Connect the Dots . . .

#28 - 2008

How many events do you know about that can circle the globe?

Think about the globe, this earth. Now, think about going around this globe and how do you think about that? Do you get a picture of a belt around the equator? I’m thinking a lot of us think like that: once around the middle. What if I were to ask you to think about putting a net around this globe that would cause you to think of dots and strings of connections that would enmesh and surround this globe not once but many times and not just around it’s middle but around it horizontally and vertically at all angles of intersection. It becomes a very different picture doesn’t it.

I’ve been having thoughts that that is one picture of the internet but then I’ve been thinking that on a smaller scale but still a huge scale that’s just what this Daring Baker group is all about. With over 600 DBer’s, I think we connect a lot of dots!

For instance our lovely hostess for this month is Morven from New Zealand writing on the blog Food Art and Random Thoughts. That’s where you’ll find the recipe for this months Perfect Party Cake.

If you’re looking for a moist and versatile white cake, this is it. If you’d like to be able to present your guests with a lovely and perfect bakery cake fresh from your oven, this is the cake.

Dorie as always give you careful directions with enough detail and a gentle voice to let you connect the dots to success, if you read with a little care.

This is not a difficult cake and it does lend it’s self to tremendous decorating options as I’m sure you’ll see if you visit more than two DB blogs today. We’re all baking the same cake, using the same recipe, connecting here and there all over and all having the same but different experiences.

I baked the cake twice, the buttercream I only did once.

The first cake baked and iced just like the recipe directed except where we were allowed our choice of flavor. Since I was doing this for a St. Patrick’s Day Dinner Party, I used lime to flavor the cake filling. I used the lime cream curd I blogged about here for a contrasting filling in the cake. I used buttermilk when given the choice of milk or buttermilk.

When I baked this cake in two 9 inch round cake pans and the four cup cakes, it baked and was very pale. Baked at 350°F for 35 minutes but showed no signs of browning. I’ve never had a cake that was thoroughly baked come out of the oven with no browning.

I decided to try this cake in a cake mold. My decorating skills being fairly limited, I often try to go a less skilled route. I baked the cake in a 5 cup mold shaped like a lemon slice (though Karen thought it was a snail at first glance). In order to accomplish this, I baked the cake in a 350°F oven but left it in for 55 minutes. The extra time in the oven got me a very toasted top. The other difficulty I anticipated was if I wanted to get the definition in the mold, I couldn’t use parchment paper to line the pan. I heavily buttered the mold and then heavily dusted it with ground almonds. I put the buttered, almond dusted mold in the freezer until my batter was ready to fill it.

I cut off the toasted top that would be turned onto the plate so that the cake would sit flat. Now, STOP right here, This was the absolute best part of the entire cake if you ask me. Now don’t get me wrong. The cake is an excellent white party cake, it’s just not my ideal, not my favorite cake. This caramelized top . . . I could be happy to eat this many times.

And when I turned the cake over onto the cake plate . . . you know I was holding my breath don’t you? Well, I was.

I was going to ice it. But when I turned it out . . . well you can see, it’s just too perfect. I’m going to serve it with fresh strawberries and their juice after sunday dinner! I just know this isn’t going to need buttercream.