—like, semi-Oblivion. It’s a pretty flat cake but I think that makes it more appealing to people who don’t want a huge dessert anyway. I used parchment paper on the bottom of the pan and it left a cool wrinkly look on the bottom of the cake, so I used that as the top of the cake. There’s some coffee in the recipe and Nick says that you can substitute a sweet fruit liquor or orange juice for the coffee if you like a different flavor. I made it with the coffee. His recipe also has rum as an optional ingredient. I skipped this but if you want to use it, add 2 tbsp. dark rum with the coffee.

CAKE
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
8 tablespoons (4 oz, 1 stick) butter, cut into pieces
12 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces
6 large eggs
1/3 cup strong brewed coffee
½ tsp. ground cinnamon

CINNAMON CREAM
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Grease an 8” round cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper or foil. Find a larger baking or roasting pan for the water bath. Preheat oven to 325º
2. Bring the water and sugar to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in the butter and stir occasionally until the butter is melted. Off the heat, add the chocolate and swirl the pan so the chocolate is submerged in the hot liquid. Let stand for 3 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the coffee and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
4. Whisk the chocolate mixture until smooth, then whisk into the egg mixture.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and place the pan in the larger pan. Pour warm water into the larger pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake for about 45 minuntes, until the cake is risen and slightly firm . Remove from the oven and carefully lift the cake pan onto a rack to cool.
6. You’re supposed to run a knife around the sides of the pan to remove the cake, but both times I made it the cake shrank obligingly from the sides after cooling in the pan for about 10 minutes. Nick says to put the pan briefly on the burner of your stove to melt the butter and make it easy to release from the pan, but it released pretty easily for me.
7. To make the cinnamon cream, whip the cream with the sugar and cinnamon. Serve at the side of each piece of cake or spread over the top.
8. Enjoy!

Notes on Ingredients:
· As this was one of the last cakes I made (as well as being one of the last I typed up) I used a hodgepodge of chocolate: Lindt Excellence, Ghiradhelli and Callebaut.
· In both the cake and the cream, I used fancy Vietnamese Cinnamon, the strongest, most aromatic kind around. I get it from Penzey’s. In any event, I would use a Cassia cinnamon and not a Ceylon.

Coconut-Raspberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream

Last one! God Bless Nick Magleiri whose recipes did not fail me in this wedding baking extravaganza. From Perfect Cakes, this recipe is for what Nick calls “a perfect old-fashioned layer cake”. I didn’t get a chance to test this one ahead of time either, but Marge Jacobsen told me she really loved it at the wedding. It’s four layers, but the cake is pretty easy to work with and cut. It isn’t as time consuming as I thought it would be, but it certainly isn’t anything that can be done on the fly. I will report my substitutions though, as I said, I don’t know how exactly it turned out. I used a ¼ cup less sugar in the frosting than he calls for. He has lemon extract in his ingredients and I used half as much lemon oil. Lastly, I used at least a cup of raspberry preserves, though he only calls for ½ cup.

CAKE
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp (4 oz, 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
¼ tsp. lemon oil
1 ¼ cups milk
½ cup egg whites (from 3-4 large eggs)

BUTTERCREAM
½ cup egg whites (from 3-4 large eggs)
¾ cup sugar
20 tbsp (10 oz, 2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
¼ strained, fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract

FINISHING TOUCHES
1 cup seedless raspberry preserves
Shredded coconut (enough to cover the cake)

1. Grease two 9” round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until light—about three minutes. Beat in the lemon zest and oil.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until smooth. Beat in half the egg white mixture until incorporated, then add the second third of the flour mixture. Beat in the remaining liquid, then the remaining flour. Be sure to scrape well after each addition.
5. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops of the batter. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for five minutes then invert onto a rack to cool. Peel off the parchment paper.
6. Make the buttercream: whisk together the egg whites and the sugar the bowl of an electric mixer. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until the egg whites are hot and the sugar is dissolved. Attach bowl to the mixer and whip until cool and increased in volume. Switch to the paddle attachment and beat in the butter until smooth. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla.
7. To assemble the cake: Slice each cake layer horizontally. Since there are two fillings between each cake layer I found it simplest to do it this way. Place one layer on the serving tray (or cardboard round). Spread jam on top of that layer. Spread buttercream on another layer and then invert that layer (filling sides together) over the first. Spread jam on top of the second layer and spread buttercream on the next layer. Invert the third layer over the second. Spread jam on the third layer and buttercream on the bottom of the last layer. Invert the fourth layer on the third. Spread the remaining buttercream on the top and the sides of the cake. I found that you will just barely have enough so go thin on the buttercream in between the layers! Press coconut all over the outside of the cake, on top of the frosting.
8. Serve at cool room temperature.
9. Enjoy!

Notes on Ingredients:
· See Hazelnut Dacquoise above about all those egg whites.
· Cake flour will help make this cake nice and light but don’t worry if you have to substitute all-purpose flour.
· I used whole milk because I had some for another recipe. There’s enough butter in the recipe that if you use skim milk you won’t detract noticeably from the texture of the cake. But whole milk will give it a little more tender and rich texture.
· Nick calls for sweetened, shredded coconut but I don’t think it will make that much of a difference. If I had had all the time in the world, I might have tried to grate my own coconut. Yum!

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