domenica 30 marzo 2008

The Perfect Party Cake and Dorie Greenspan: my first DB challenge















Do you know that Italy is famous for lemons and oranges and tangerine....? Really? you didn't know it?




milk-egg mixture? I had a great idea!




It will be well aerated? I hope so!



European Daring Bakers and the batter




fluffy, silky and glossy...anything else? Just an italian meringue



Building a tower...first floor



Here we are...three layer four sponge cake.


Ulrike kindly has converted for european partecipants cup and oz and stick and ounce in grams and ml

This is the Ulrike converted recipe.

I'm inviting you to read it, finally you will read my comments too.
Dories perfect Party Cake
Categories:
DB March 08
Yield:
1 Recipe **** -->
Ingredients
H
FOR THE CAKE
288 (up to 342 *) grams Cake flour, 2 ½ cups
1 tablesp. Baking powder
1/2 teasp. Salt
300 ml Whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk
-- with the lemon), 1 ¼ cups
4 large Egg whites
300 grams Sugar, 1 ½ cups
2 teasp. Grated lemon zest
115 grams Unsalted butter, at room temperature, 1 stick (8
-- tablespoons or 4 ounces)
1/2 teasp. Pure lemon extract
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
200 grams Sugar, 1 cup
4 large Egg whites
345 grams Unsalted butter, at room temperature, 3 sticks
-- (12 ounces)
60 ml Fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons, )¼
1 teasp. Pure vanilla extract

FOR FINISHING
5 1/4 tablesp. Seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously
-- or warmed gently until spreadable, 2/3 cup
130 grams Sweetened shredded coconut, About 1 ½ cups
Source
Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours (page 250).
Edited *RK* 03/01/2008 by
Ulrike Westphal
Directions
Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.
To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch - a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).
To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat. Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate - just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in more lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.
To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you'll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.
Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it's best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room- not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it's cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.
Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well - it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.
Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves - cherry or strawberry - look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.
Fresh Berry Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries - use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you'll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator - let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.
And my comments and opinion
I've enjoied this cake it reminds me some Donald Duck cake, those seen in comics or the fabulous 60th in the TV fiction "Happy Days" with Fonzie and Mrs Cunningham for example.

During the preparation I imagined myself with some of that skirt coloured and voluminous!
So...remaining a little bit serious: I choose strawberries, sweet and perfectly matched with lemon flavour.

A perfect couple in my opinion

Follow the recipe wasn't particularly difficult, expecially since Ulrike published the convertion to metric measure.

I hit it on first time! Despite my concerns reading of some difficult in preparing such kind of cake.
I've just used a wet spoon to frost the cake and it was perfect.
Initially I thought making waves with frost but the butter cream was a little beat hard to handed so I was obliged to change in something more simple.

And was funny decide what kind of decoration use and take a lot of pictures.
I love photography and this cake was a photogenic subject.
A pure white frosting in contrast with the pure red of strawberry...

I hoped to make a better decoration but I haven't enough time and a huge amount of job to do, and...I am a simple person so instead of piping some frost I choose the spring theme of strawberry and playing with colour contrast.

Unfortunately I won't stick a post-it of this recipe on my fridge.
I know, I've seemed enthusiastic but I didn't like the huge amount of fat, my family and I think that it's too fatty and too sweet despite it looks like so wonderful and tasty.
Its a dangerous cake, for health I mean and a thiny slice can be enough for a week and the freshness of fruit doesn't cut the fatty sensation eating it.
And I recognized a taste of baking powder too present into the sponge white cake.

But I've enjoied this experience, it was a good one!

Thanks to allow me to partecipate and looking forward the next challenge!

34 commenti:

Rosa's Yummy Yums ha detto...

Congratulations on your first challenge! You did a great job!

Cheers,

Rosa

Anonimo ha detto...

Congrats! You're a Daring Baker now! Your cake looks wonderful-- love the berries!

Gretchen Noelle ha detto...

Lovely cake! You did a great job with your first Daring Bakers challenge!
Welcome!

enza ha detto...

@thanks to you all.
any comment about my final consideration?

Cannelle Et Vanille ha detto...

Congrats on your first challenge! Great job and your english is very good!

CB ha detto...

Lovely cake. The strawberry and raspberry garnish on the top is gorgeous. Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

GingerbreadGirl03 ha detto...

Complimenti per la presentazione e benvenuta nel DB!!!
Sono davvero contenta che si stiano iscrivendo anche le blogger italiane, più siamo meglio è ;)

Un bacio,
Ginger ~♥

P.s. Complimenti per il blog e le golose ricette che ci proponi ogni volta !

enza ha detto...

grazie!
Nemmeno tu l'hai trovata eccessivamente grassa?
saranno i miei gusti...

Sara B ha detto...

ma brava enza grandeeeeeeeeeeeee :D

ComidaDeMama ha detto...

I do agree that this recipe is far too fat and it's not worth all the time and work that involves.
I USA there are lots of this marvellous cake on sale, but you get tired to eat them since the real first bite.
Beisde that it looks gorgeous indeed, I'd pick all the strawberries on top.

