I spend a lot of time mulling over the following question: If [insert friend's name here] were a cake, what kind of cake would [he/she] be?

Those of us who enjoy baking celebration cakes understand the weighty significance of this question, with its myriad of factors to be weighed. Taste is an obvious one, our goal being to avoid flavors that exercise the recipient’s gag reflex and focus squarely on those that cause he or she to roll around and salivate like a dog.

I had a whole year’s notice for choosing the cake recipe for Brian’s birthday this year, but in classic style, I waffled on the decision until just two days before. I flirted with the flavors of sweet potato, dulce de leche , gingerbread, and caramel, but dismissed them all on the grounds that Brian is, if nothing, a chocolate man.

And, not surprisingly, my quest for chocolate celebration cakes led  to a book that pulls me back time and again with its georgeous photography, festive spirit, and more importantly, innovative recipes that please ever time.

When it’s a chocolate fiend’s birthday, you have to bring your A-game: rich, intense chocolate cake with a surprisingly light crumb, filled with a creamy white chocolate mousse, and slathered with a bittersweet sour cream icing that reminds you that chocolate frosting can be so triple-X sexy that it should be kept far from children.

I don’t think I have to tell you, this cake was a success. The only issue that remains is that I’ll be baking cakes for my beloved for the rest of our days, and I’m not sure how I’ll top this one next year.

Shameless Plug Alert! You may have noticed that I’m participating in a bake-off over at Bon Appetit.com. I really hope that you will take a moment to click over here and vote for my entry for my unbelievably delicious chocolate ravioli in the miscellaneous category (you get there by selecting your favorite in other categories and then clicking on vote on next batch at the bottom – the miscellaneous category is the last one). And now, without further ado…

Triple Chocolate Layer Cake
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

A few months ago I might have been shocked by the idea of using mayonnaise as a cake ingredient, but we use things that are far more shocking in pastry school every day, so I’ve become a bit desensitized. Don’t allow the mayo to sway you, after all, it’s basically just eggs, oil, and vinegar, and it gives the cake a luxurious, soft crumb. The while chocolate mousse set up in the fridge with a firm layer on top and a more liquid layer on the bottom of the bowl – I skimmed the firm layer off the top and had plenty for the filling. You may consider using a few bamboo skewers or strawy to stabilize the cake (I wish I had), as the layers slid around a bit around the mousse when I was frosting the exterior.

Serves 10 people

butter for greasing pans
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups hot, strongly brewed coffee
2 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise  (Do not substitute with light mayo.)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar

White Chocolate Mousse:

4 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg white
1 tablespoon sugar

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing:

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup half-and-half, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Heat oven to 350F. Butter bottom and sides of 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment or wax paper. Butter top of linings.

For batter, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Put chopped chocolate in heat-proof bowl. Pour milk and coffee on top and let it stand for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool slightly. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs, mayonnaise, and vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar. Add dry ingredients and coffee liquid alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth (do not over beat). Divide batter among pans.Bake 25-28 minutes, or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans on wire racks 10-15 minutes. Unmold cakes. Peel off paper lining and cool completely, 1 hour.

3. For mousse, melt white chocolate with 1/4 cup cream, whisking until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Beat remaining 3/4 cup heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whip egg white with sugar until fairly stiff peaks form. Fold beaten egg white into white chocolate cream. Then fold in whipped cream.

4. For sour cream icing, melt chocolate with butter and corn syrup on very low heat. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Whisk in half-and-half and sour cream.

5. Place one cake layer flat-side up on cake stand. Cover top with half the mousse, leaving 1/4 -inch margin around edge. Repeat with second layer. Set third layer on top. Use enough of the icing to thinly cover top and sides. Don’t worry if cake shows through. This layer seals in crumbs. Refrigerate cake 30 minutes to set. Cover cake with remaining icing, swirling with back of spoon or offset spatula.

Recipe note: If icing becomes too soft, chill slightly. If icing becomes too stiff, microwave on high 2 or 3 seconds to soften, and then stir to mix well.

So many important milestones in the lives of friends and loved ones are marked by me pouring through cookbooks, searching for a cake that I think will speak to the honoree in a particular way. Sometimes these decisions are ingredient-based, like the cakes that I make for chocoholics, and sometimes the cake is driven by a theme or message, in which case aesthetics will drive the flavor choices that I make.

