Fast forward to tonight. The cake was in the freezer and then defrosted overnight in the fridge. Even after being frozen and defrosted, this cake was so easy to work with. I felt like I could handle it without being overly concerned about breaking or crumbling.
Now, on to the buttercream. Following advice from the TWD website and Dorie herself, I let everything come to room temperature before starting:
Mmmmmm . . . egg whites and sugar. Here's an action shot:
Here's the dog pretending not to be very interested in what's going on just out of nose-reach:
See? I'm a good dog (who, by the way, has been out of dog treats for weeks and barely complained about it.)
I sliced the cake, and then ran into my first snag. The fruit filling. I had some raspberry preserves in the fridge but they had seeds. So I attempted to strain them. It didn't work. So, I heated them up a little and strained them. Too runny. So, I added some ligonberry preserves. Still runny. So, I decided to just use the strawberry preserves I had, large chunks of fruit be damned.
After this experience, I began to wonder why it is that I have three different kinds of red fruit preserves sitting in the back of my fridge. Well . . . no worries. They are all gone now.
Here's the cake with just frosting:
And with coconut and the dog trying to look casual:
And here is the first slice:
Very, very good flavor. I followed the recipe exactly (except for the preserves issue) and would be interested in trying other flavors together. But unless I'm feeding 20 people, I'm still going to make just half a recipe. This cake is rich!
9 comments:
It looks great! And I have some stand mixer envy. Does perfect party cake make a good dog treat?
SS told me she read a tip to put the frosting on first, then the preserves. Otherwise it can be really hard to ice (slippery issues?)
My cake is still in the freezer, so I'm very glad to hear that yours fared well with the freezing and defrosting. I'm still working on how I will top it. I might skip the preserves alltogether and go with fresh berries, whipped cream AND the icing. Because I love overkill.
You are so right, the cake is very rich. I made the whole recipe because it never occurs to me to make a half. ;) Yours looks like it turned out great despite your jam trouble!
I love your dog being such a dog:
"I don't want any of that food up there on the counter. I'm just standing here because I want to be close to you and love your company... really."
SS - I love, love, love my stand mixer. It was my parental grandmother's from like 1965 and it still stands up to vigorous use!
Jennifer - the frosting first would have been much better. Basically, I got a strawberry buttercream mix in the center.
Nick - yeah, my dog's really subtle. My favorite is when she gets so excited about the food she drools all over the floor, which makes the floor really slippery. It's like cooking on ice skates.
Your cake turned out great and I agree that a half cake is plenty. What was it that made this cake totally irresistible to dogs? Mine actually tried to nose up under my arms when I was frosting it!
Yes, I had "preserves issues" too. Next time I say we just skip the jam and go straight to fresh fruit!
Nice looking cake! (and a cute dog, too)
Looks fabulous! I used sweet orange marmalade and lemon curd, it was rockin!
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