From cake rant to cake respect.

I must say, it is a rare occasion when I make a cake.  I enjoy baking in general, but I usually fall into the cookies-and-brownies category rather than the cake or cupcake one.  I think it's mainly because of the kind of persona I feel like they give off:  with most cakes and cupcakes, it's all about the decorations - frosting, candy, colors, you name it.  Not that I'm saying most cakes and cupcakes taste bad, but it feels like the pomp and circumstance is naturally more about the outside looks rather than the taste.  I enjoy the natural beauty of the way baked goods have built-in chewiness, crunchiness, or melt-in-your-mouth textures you experience when they come warm out of the oven.

Plus, with cupcakes, they're such fussy treats to eat (unless of course, you do it the Tuttle way).  And with cakes, I just personally have not found many cakes that I enjoy eating.  I do like cakes from Wegmans, but even with those maybe it's the naturally spongy and airy texture of cakes and their thick, heavy, frosting partners-in-crime that frustrate me.  And sometimes, cakes tend to be dry and the frosting is so overdone to try to make up for it that it makes you feel gross after you eat it...if you even get that far.  It's just likely that the dessert will look so delicious and pretty but when you bite into it, you're just disappointed every time.      

But I'm not a cake hater, I promise.  Here, I'll show you.

Chocolate ganache

Traditionally, in my family, someone (when we were younger, my mom; when we got older, Pam) would bake a chocolate frosted two-layered cake for us to celebrate my dad's birthday.  I think more often than not it's been the same recipe from a Hershey's cookbook that has a little coffee zing to it that's really good.  Nothing wrong with it.

But this year, probably because everyone in my family is working now and I happened to be in NYC for my dad's birthday, everyone had a part in putting together something for my dad's birthday and I was put in charge of the cake.    No problem, I thought to myself, I could spare a couple of hours.  And come on, it's my dad's birthday - how often have I had the chance to bake his wonderful cake?

So in choosing what kind of cake to make, I decided to deviate from tradition - but only a little bit.  I decided to attempt a two-layer chocolate cake, but since I knew my dad loved raspberry chocolate cakes, I'd do something along those lines.  I scoured our family recipes books and the world wide web for a simple chocolate raspberry cake recipe, but there wasn't any that really struck me as worthy to be baked.

Hooray for learning tricks from the internet!

So I decided to do what I've been more accustomed to doing ever since I moved into my apartment:  I improvised.  I don't improvise everything, but there will be a few things here and there that I'll do differently when I cook or bake, sometimes depending on how lazy I am, or what ingredients I'll have on hand.

This time, I decided to take a chocolate ganache cake recipe that I had tried last summer and was a huge hit, and adapted it.  I doubled the recipe and put the batter into two round cake pans instead of square pans, and bought a jar of raspberry preserves as a layer in the middle.  Then I made the chocolate ganache as the chocolate frosting.

Little did I know I was in for a quite a ride.  Part of the reason is just because that's how the cake-making process goes, but part of it is just because making this cake brought out a little of my perfectionist personality in me.

This is a cake you'd love to eat the scrapings of

For one, I didn't spray the cake pans with a cooking spray.  The pans seemed to be pretty non-stick, and I think (if my memory serves me right, although you and I know it often does not) the recipe said not to do so, so I figured I'd trust the recipe people.  But as a result, when I took the cakes out of the oven, I couldn't get them out of the pan.  And of course, with cakes, they need to come out cleanly, so I was obviously very worried when they didn't even budge.

No one was home (except my dad, go figure) and after coming up empty from scanning my memory files for any tips or tricks my mom might have taught me in the past, I turned to the one who always helps us during times likes these:  Google.  I googled something about cakes stuck in cake pans, but for the most part I came up with people saying things like, "line the cake pan with parchment paper," or, "make sure you butter the cake pan so that the cake comes out clean!" where I in turn said, "Hey, Google, I obviously wasn't smart enough to do this stuff in advance, so where are the answers for the people in a pickle that they can't go back and re-do?"

Frost yourselves! (Guess what movie I'm quoting from?)

Thankfully, Google came to the rescue.  Actually, it might have been Yahoo! Answers that saved the day - I don't really remember.  Some guy suggested holding the cake pans over and open flame of a stove for about 15-30 seconds and repeating that process until the cake comes out.  I decided to try it and at first it didn't seem to be working, but after I did it a number of times, it actually worked!  Well, for the most part.  I tried to show in the second set of pictures (above) that the first cake actually tore a little.  But that was because it was my attempt to get the cake out before trying this new method.  I was SO happy it worked though.

Then came the ganache and decorating stage.  Another big boo-boo I made was funky - when I melted the chocolate into the heavy cream for the ganache, I realized the mixture was super lumpy.  Then I realized I had used buttermilk instead of heavy cream.  Wa-wa.  I had to chop new chocolate and start the whole process again to get it right.

I love this chocolate cake recipe - the cake is so moist!  It's so moist and totally delicious on its own (without the ganache frosting) that I used the cake scrapings from the pan as crumb decorations for the top of the cake.  Waste not, want not, right?  I thought the crumbs would add a nice textured look to the smooth ganache frosting.

Chocolate ganache raspberry cake with cookies & cream ice cream
and a dollop of whipped cream

After adding the pecan halves and pretzel squares as decoration, I realized it the cake would've looked more "professional" and classy without them, whereas with them on there it looked more home-made-y...like a little kid added them.  But I liked the concept of the added crunch and sweet-and-salty flavor, so I said 'whatever' and moved on.

All in all, I had a ton of fun making this cake.  However, I was SO TIRED.  It took me a total of about six hours from start to finish to make this cake.  My feet were so weary it felt like I could hear them wheezing, "Please, put us our of our misery!"  I apologized for standing on them all afternoon and suddenly gained a ton of respect for those who make cakes a hundred times better than this and do it everyday...or even just for fun.  I knew it was hard work, but golly, that was a bit much and a bit too tedious for my kind of baking hobby.  Kudos to the professionals.

And so ends my rant and respect for cakes.  I wonder how I'd feel about pies - I've never made one before.    Or tarts.  Oh, and one of the things on my baking bucket list is to make a cheesecake.  Those seem rather difficult, so I'm scared to try.  And no, I do not have an actual baking bucket list.