In Matthew’s case I had nothing to go on. He likes every flavor. He’s a dream of a dinner guest because there’s absolutely no limits to the foods that he’s willing to try.

For a warm August rooftop party, doing something gooey and chocolate just didn’t seem right. Especially when the blueberries are still piled high in the stalls of the farmer’s market. I wanted light airy cake, even lighter frosting, and a cake that would show off the star ingredient beautifully.

Just like so may times before, my quest ended with Alissa Huntsman’s gorgeous book, where I found this. Swirls of blueberry and lemon in a cake as light as air, sandwiching fresh blueberry jam between the layers, and covered in a light, just slightly lemon buttercream.

The results were all one could hope for from a summer celebration cake, delicious, beautiful, and not too heavy.

And like all the other cakes featured in Sky High Cakes, this was perfect for it’s honoree, time, and place. I highly suggest that you run out and get a copy. It’s worth it for the food porn alone.

Marbled Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake
Almost as is from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 tsp grated lemon zest

11⁄2 tsp lemon extract ( I do not have lemon extract and substituted with an additional tsp lemon zest)

7 egg whites

3 cups cake flour

4 tsp baking powder

1⁄2 tsp salt

11⁄4 cups milk

Fresh blueberries, for decoration

Lemon blueberry preserves (below)

Lemon buttercream frosting (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.  In a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites 2 or 3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk gently to blend. In 2 or 3 alternating additions, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute to smooth out any lumps and aerate the batter.

Scoop 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remaining equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. This gives you a smooth surface to work with. Add 21⁄2 tbsp of the lemon blueberry preserves to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blueberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Use a skewer to swirl the blueberry mixture in short strokes to drag it down through the lemon batter without mixing it in.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer stuck in the centre comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Lat the layers cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, peeling off the paper and leaving to cool completely.

Lemon Blueberry Preserves

3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

11⁄2 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Puree the blueberries with any juices that have exuded in a blender. Pass the puree through a coarse strainer to remove the skins.  In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the blueberry puree with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring often for 20 minutes, or until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 cup. To check the proper thickness place a small amount of a saucer and put in the freezer until cold. Drag your finger through it. If a clear path is made through the preserve then it is ready. Let the preserves cool before using. (Can be made up to 5 days in advance).

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1 cup sugar

1⁄4 cup water

2 eggs

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat.

In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beast the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium,-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes.  Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you’re adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lemon juice, and the frosting is ready to use.

To Assemble

To assemble the cake, place a layer, flat side up, on a cake stand. Spread half of the lemon blueberry preserves over the top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining preserves over it. Finally place the third layer on top and frost the top and sides with the lemon buttercream.  Decorate with fresh blueberries and serve.

Makes one 8 inch triple layered cake.

]]> http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/08/21/marbled-lemon-blueberry-butter-cake-recipe/feed/ 14 http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/05/06/vanilla-buttermilk-cake-with-instant-fudge-frosting-chocolate-honey-cake-with-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipes/ http://eastvillagekitchen.com/2009/05/06/vanilla-buttermilk-cake-with-instant-fudge-frosting-chocolate-honey-cake-with-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipes/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 04:54:57 +0000 Lauren http://eastvillagekitchen.com/?p=1896

Between the chaos of work trips, half-packed suitcases and endless hours of convention center banter, there was cake. Delicious, unapologetically rich, lavishly frosted cake.

Um, two cakes, actually.

One, a sunny moist vanilla, adorned with a fudge frosting that packs a one-two punch of serious dark chocolate and just enough sugar to lend a hint of old-fashioned country fair fudge grit.

The other, a dense chocolate number, enhanced by the complex flavors of fresh brewed coffee and honey, contrasted with a light, airy milk chocolate buttercream frosting.

Yeah, I had a few things going on last week.

Much to my delight, the East Village Kitchen temporarily became a cake factory (with the occasional cookie thrown in for good measure), as I counted my baking days backwards in anticipation of a very important celebration.

After all, you only turn two once, and if you are lucky enough to be as loved as this particular just-barely two year old, you get a plane –full of awesome relatives, a lavish backyard party, and two semi-assembled cakes delivered to your door from New York via Zipcar.

Overkill? Not at all. That’s just how my friends Mike and Jolene roll. Their entire family was thrilled to be celebrating their son Ashton’s birthday – his first with them all together as a family.

Back in the early planning stages, I offered pastry for the party and was psyched when Jolene took me up on the offer. A few weeks ago, we began some serious cake consultations via email.

