Cake!

This past weekend we started Modlule 3 - Cake! We started by learning the various mixing methods used to make various batters and then dove right in to baking a bunch of cakes! First we made two types of pound cake - Traditional and High Ratio Pound Cake. I actually didn't take pictures of these loaves because I wasn't that impressed with the recipes compared to the excellent pound cake I'm accustomed to - thank you Paige & Aunt Manie!

We then made flavored pound cake - this one is Bourbon Pecan and we chose to bake it in mini-bundt pans.



We then used the creaming method to make Muffins - we made Banana Chocolate Chip - again, muffins are nothing special so I didn't take pictures. One thing that I have never baked before, which is a little surprising given its popularity, is Crumb Cake.

We baked our Crumb Cake in a 1/2 sheet pan and topped it with blueberries and crumbs.



I think the next thing we made on Saturday was our Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting. We baked ours in 1/2 sheet pans, and then when finishing we cut the cake into thirds and layered them so that we had a rectangular cake. I have no idea why I didn't take a picture of this - I guess I just forgot. It wasn't beautiful or fancy, but it was really, really yummy! Something I'm sure I will make again!


Saturday and Sunday we worked on components to make two cakes - the basic layers were Chocolate and Lemon Scented Vanilla. The fillings and frostings we made gave us options to create many different types of cakes.

For my chocolate cake, I made a Prailine Ganache Filling, Vanilla Buttercream and then a Ganache Glaze. Aside from making these components, a huge part of the lesson was learning how to professionally finish the cakes.

Chef Nicole taught us how to frost the cakes using our buttercream and showed us how to give our cakes a flat top to hide the curvature that naturally forms when you bake round cake layers.


Here is my Chocolate Praline Cake garnished with toasted hazelnuts.


Here you can see all the rich layers. Fudgy chocolate cake, praline ganache filling, vanilla buttercream frosting covered in a ganache glaze.

This pictures shows how the top of the cake is flat and forms a 90 degree angle with the edge of the cake. Chef Nicole said I did an excellent job for my first time finishing a cake!

With my Lemon Scented Vanilla Cake, I decided to turn it into a Coconut Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and toasted Coconut. Not quite as involved as the Chocolate Cake, but a good classic cake.

(I just love that picture!)

Lots more cake to come!!!