Baking Lessons Du Jour

[susandennis]

This is 1/3rd of a boxed mix not made according to directions. This looks like a plan but... not so fast. It rose WAY over the top and I had to cut it down mid-bake!! This amount of batter needed to go into two of these pans.

But even cut down, it sure did come out nicely. Evenly. And so I just cut it in half and made a two layer cake anyway. This two layer cake is proportioned really nicely, as opposed to the other one.



This is a very small cake and that is a very small piece. My hand is there for perspective and it does not work for that at all so you'll have to trust me.

I used an icing that I had not tried before. It's a cream cheese and heavy cream icing with powdered sugar. I think I need to work on ingredient proportions to that it comes out thicker but it is mighty tasty. I need to work on my icing technique - a lot. But, having a thicker icing will make a difference.

The cake (spice cake) is good. Really good, actually and the icing works with it. There are some uneven spots due to mid bake surgery. I'm going to leave this cake out, covered and that's the only storage testing. It's not good enough for full lab work.

It was a nice assignment and I learned a lot.

OH! the internets suggested that I add a bit of lecithin to the icing to boost the color. I can't see any different so I'm thinking the internet might be wrong. Can you imagine?????

Comments

[kensmind.livejournal.com]

Internets wrong? What heresy.

[susandennis]

i know... silly me

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Looks nice.

[meowmensteen]

The fluffy cream cheese frosting I've made in the past required adding the heavy cream really slowly while whipping it had a really high speed. If you added the cream too fast it didn't set up right.

[susandennis]

Bingo. I tried to add it slowly but failed. Next time I need to get it set up in something with a real spout and really do it right.

THANKS again! I so appreciate your tips and ideas.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

My go to cake icing is cream cheese, butter, powder sugar and whatever extract I want for the flavoring (vanilla, almond, orange, lemon, coconut, it'll work with any good quality extract)