Jolene pumped Ashton with my questions, and all queries were answered with “chocolate”, “horsies”, and again “chocolate”.

No need to twist this arm, kid.

Next there were the logistical considerations of making a cake that feeds 30-40 people. I fretted about getting it out of my apartment, and then out of the city , and into Jolene’s kitchen in one piece. I’m nothing, if not a klutz, and I’ve grown very fond of transporting cakes safely in my beautiful and bomb-proof cake carrying case, which is just too small for a cake that large.

I am also limited by the layout of my freezer, which is one of those modern jobbies,  full of frost-proof drawers, and simply cannot accommodate large, delicate layers.

Given these limitations, I felt very comfortable with two 8 inch, triple layer, round cakes, which, coincidentally, are the exact size that work perfectly for Alisa Huntsman’s recipes from her book Sky High Cakes.

Besides, in my mind, that the only thing better than one kind of chocolate horsey cake is two types of chocolate horsey cake. And for a 2 year old’s birthday, no less.

A few days before the party, I made the layers and stowed them safely in the freezer, wrapped tightly in multiple layers of plastic wrap. On the morning of, I prepared the frostings – one from a too-simple-to-be-true recipe for the deeply satisfying  instant fudge frosting, and the other, my spin on the white chocolate buttercream frosting that I used for the black and white park avenue cake, involving semi-sweet chocolate.

Having conquered my first buttercream, I proceeded to tackle this one with absolutely zero hesitation, because buttercream can smell fear. It came out perfectly!

After removing the layers from the freezer, they were nice and hard, perfect for shaving off some of the rough edges and the tops to make everything look uniform. I applied the fillings and base layers in my kitchen, using the instant fudge frosting between the layers of both cakes and applying super-thin outer coats of the instant fudge frosting to the vanilla cake and the buttercream for the chocolate one. I finished the job in Jolene’s kitchen, once we got there.

Ashton had helped Jolene choose a selection of horsies and other barnyard creatures to decorate his cakes, and I accented them with a bit of the buttercream (pre chocolate) colored green. They looked so precious!

The cakes were well-received, with compliments all around from Jolene and Mike’s friends and family (who were so freaking nice and fun to be around, I’m pretty sure that even if they hated the cakes they would have made me feel good about them anyway). The ultimate stamp of approval came from the birthday boy himself, who surprised us all by picking up the entire slice of cake and devouring it before our eyes.

And after watching him do it, I’m sort of jealous because I’m an adult and therefore bound by etiquette to use a fork, even when cake is really really good.

Chocolate honey cake with chocolate buttercream frosting
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ¼ cups sugar

½ cup strongly brewed coffee

1 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter

½ cup dark honey (preferably chestnut or buckwheat)

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

2/3 cup buttermilk

Chocolate buttercream frosting

Makes an 8 inch triple layer cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. Line bottoms with parchment and lightly grease.

Combine the chocolate with ½ cup of the sugar and the coffee in a heatproof glass bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until the chocolate is soft when stirred, then stir to blend well.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set dry ingredients aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together butter and reamaining ¾ cup sugar. On medium-high speed, beat in the honey, then the eggs, one at a time, and then finally the vanilla and almond extracts.  On low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Finally, beat in the melted chocolate. Pour a third f the batter into each baking pan. Tap the pans gently on the counter to settle any air bubbles.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean for each layer. The cake should be just pulling away from the sides of the pan and the center should be springy when touched lightly. Let the cake layers cool for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks and remove the parchment. Allow them to cool completely, at least one hour. (I recommend baking in advance,  then wrap in a few layers of plastic wrap and freeze. This will allow you to shape the layers if needed and will make frosting the cake a snap).

To assemble, put one layer on the serving plate, flat side up. Cover with a thin layer of chocolate frosting. Add a second layer and cover with an identical layer of chocolate frosting. Top with the third layer.

Finally, cover the sides and edges of the cake with the chocolate buttercream, frosting, smoothing until the desired look is achieved.

Chocolate buttercream frosting

3 egg whites

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (high quality)

1 cup sugar

¼ cup water

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1. Put the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and set the mixer up for use. melt the white chocolate anbout halfway in a double broiler over simmering water. Remove from the heat, stir until smooth, and set aside to cool.

