All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [64]
TO MAKE THE CAKE AND FROSTING
1. Make the cake layers, following the instructions for the Whipped Cream Cake (or, better, Aunt Di’s).
2. While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, whisk together the sugar and egg whites for 3 minutes. The mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove from the heat.
3. Using a handheld mixer on medium speed, beat until the meringue has cooled, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the butter pats, a third at a time, beating until smooth.
5. Beat the buttercream on medium-high speed for 6 to 10 minutes, until it is thick and very smooth. If the buttercream curdles or separates, just keep beating. It will come together.
6. Lower the speed to medium, and gradually beat in the lemon juice, then the vanilla extract and honey. You should have a smooth buttercream. Cover tightly with plastic and set aside.
TO CONSTRUCT THE CAKE
7. Following the instructions on page 159, divide each cooled layer in half, and separate the halves so that you have 4 layers.
8. Place the bottom layer on the cake plate. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on the top, spreading it out from the center. Next spread a thin layer of apricot jam on top of the frosting. Add the next cake layer and repeat until you reach the crown.
9. Frost the top of the crown with buttercream. Scrape away any excess jam from the side and then frost the sides of the cake.
All I can say is, “Thank you, Lord, for Dorie Greenspan!” Whenever I have a cake conundrum, I e-mail Dorie for encouragement and she always comes through.
I was hankering for buttercream frosting one day, so I pulled out one of my Baking Perfectionista cookbooks and came across a buttercream recipe involving egg yolks. Game, as always, for any kitchen adventure involving sweets, I followed the directions to a T. Disaster. The fats in the butter seemed to be separating, and nothing I did could convince them to rejoin in holy dairy-mony.
I tried the recipe again, thinking maybe I’d been abducted by aliens during the last go-round, thus skipping an important step. Disaster, the sequel. The buttercream tasted right, but it wasn’t doing right. I put it in the refrigerator, hoping to firm the mix up. When I was ready to frost, I gently whisked the cooled buttercream, and it laughed at me. I frosted the cake anyway, stored it in the refrigerator overnight, and took it into work on Monday. It looked like it was melting.
The whole experience made me advocate a violation of the number-1 Cake Project tenet: no store-bought mixes or frostings.
From: Melissa Gray
To: ATC staff
Subject: Today’s Cake
I impart to you this life lesson:
No matter how much leisure time
you may have, life is too freakin’
short for frosting that features
more than 3 steps and takes as long
as 3 hours.
Grab your keys. Leave your house.
Go to the store. Buy the Betty
Crocker buttercream. And know that
you’re not less of a baker for
doing it.
Fortunately, part of my duties that week included a confab with Dorie about an upcoming baking segment for the show. I mentioned my buttercream fiasco. “Oh, no. That sounds like you tried to make Swiss buttercream. It’s really way too much. There’s an easier way. Don’t give up.” She pointed me toward the frosting in her Perfect Party Cake recipe, in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours. I tried it, and voilà! wunderbar! whoohoo! Butter-cream just the way I like it!
Dorie’s recipe also suggested spreading jam between layers for festive cakes. “That’s SWELL!” I thought to myself, à la Debra Bruno’s grandmother. I could see all kinds of possibilities for a buttercream frosted layer cake. I added honey to Dorie’s buttercream, bought some high-quality apricot preserves, and had another workplace hit on my hands. Marrying the lightness of Whipped Cream Cake with the silkiness of buttercream and the sweetness of the