All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [42]
This is my personal observation gleaned from trolling for recipes: Emeril Lagasse does not bake for more than six people at a time. This recipe came from the 2004 “Holiday Christmas Party” episode of Emeril Live on the Food Network. Apparently Emeril has only five cake-eating friends, because originally this was a tiny cake. A good cake, but a small one. Some of my co-workers made jokes about Emeril’s wee cake for the rest of the week. Now, anytime I come across one of his cake recipes, I double it.
At this point, you’re in good shape to try folding egg whites into batter. This is a technique that’s going to come up a lot in the fancy-pants cake section of this book.
Holiday Honey Cake
Another Adventure In Re-Caking
* * *
YOU’LL NEED
A 12-cup Bundt pan or 10-inch tube pan
A whisk attachment and extra bowl for mixer
A large spatula
¾ cup sliced almonds
¾ cup honey
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (see Wallet Warning)
1 tablespoon dark molasses
⅔ cup hot strong coffee
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar (light or dark)
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
2¾ cups cake flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large egg whites
⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
Wallet Warning: Liquor can be expensive, and if it’s not something you normally keep stocked (I grew up in a nondrinking household, so a stocked bar is alien to me), here’s a tip: I make several recipes with dark rum and brandy, so I buy medium-sized bottles and keep them on hand. The other liquors that find their way into my cakes—whiskey, bourbon, Grand Marnier, Bacardi rum, Kahlúa—I buy in those little, minibar-size plastic bottles. Takes up less space and less cash.
1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the pan.
2. While the oven is preheating, spread out the almonds in a shallow baking pan and toast for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven, toss the almonds in the pan, then return to the oven for 3 more minutes. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the honey, Grand Marnier, and molasses. Stir in the hot coffee, mix well, and set aside.
4. Cream the butter on medium speed, then gradually add the sugar, beating well after each addition. Add the egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the vegetable oil and orange zest and beat until smooth.
6. In a large mixing bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together. Set aside.
7. Add a third of the flour mixture to the batter, half of the honey mixture, and beat until smooth. Repeat, and add the remainder of the flour mixture. Beat until smooth.
8. Set aside the bowl with the batter, and replace the paddle with the whisk attachment.
9. In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy.
10. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and continue beating to the soft peak stage.
11. Using a spatula, fold half the egg whites into the batter, taking about 10 full turns, until incorporated.
12. Crush the toasted almonds into small pieces and sprinkle over the batter.
13. Fold in the remaining egg whites, taking about 15 full turns to incorporate.
14. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cake tests done.
15. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Unmold the cake onto a cake rack and cool completely.
16. Cover the cake: Lightly wrap with foil or seal in a plastic cake container and let the cake mature for 24 hours before serving.
Note: “Maturing” means that a cake is allowed to set, giving it time for all the spices and booze to really permeate the crumb.
So, it was Rosh Hashanah and I found a recipe for the occasion. It was advertised as a “moist, aromatic cake.” I followed the original recipe to the letter, but the cake turned out utterly bland. My co-workers had very long faces, verily disappointed they were. All except Ari Shapiro, who told me