2. Combine the sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

3. Immediately start beating the egg whites on medium-low speed. Slowly add the syrup in a thin stream, taking care not to hit the beaters.Continue to whip until the mixture is body temperature and a stiff meringue has formed.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter, 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time. When all of the butter is incorporated, beat on medium speed until the frosting appears to curdle. Continue to whip, and suddenly it will come together. At this point, add the melted white chocolate and mix well.

Vanilla buttermilk cake with instant fudge frosting
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne 

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

3 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temp.

Instant fudge frosting

Makes an 8 inch triple layer cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of the three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the pans with a round of parchment and grease the parchment.

Put the yolks and eggs in a medium mixing bowl, add the vanilla and ¼ cup of buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl; whisk to blend. Add the butter and the remaining buttermilk to these dry ingredients and with the mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean for each layer. The cake should be just pulling away from the sides of the pan and the center should be springy when touched lightly. Let the cake layers cool for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks and remove the parchment. Allow them to cool completely, at least one hour. (I recommend baking in advance, then wrap in a few layers of plastic wrap and freeze. This will allow you to shape the layers if needed and will make frosting the cake a snap).

To assemble, put one layer on the serving plate, flat side up. Spread ¾ cup of the instant fudge frosting over the layer right to the edge. (Warning: the instructions dictate the use of too much frosting, in my opinion. I used less on this cake and had enough left over to use between the layers of another whole cake. Use your own discretion – I have included the book instructions as a guide)Repeat with the second layer.  Place the last layer on top and use all but ¾ of a cup of the frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. With and offset palette knife or spatula, smooth out the frosting all over. Place the remaining frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a medium star attachment (or any other that strikes your fancy) and pipe a design around the border of the cake.

Instant fudge frosting

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

4 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.

6 tablespoons half and half

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor (use a large one!) and pulse to incorporate. Then process until the frosting is smooth and uniform. That’s it!

See that picture directly above? The one with the pretty black and white cake? I made that! Me!

I’m usually more humble about my creations, but this one makes me giddy – but more about why in some posts to come. For now, let me tell you about this cake. Check it out – the cake layers, made from scratch (natch), have TWO different chocolates melted into them, one for the light checkers, and one for the dark. 

The batter is the smoothest of any cake batter i’ve ever made. It’s almost foamy, it’s so airy and light. It’s made with puffy clouds (and rainbows and unicorns) … and a truckload of butter.

I’ve been obsessed with this book since the first time I read Deb’s praises of it on Smitten Kitchen. Then, once I had my own copy, I became obsessed with this cake. I found the dividers on eBay and I couldn’t wait for an excuse to bake it, and with so many friends turning 30 this year, the opportunity came along before I knew it.

My favorite thing about this cake was the extreme attention to detail that each and every step demands. The batters require tempered, cooled white and dark chocolate to be meticulously blended, to prevent the eggs in the batter from being cooked and causing lumps. Piping each layer into the sections requires focus and care to ensure that there are equal amounts of batter to go around. And once the batter is all piped in, the divider has to be slowly, evenly pulled straight out of the cake to prevent sliding between the dark and light rings.

But once you’ve cleared that part, you get to prepare the decadent, smooth ganache made with 65% dark chocolate. Swoon…

I also survived my first buttercream (there was laughter, there were tears), which was not just any ordinary buttercream, but a white chocolate one which required (for the fourth time) tempering chocolate in the double broiler and also heating a mixture of sugar and water to exactly 238 degrees, which is then drizzled into the bowl of my mixer in the tiniest of streams as it whisks away at egg whites on high speed, cooking and sweetening them simultaneously. 

It got tense for a while there, when the addition of butter created a slop in the mixing bowl that had the consistency of vanilla pudding (epic fail). All I could do was stand there staring into the bowl, watching the blades whirr and pray to the gods of cake that I wouldn’t have to start over. It was a very long four minutes, but then suddenly – it just came together. It was characteristically light, but at the same time, dense and workable, and thanks to the aforementioned sugar solution, there wasn’t a hint of the grainy texture from confectioners sugar that you find with cupcake or wedding cake buttercreams. 

With frosting ready, I was off, cloistered away in my own private world of smoothing, adjusting, turning, smoothing, removing, adding, adjusting . I used an actual piping bag for the first time to do the trim and it was just so much fun.

I was hoping to make adorable little uniform chocolate curls, but they were so brittle and delicate, they kept crumbling. Perhaps if I had used a chocolate with a higher cacao butter ratio, they would have been more flexible. I think the shavings still achieved a pretty great effect.

