Night 4: Results

Monday night: time for chocolate!!!


Having found my gold and white cake recipes, it was time to move onto my favorite type of cake: chocolate. Growing up, my Mymama (my name for my grandmother) made the most delicious chocolate fudge cake. Of course, that's the one I wanted to start with and it was an easy decision to make!


Mymama had given me her recipe (from memory) years ago but I was curious to see how it matched up with the versions my mom and aunt had. Fortunately by piecing all three together, the correct recipe was found. I have copied it here for you below. The cake was truly moist and flavorful and the icing was to die for. We shared it with a group of friends last night and seconds were passed to everyone. 


Now, before we get too deep into the details of the recipe, I have to share a funny on myself. Like any good baker, I thoroughly read the ingredient list before I started making the recipe. On the ingredient list it said PET milk. While at the grocery store, I looked on the shelf and grabbed the can of milk that had a pet's face on it (a cow) and bought it. The first round I tried to make the icing, I couldn't get the sugar to dissolve! I can be impatient in the kitchen, so I then thought, maybe I didn't let it cook long enough over the heat. For round two of icing, I copied the exact same method but gave it even longer to melt and yet, the same result happened, completely grainy base! After two attempts, I have learned that the issue is usually caused by human error (me). I re-read the recipe and then promptly Googled PET milk, which OF COURSE is evaporated milk, NOT sweetened condensed milk! For the third round, I made the icing with the right milk and it turned out beautifully. What a gaffe!


Back to the cake baking and making! Mymama recommended icing the cake pretty quickly after the icing is made and I now understand why, as it cools, it really becomes like fudge and is thick and not easy to work with. I would let the icing sit for a max of 2 minutes after it is made and then start applying it to the cake.


This cake baking session was also the first time I had utilized the tips from Bakerella: 1) to wrap the cakes immediately after they have been cooled from the oven about 5 minutes and 2) use a sugar water spray to keep the cake moist. Of course, they worked!


Mymama's Chocolate Fudge Cake

16 oz. can Hershey Syrup

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup self-rising flour (I also learned self-rising flour has baking powder & salt in it; if you only have all-purpose flour, not to fear as you can mix your own, see link here: Homemade Self-Rising Flour

4 eggs

Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.  Add syrup and then flour.  Bake in 2 layers at 350. Mymama did not give a time for baking. I started watching mine after 20 minutes and it came out at about 24 minutes. As always, test the middle for zero crumbs, with a toothpick. 

1 ½ cup sugar

6 T. butter

1/3 cup PET (evaporated milk)

7 oz. jar Marshmallow cream, but use 1/2

Pinch salt

6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a medium size pan and stir over low heat. After everything begins to melt/mix, boil 1 minute until no grains of sugar are showing. Remove the pan from heat and add ½ t. vanilla, 6 oz. choc. chips and ½ of a 7 oz. jar of marshmallow cream.  Stir and then spread onto your cake.

Night 3: Search for the Great White Cake

Night 3 of baking commenced today and thankfully, my sous chef was back in town and by my side to help (that would be my husband :) 

I'll go ahead and cheat the details below by saying: WE FOUND TWO WINNERS! First was recipe 1 (I will call it white wedding cake) and the second was recipe 2 from Bakerella (Moist Yellow Cake). I paired it with the buttercreme icing I made on Monday night and what a delicious treat!

Here is what I'll be working on this week:

1) perfect chocolate cake recipe

2) designing the bakery's signature royal icing pieces and colors

3) trademarking my future bakery's name

4) we'll see; any plans past three can be hard to keep during a long work week :)

Details from Night 3 - quest for the perfect white cake: 

Recipe 1 from: Can You Stay For Dinner (The Very Best White Cake).

These little cakes have an almost perfect white color. They taste light, fluffy and delicious. The only odd thing about them is that they don't separate from their cupcake wrapper very easily...odd? The recipe was for 12 cupcakes but this one made 60 mini cupcakes.

Recipe 2 from: Bakerella (Moist Yellow Cake).

Form the start, I knew I would like this recipe because you whip the butter and sugar for 7 minutes, like a frosting! The batter is yummy (and zero calories, right?). Since this recipe makes enough for three 8" layer cakes, I made two trays of mini cupcakes and two 8" layer cakes. Now, I'm just waiting for the minis to come out of the oven.The buzzer just went off and they look perfect and smell delightful.

Recipe 3: I got this one from my dear friend Emily. There isn't a link to this one, I'll post it at the bottom of the blog. Unfortunately, my food processor is broken, and I did not make superfine sugar. Instead, I added confectioners sugar which made the cake very unsweet. The texture was good though, as was the coloring.

Recipe 4 from: Sweetapolita (an Old Fashioned White Cake). I tried one of hers the other night and they weren't what I was looking for (not enough flavor). I was anxious to see how this one turned out but unfortunately, it was not very good either. The texture was a little too thick as well.

The more I bake, the more I learn about baking (yes, a novel concept but in the south they say: edjecadud LOL). For example, here are my lessons from tonight:

1. I am on a quest to find the perfect baking time for mini cupcakes. As of Night 3, that appears to be about 8 minutes and 5 seconds. 
2. I learned from Bakerella, that you should drop the cake pan of batter to get the air bubbles out (about three inches in height).
3. To make great egg whites, they should be as close to room temperature as possible. In fact, for any type of baking, it sounds like room temp for eggs in general is best. 
4. In using all of these eggs, most recipes only call for egg whites...NOW, what to do with all of these unwanted egg yolks? Last week, we made homemade custard () but we can't do that every week or I'll gain all of my lost weight back!
5. Bakerella (gosh, she knows all!) also advised the following two tips to keep your cake as moist as possible: a) to wrap the slightly cooled cake in saran wrap to capture moisture and 2) create a sugar water mix to spray on your cake layers to create ongoing moisture throughout the life of the cake. The funny thing about this mix is that hummingbirds would love it, as it's quite close to the concoction we make for them (sans red dye).
6. Superfine sugar - no, it's not good looking sugar. Actually, it is granulated sugar crystals that have been ground into even finer sugar crystals. You can make your own via a food processor. Powdered sugar is not interchangeable for superfine sugar. 

Recipe for Test #3:

Dry ingredients...

2 and 3/4 cups of flour

1 and 3/4 cup of super fine sugar

2 teaspoon of baking powder

3/4 teaspoon of salt

  

Wet ingrdients...

3/4 cup unsalted butter

5 egg whites

1 cup of milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

Cream butter and then add egg whites one at a time untill mixed. Add milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Sift all dry ingredients, then add to wet ingredients.  Fills two 8 inch rounds!  Bake 325- 350 for 20 to 30 minutes!