What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017

[Mike Nolan]

Haven't seen this weekly topic started yet, so I'll start it.

I'm making semolina bread today, using the recipe from the BBGA newsletter, but with a few tweaks.

Spread the word

      

  

  

[BakerAunt]

I baked the Nut Genoise recipe from Susan Purdy's The Perfect Cake. I baked it in two 8-inch pans. The baked cakes are 5/8 inch thick each. I do not know if that is typical or if I did not get the loft that was needed. I'm debating on whether I can successfully split them to fill.

[Mike Nolan]

A genoise is usually a fairly thin airy cake, whether this one had a loft issue may be hard to tell until you cut into it and see how open the crumb is. But you should be able to split that one that thick with a cake leveler, I've seen that done to produce slices less than 1/4 inch thick. You may need something on top of it to keep it even.

Some people like the fancy Wilton folding cake leveler, I've used both and I prefer the smaller one.

My semolina bread came out pretty good for taste, it's pretty close to the McGinnis Sisters bread, maybe not quite as sweet. I think I'd need a loaf of each to check for differences. It made a good complement to the steak and sauteed mushrooms I made for supper, to sop up the juices.

The lame caught in the dough when I was making one of the slashes, and as a result one end got a bit squished, so it's not the prettiest loaf I've ever made.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. You and Cass have given me hope. I have a German-made cake leveler, but its lowest setting is 1/2 inch. Susan Purdy has directions in her book, so I'll try her technique.

[Mike Nolan]

Do you have a chopping board, cake decorating platform or something else you can set the cake on to raise it so that you can use the cake leveler? Of course it needs to be narrower than the cake leveler.

My Wilton cake leveler has notches at 1/4 inch increments, but sometimes that puts the slice where you don't want it, so I adjust the height in roughly 1/16 inch increments by taping pennies to the bottom of the chopping board, a penny is almost exactly 1/16 of an inch thick, so 2 pennies is 1/8 of an inch, etc.

I have a 14" long Dr. Oetker cake knife that I could probably use with a rotating cake decorating platform to hand slice cakes (I've seen a demo of that, probably on Youtube), but my hands aren't steady enough.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by htfoot.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, I didn't even think about raising the level. Sometimes I miss the obvious. I did pretty well with a serrated knife and the cake turntable. One layer ended up a bit thin in the center but the others came out pretty well. The cake looked ok to me once I cut it apart, so I assembled it, and it is now parked in the refrigerator.

I actually own one of those German "cake slicer" guides, but it went up to Indiana at spring break because I did not anticipate using it before we move at the end of June.

[Mike Nolan]

Is that the adjustable diameter ring with all the grooves in it? I've wondered how well those work. I've seen one at Marshall's a couple of times, but I don't make cakes very often and even less often slice them.

The last time I sliced a cake, I used my cake decorating stand, which rotates, and set a metal bar along one edge to help keep the knife level and steady.

One of these days I want to make a dobosh torte, which requires that the cake be sliced many times, sometimes up to a dozen layers. A dobosh is generally a rectangular cake, though, so the round slicing guide probably wouldn't be much help.

[BakerAunt]

I actually have not tried the round slicing guide. It's one of those implements that was a good price, so I picked it up--and when I needed it, it was 1200 miles away....

Susan Purdy did say one could use dental floss to split the layers, but I was not up to trying that last night.

The cake was ok but seemed a bit dry to me, even with the soaking syrup. I only put 1 tsp. of rum extract in it, and it did not have much flavor. I should have used regular rum.

[Mike Nolan]

I've tried dental floss a couple of times without much success, I think it takes practice. Having 4 hands might help, too. 🙂

I understand all too well about the 'good price' aspect, I'm a kitchen and tool junkie of the first order. Lately I've been threatening to be a photography junkie, too.

[Mike Nolan]

I generally don't use rum, we don't care for the taste, but I've always thought rum extract is a poor substitute for it.

I use simple syrup instead, brushing it on fairly liberally.

[Joan Simpson]

I baked these Banana Bars but baked 2-8 inch layers and it was very good and moist.This recipe is from Taste of Home:Debbie Knight,Marion,Iowa.
Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min. + cooling MAKES: 36-48 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-3/4 to 4 cups confectioners' sugar
Add to Shopping List
Nutritional Facts
1 each: 148 calories, 7g fat (4g saturated fat), 28mg cholesterol, 96mg sodium, 21g carbohydrate (16g sugars, 0 fiber), 1g protein.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°/ In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in bananas.
Spread into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool.
For frosting, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in enough confectioners' sugar to achieve desired consistency. Frost bars. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3-4 dozen.

I had to bake these longer like 35 minutes at 350* since mine were in cake pans.This cake was so moist.

[BakerAunt]

Let's all meet for coffee/tea time at Joan's!

[Joan Simpson]

Heck yeah,ya'll come on.We'll have coffee or tea and cake.Love to do some front porch sitting or swinging!We use our front porch a lot! People wave or toot the horn!

[RiversideLen]

Today I baked rye sandwich buns. I'm thinking about making challah sandwich buns soon.

[BakerAunt]

Yesterday, I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread.

[Author]

Posts