The dinner was a lot of fun, complete with good food and friends that we never seem to be able to see enough. I thought it was very cool that Victoria’s husband Barry had kept our scheming cake emails a secret until the cake was actually brought out. 

During dinner, Barry tapped his glass and made a nice toast to Victoria, reminiscing about how they met,  and eventually became engaged and married. Their happiness was written all over the way that they looked at one another. As Barry told their story, in which he convinces Victoria, at each step of their courtship, to fall in love with him, I thought about how fast I had become friends with the both of them through Brain, and how accepting they have been since the very first time we were introduced. We always have so much fun, each and every time I see them. Victoria and Devon both turned 30 on the same night, and how refreshing that there was no depressing talk of crossing the first major age milestone, but rather, a tremendous celebration of accomplishment and a wholehearted “bring it on!” for the years to come.

Black and White Park Avenue Cake Recipe
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

3 cups all-purpose or cake flour

2 cups sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

2 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled

Semisweet ganache (see below)

White chocolate buttercream (see below)

Dark chocolate shavings

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or wait until you are about 15 minutes from being ready to put the cake in the oven, around step 4). Butter three checkerboard cake pans, 8 to 9 inches in diameter. Line the bottoms with parchment and butter the paper.

2. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 cup of the buttermilk and beat until just combined and evenly moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to the batter in 2 or 3 additions, scraping down the sides each time and beating only until incorporated after each addition, do not overmix.

4. To make the dark chocolate batter, whisk one cup of the vanilla batter into the melted, unsweetened chocolate, then gently whisk in another 3 cups of batter (I used more, because I felt that the batters looked uneven and still ended up with less chocolate – use at least 4 1/2 cups).

5. For the white batter, whisk one cup of the vanilla batter into the melted white chocolate and whisk back into the remaining vanilla batter in the bowl as gently as possible. Using the dividers provided in the set, and two pastry bags or plastic bags with the one corner each clipped, fill the pans about half full. The cakes will rise to the top when done. You’ll need two layers with 2 chocolate rings and 1 layer with two vanilla rings.

6. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks. peel off the paper and let cool completely. Wrap in plastic and freeze for at least one hour. Remove from the freezer and use a knife or cake leveler to make the tops of the layers completely flat.

7. To assemble the cake, place one of the layers with 2 chocolate rings on a cake stand, covered cardboard round, or large serving plate. Scoop about 1/3 of the ganache onto the cake and spread it evenly over the layer, leaving 1/4 inch untouched around the edges of the cake. Place the layer with two vanilla rings on top and spread another layer of ganache on it. Top with the final cake layer, taking care to align the sides, so the pattern will be even. Place the cake in the fridge and make the buttercream.

8. Frost the sides and top with the white chocolate buttercream, carefully smoothing out the frosting. Decorate the cake with chocolate shavings, candy wafers, or chocolate covered nuts.

Semisweet Ganache

6oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream to a simmer, pour over the chocolate, and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.

White Chocolate Buttercream

3 egg whites

4 oz good-quality white chocolate

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3 sticks (12 oz) butter, at room temperature

1. Put the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and set the mixer up for use. melt the white chocolate anbout halfway in a double broiler over simmering water. Remove from the heat, stir until smooth, and set aside to cool.

2. Combine the sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

3. Immediately start beating the egg whites on medium-low speed. Slowly add the syrup in a thin stream, taking care not to hit the beaters.Continue to whip until the mixture is body temperature and a stiff meringue has formed.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter, 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time. When all of the butter is incorporated, beat on medium speed until the frosting appears to curdle. Continue to whip, and suddenly it will come together. At this point, add the melted white chocolate and mix well.

I’ve been so entertained all week, watching my friend Eva struggle to restrain herself from spilling the beans as she snuck around Brooklyn planning a suprise birthday party for her boyfriend Gabe. You could see the secret welling up inside her, ready to burst. She told me that by the time the day of the party came around, she restricted conversations to “Hi honey, I love you” for fear that she would let something slip. It was heartwarming and adorable.

And the party, a pot-luck gathering at their apartment, was delicious and a whole lot of fun. When the guests showed up, Gabe was genuinely surprised, and then everyone pitched in with helping Eva fashion a massive dining table out of small tables, a wooden board and sawhorses. 

