Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [345]
II. Make a Classic French Layer Cake
If the tops of the layers are at all hard, slice them off with a long, thin knife; if there are hardened bits around the top’s perimeter, snip them off with kitchen shears. Slice each layer into two equal disks with a long, thin knife. Line a cake plate with wax paper, then place one disk on the plate. Brush with rum, bourbon, or Cognac; gently spread ½ cup jam of your choice across the layer. Top with the other half of this original layer, then frost with Chocolate Frosting, Lemon Buttercream, Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, or any icing of your choice. Add a third layer; again brush it with liquor and spread jam over it. Add the top layer, then ice the entire cake with the remaining frosting.
III. Make Individual Genoise Cakes
Once the layers are completely cooled, use a cookie cutter, a thick-rimmed round glass, or other design cutter to cut the cakes into any shapes you desire; set aside on a wire rack to dry for 15 minutes. Place the individual cakes on a cutting board and brush them lightly with Kahlúa, Chambord, Frangelico, Amaretto di Saronno, Cognac, or brandy; return them to a wire rack set over wax paper. Drizzle with Lemon Drizzle or ice with Vanilla Frosting, Chocolate Frosting, or Cream Cheese Sour Cream Frosting.
IV. Make Raspberry Petits Fours
If the tops of the layers are hard, slice them off with a long, thin knife; if there are hard bits around the perimeters, snip them off with kitchen shears. Slice each of the cake layers into two equal disks with the long, thin knife—but do not remove the disks from on top of each other. Turn the circular layers into squares, cutting off the rounded edges; then cut each of these squares into rectangular pieces, making two equidistant cuts one way and three equidistant cuts the other in the layer. Separate all these two-tiered rectangles from each other. Remove the top from one rectangle, brush the bottom with ½ teaspoon bourbon, rum, whiskey, or Cognac, then spread on 1 teaspoon raspberry jam; return the top of the rectangle to the piece and set aside on a wire rack set over wax paper. Repeat with the remaining rectangles (you’ll need a total of about 3 tablespoons raspberry jam and perhaps 2 tablespoons liquor). Once all the rectangles are on the wire rack, make the vanilla icing used for the Black and White cookies and drizzle it over all of them, letting it run down the sides while coating the tops. Set aside to dry for 1 hour. Decorate the top of each petit four with candied violets, candied orange peel, or candied lemon peel. Stack the petits fours between sheets of wax paper in a plastic container and store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week; return to room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
V. Make a Lady Baltimore Cake
Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cutting board and reinvert onto a second cutting board. If the tops of the layers are hard, slice them off with a long, thin knife; if there are hard bits around the perimeters, snip them off with kitchen shears. Line a cake plate with wax paper (see below for tips), then place one layer of the cake cut side up on top of them, pulling the wax paper layers out so that they will later be easy to remove but still protect the cake plate. Grind ½ cup walnut pieces, ¼ cup dried figs, and ¼ cup raisins in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade until finely ground, almost pastelike; transfer to a large bowl. Make Seven-Minute Frosting. Stir 1 cup of the still-soft Seven-Minute Frosting into the fig mixture until spreadable; spread over the cake layer on the stand. Top with the second layer and frost with the remainder of the Seven-Minute Frosting.
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How to Frost a Layer Cake
If the layers are domed (peaked at their centers), slice off the tops with a long, thin knife so they are flat. If the tops aren’t domed but there are crunchy rims around the perimeters, snip these off with kitchen shears.
To protect the serving plate, lay four small sheets of wax paper on it before laying one cake layer top side down on