^_^

enza un mio amico riesce a vedere i post passando dall'archivio dei mesi, così se vuoi leggerti Marzo ecco il link http://www.montag.it/comida/archives/2008_03.html
Un abbraccio e complimenti per la torta, anche se condivido pienamente le tue riserve in merito, come ti ho scritto sopra qui in USA trovi e ti servono queste torte tremende che fin dal primo cucchiaini ti stufano. Marta che è una golosona le lascia immediatamente.
Una torta invece molto buona anche se un po' pesante (tipo tiramisù) è il trifle non so se l'hai mai assaggiata. La farò non appena avrò le fragole vere della fattoria dove va una mia amica americana, credo quindi a maggio.
Un caro abbraccio.

enza ha detto...

so did my daughters, they picked all the strawberries out and inside and they said: mamma, buonissima!
Obviuosly we had a big amount of leftover cake strawberryless in the fridge!
:D

grazie elena corro subito...non so stare senza te :D

enza ha detto...

il trifle lo conosco sto aspettando le pesche o le albicocche.
ho visto un bel trifle con le fragole ma non ricordo dove...ah si sul roundup si san valentino di zorra

ComidaDeMama ha detto...

La mia amica indiana Priya me lo faceva ai miei compleanni quando eravamo ad Amsterdam, con un mix di frutti rossi, e una manciata di mirtilli perchè sa che mi piacciono molto.
Per me una volta all'anno va bene, quello che alla fine mi piace di più è la coppa da trifle, che sto per acquistare e che non so come rimpatriare. Mi sa che me la porterò a mano al ritorno. Perchè non l'ho trovata bella così in Italia.

GingerbreadGirl03 ha detto...

Ma io uso quella che, in teoria, è senza grassi idrogenati... Secondo me l'idea più ingegnosa l'ha avuta Fanny usando il formaggio ^^
Purtroppo non ho potuto postare la foto a causa della rottura della mia macchina fotografica, me la stanno riparando...
Speriamo che il prossimo DB sia altrettanto interessante!

enza ha detto...

allora io ho capito male, perchè credevo che uno dei punti fermi fosse la buttercream da sostituire eventualmente con la panna montata (whipped cream).
sul discorso margarina senza grassi idrogenati mi devo documentare ma continuo ad avere dei ragionevoli dubbi, come disse carofiglio.
Elena, ma com'è fatta una coppa da trifle?
io ne ho una da macedonia non troppo grande e con i bordi svasati forse potrebbe andare...

Giovanna ha detto...

si, si comida, la voglio vedere anch'io la coppa da trifle :), ah Enza vado a fare le tue brioche ;)

Anonimo ha detto...

Enza è vero sarà una bomba di trigliceridi ma è bellissima!
hai letto l'invito del cavoletto? che dici ci vediamo là?

enza ha detto...

no purtroppo non posso, esco tardi e non ce la faccio ad arrivare fin lì.
Però martedì forse mi ridanno il telefono

Morven ha detto...

You did a fantastic job. Glad you could make the recipe work for you.

fiordisale ha detto...

Ma complimenti ciccia! Come sono contenta che il tuo (sempre) bel lavoro venga valorizzato fuori confine, BRAVA!
fiordisale

Unknown ha detto...

ahò, e cheeessuccesso ccca? non ne ho capito un'acca ma le immagini parlano chiariiiiiisssimo!!
un bacio grande!!

Giovanna ha detto...

Ciao Enza, sono qui per darti un premio. Trovo travolgente la tua simpatia, la tua schiettezza, la tua vivacità. Ammiro come ti barcameni tra figli, lavoro, blog e chissà quante altre cose. E poi sei siciliana... una di quelle che ti viene voglia di dire.. quella vedi, è siciliana!! ed è amica mia!
e poi ... le tue brioche sono meravigliose... un bacione
se ti va passa da me per sapere dove ritirare il premio :)

Ps:(le ho fatte usando lo strutto e mi sa che ci siamo con il sapore, ma le rifaccio ancora, e provo con il burro ho l'impressione che saranno ancora più buone)

Angel ha detto...

That is wonderfully Fantastic Enza. I think your first challenge was phenomenal!!! I still need to post mine, but it turned out as a huge flop. Maybe next time mine will turn out better.

Unknown ha detto...

hi enza, this is beautiful. i love the way your cake is so pristine white. i'm so jealous because mine was more yellow. well done on a lovely first challenge!

Unknown ha detto...

è bellissima e deve essere buonissima

enza ha detto...

bella è bella ma come dire...non balla!
io l'ho trovatastucchevole già dal primo morso.
In compenso le fragole erano buonissime.

elisabetta ha detto...

Il tuo commento è esattamente quello che per primo mi è balzato in testa: la torta di Nonna Papera!!!
Comunque è bellissima, perfetta!

Morrigan ha detto...

E gnam!
Ho detto tutto!
^__^

Anonimo ha detto...

Nice work - your cake reminds me a carousel. Very fun!

adina ha detto...

enza, ma sei stata bravissima!! è davvero bella la torta! seguo sempre i DB e mi diverte, fate tutti delle cose da cui trarre insegnamento! (questa torta piacerebbe da morire al mio ragazzo! ..chissà..)

Sheltie Girl ha detto...

You did a lovely job on your cake!

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

enza ha detto...

thanks sheltie

Unknown ha detto...

Your cake is just beautiful! Looks wonderful and inviting with all those berries. Great job.

Anonimo ha detto...

Anche per me è stata la prima partecipazione a Daring Bakers.
Condivido i tuoi commenti. Io voglio adeguare il ripieno però, la torta ci è piaciuta molto nonostante il ripieno e la glassa burrosa. Mia sorella me l'ha chiesta per la laurea.
L'effetto visivo è riuscito molto meglio a te