Gabe is a chef and most of their friends are chefs or work with food in some capacity, and it was really fun tasting the fantastic dishes that they had brought and I couldn’t get enough of listening to everyone talk shop with such passion. I’m still drooling just thinking about the fantastic carne asada con chili with creme fraiche and the mac n’ cheese. 

In my last post, I mentioned that I made a really exciting purchase at Sur La Table this week, which I will now unveil on the blog. It’s the hottest fashion accessory ever conceived – watch for it on the runways in Milan and Paris (in my world, the anorexic models wear aprons and tote cakes like Prada handbags). 

Gone are the days of tracking down bakery boxes or fashioning some shoddy cake transportation scheme with lots of tin foil, which I must then balance precariously in a cab on my way to somewhere. From now on, my cakes will travel in plain sight, on the subway (if I ever get my act together to be on time, that is). Constructed of heavy plastic with three solid clamps securing the lid, one could conceivably go skipping down the sidewalk swinging this cake carrying case like a lunch pail (so maybe I tried) and the cake would still arrive at its destination in mint-condition.

This was my first attempt at a triple-layer carrot cake, so I deferred to Martha Stewart’s expertise, betting on her reputation for solid recipes that are still challenging enough to be fun. Once I got over the shock of how much butter was involved (even for cake, it’s a lot) the recipe went swimmingly, until I was getting down to frosting and, somehow, got too excited shaking the excess nuts from the sides and I flipped the cake, face down, into my sink. I loudly and involuntarily shrieked in horror. Happily, I had just cleaned the sink, but the cake did land squarely on the food processor blade, gouging a huge hole in the top. It was touch and go for a while there, but after a emergency cake reconstruction, it pulled through.

The recipe was alright, nothing life-altering. Both the cake and the frosting were pretty and easy to work with, but even with all that butter, I thought that the cake itself could have been more moist. Also, in the flavor department, I’d add a quarter cup of zested fresh ginger with the carrots to give it some zing, if I had a do-over. Also, the frosting was a bit too sweet and could have benefitted from a healthy tablespoon of lemon or orange zest. I used my homemade vanilla extract and squeezed one of the pods into the frosting mixture, which yielded a beautiful, speckled frosting, which you would be able to see if the Rebel EOS hadn’t run off to Ireland with Brian.

The cake was well-received and everyone was very complimentary, which made me feel good, coming from a crew that knows their food. As we sat nibbling cake and drinking wine into the night, Eva passed out the party favors; tiny plastic men with sticky hands and feet, warning us not to throw them at the ceiling, which we all promptly did anyway. I’m guessing, that unless they got out a ladder for cleanup, the little guys are still hanging in there. Oh, and the best part – I left with delicious parting gifts (that I can’t wait for Brian to come home and eat with me) made by Gabe, who was featured in The Art of Eating this month! 

Carrot Cake
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com 

For cake:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I doubled this and it still was not enough. I’d use fresh instead, probably 1/4 cup, finely grated)

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

1/2 cup water

1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 3/4 cups)

2 cups pecans (1 cup finely chopped for batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for decorating sides of cake)

Cream cheese frosting (see below)

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.

Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans.

Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.

Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day, covered) before serving.

For frosting: (note, this makes way more than I needed for an 8 inch cake)

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature

2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Beat cream cheese and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add butter, beating until incorporated after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, and beat until fluffy and smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature and stir well before using.

Last night a few of us gathered at our place for an extravagant, multi-course dinner cooked by Brian to ring in a new year that we can only hope holds as many good things for us as the one that has just passed. The meal had been built up for weeks and I felt a lot of pressure to deliver an amazing dessert to round it out in the wee morning hours, post ball drop. I thought about it for days and days, but the epiphany for which I was waiting never came. With just hours before our guests arrived, I decided to whip up a celebration cake, because hey, who doesn’t love cake? And celebrations? This one features a rich, yet light and delicious devil’s food cake (made with three types of chocolate!), sandwiched between big fluffy layers of the lightest marshmallow frosting you’ve ever tasted.

The cake was invented by dessert goddess Dorie Greenspan, who is something of a baking magician. Do read the recipe over several times before setting out, as there are a lot of moving parts – although do not fear, the whole thing is quite manageable thanks to Dorie’s amazing cookbook writing skills. There is no standing on your head required.

Here is chocolate #1, being whisked together with the dry ingredients. I firmly believe that high-quality chocolates yield high quality results when baking, and I recommend Green and Blacks baking cacao power.

