Thursday, January 17, 2008

Bitch'n in the Kitchen






Okay, I know I have to get a cake baked two days before I want to serve it, because it needs a day to rest before frosting and decorating. I hauled out the cookbooks and the decorating books, and started looking. I don't keep cake mixes anymore, just as simple to bake from scratch. Just as simple if you don't pick a recipe calling for cake flour when all you have is all purpose, that is. So I switched recipes and doubled it up. I wanted to do a triple batch, enough for a four tiered cake, but my round tray is still in Genius's possession from New Year's Eve. That big bottom layer will fit on nothing else. Okay, three tiers, that fits on the pedestal. Double batch, no problem. Hmm, almond milk instead of milk. Should work. I got the eggs and butter out to let them come up to room temperature, but I miscalculated the butter and had to get more out of the freezer. It got stuck in the whip and the mixer threw batter all over the counter, all over me. Joy. I had to dig out the butter and zap it, which melted it, and so it didn't blend in well. My batter had an odd speckled appearance. Tasty though, mighty tasty. I threw in black cocoa instead of melted bittersweet chocolate, and the almond milk was unsweetened chocolate. Lots of spices too. Into the oven and a change of apron and shirt for me.

So the layers finally finished baking, one at a time because they are different sizes. I try to turn them out of their pans after cooling. Nope. Oh, most of the cake came out, but the edges are deformed. The texture is very coarse and crumby, very delicious, but no way can I do a smooth buttercream on that surface. I let them stand, and then boiled some peach preserves to do the underglaze. Out of apricot jam, of course. Now the layers are stacked and glistening alluringly under the glass cake dome. I have to decide what I'll can manage for frosting. I could do a heavy chocolate buttercream and just pipe it on, that would fill the holes. The other choice is a boiled and poured fudge icing with a little piped trim to hide the holes. Or just the poured icing and let the holes show.

Next in line, a pecan pie. I adore pecan pies and they're easy as, well, pie. Especially since I have pre-made piecrust on hand. Just unroll it and slap it in the pan. Not that I can't make piecrust, I can. Why though? Pillsbury does a fine job! Sure scratch has a buttery taste, but scratch ain't happening today. So I get the pie in the oven and eat my lunch, my very late lunch. I manage to spill jalepeno-peach-pineapple sauce all down my shirt. I'm sticky. Sigh.

And I wanted to make fudge. And cookies for Larry. Sure, right, that's going to happen. I do have another pie crust out, maybe a nice sweet potato pie. Guess what the commissary had on clearance? Yep, sweet potato pie filling, just add eggs and milk. Evaporated milk in cans, that I have.

The dishwasher is running and I have to handwash the pans and cooling racks, already got the stainless steel Kitchenaid bowl and beaters finished. Nice to have a Kitchenaid mixer, but a pain in the rump to handle and clean. The pecan pie got a simple hand whisk in the giant glass bowl, easy as pie, simple as cake.

6 comments:

archersangel said...

oh wow! that cake looks amazing! but there's no way any kind of baked good would last a couple of days in my house

Anonymous said...

The cake looks and sounds truly bitch'n, despite all the glitches you ran into. Major props for your creativity with substitutions. To me, that's what separates cooking from cookin'. Yummm.

Chocolate + spices = bliss. And peach sounds just as good as apricot, with an oh-so-chocolatey and spicy cake. - I always want to do more than I'm able to get done in the kitchen. If I ever win the lottery, I'll hire a sous-chef. Hah, riiight.

Joseph Mallozzi said...

I'll have one piece of each, please.

Oh, and a glass of milk. Skim. I'm watching my weight.

Joe

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!!

(PS: You think that maybe the guy who commented above is really a mole, tracking the spam in your blog and only pretending to be the well-known sweets fiend, Joe Mallozzi? That bit about "skim milk" sounds kinda suspicious....

AntiM said...

Could be, K-Bay, but perhaps not. I too am suspicious of the skim milk bit, after all, the man gorges on chocolates and Tim-Tams.

Yes, the pecan pie was perfection. I hid a piece and had it for breakfast this morning. The cake, tasty, but too heavy in texture, came out more like a massive brownie! I went with coconut-pecan frosting, which more than made up the the cake's inadequacies!

AntiM said...

Hi Joe!@ Cute pugs!