Chocolate #2, the bittersweet chocolate, gets melted, cooled, and then poured in with the wet ingredients before the dry ones are added.

Chocolate #3 is semi-sweet, and came from the fast-depleating 4 lbs. bag of Jacques Torres semi sweet chocolate (the one also responsible for bringing us chocolate salted caramels (rumored to be president-elect Obama’s favorite!), the NYT chocolate chip cookie, chocolate dipped macaroons, and oatmeal lace cookies). This one is finely chopped and added to the batter along with a little boiling water, which melts the chocolate in the batter almost completely but leaves just a hit of solid semi-sweetness in the finished product, which is simply genius.

The frosting is super simple, unless you are like me and had your candy thermometer broken that very evening by, ahem, a certain boyfriend who was a little too excited about a recipe involving homemade fruit leather, dehydrated bacon, and butterscotch all suspended several inches above the dinner table by wires. With all the stores closed for the holiday, there was no way to buy a new one and know for sure if the sugar, cream of tartar, and water mixture ever made it to exactly 242 degrees, but with the help of our meat thermometer I was able to guesstimate.

The frosting was described as marshmallow in the recipe. Perhaps the mixture on the stove was a bit undercooked because the resulting frosting was fluffy and way lighter than what I would think when I hear marshmallow. With that said, if what came out was wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

Frosting cakes is always a lot of fun for me, even after many glasses of prosecco sometime after midnight.

The finished product was very good. I thought that the cake was one of the best I have ever had – dense yet light, obviously very chocolatey and complex because of the different chocolate textures. I found the hint of cream of tartar in the frosting a little off-putting, but my guests swore that I was nuts. I will be using the cake recipe again for sure, it was simply perfect and I can see it playing well with coconut, peanut butter, or perhaps even cherries in the future. Happy New Year!

Devil’s Food White-out Cake
Created from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the cake

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temperature

1/2 cup boiling water

4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, finely chopped, or 2/3 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

For the filling and frosting

1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large)

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-x-2-inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

TO MAKE THE CAKE: Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugars and continue to beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate. When it is fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. At this point, the batter will be thick, like frosting. Still working on low speed, mix in the boiling water, which will thin the batter considerably. Switch to a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Don’t worry if the tops have a few small cracks. Transfer the cake pans to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

When you are ready to fill and frost the cake, inspect the layers. If the cakes have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. With the same knife, slice each layer horizontally in half. Set 3 layers aside and crumble the fourth layer; set the crumbs aside.

TO MAKE THE FILLING AND FROSTING: Put the egg whites in a clean, dry mixer bowl or in another large bowl. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put the sugar, cream of tartar and water in a small saucepan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, cover the pan and boil for 3 minutes. Uncover and allow the syrup to boil until it reaches 242 degrees F on the candy thermometer. While the syrup is cooking, start beating the egg whites.

When the syrup is at about 235 degrees F, begin beating the egg whites on medium speed with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer. If the whites form firm, shiny peaks before the syrup reaches temperature, reduce the mixer speed to low and keep mixing the whites until the syrup catches up. With the mixer at medium speed, and standing back slightly, carefully pour in the hot syrup, pouring it between the beater(s) and the side of the bowl. Splatters are inevitable — don’t try to scrape them into the whites, just carry on. Add the vanilla extract and keep beating the whites at medium speed until they reach room temperature, about 5 minutes. You should have a smooth, shiny, marshmallowy frosting. Although you could keep it in the fridge in a pinch, it’s really better to use it right now.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Put a bottom layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or on a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a long metal icing spatula, cover the layer generously with frosting. Top with a second layer, cut side up, and frost it. Finish with the third layer, cut side down, and frost the sides and top of the cake. Don’t worry about smoothing the frosting — it should be swirly. Now, cover the entire cake with the chocolate cake crumbs, gently pressing the crumbs into the filling with your fingers.

Refrigerate the cake for about 1 hour before serving. (If it’s more convenient, you can chill the cake for 8 hours or more; cover it loosely and keep it away from foods with strong odors.)

SERVING: I think the cake is best at room temperature or just cool, but many people prefer it cold (the texture of the cake becomes fudgier after it has been refrigerated). No matter the temperature, the cake is so pretty it should be cut at the table, so bring it out on a platter and cut it into generous wedges using a serrated knife and a sawing motion.

STORING: The frosted cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days; let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving, or longer if you have the time.