Fondant Reviews, Almond Bundt Cake, Graduation Cakes

The fondant cake tasted better than I expected. I will admit that most of the time I peeled the fondant off and ate it separate from the cake, but it was pretty good. AND... the Golden Butter Cream Cake is now my absolute favorite recipe from The Cake Bible - it stayed moist and delicious down to the very last piece. I took it to work on Wednesday and it was finished off that afternoon. Not too bad for the cake to still be good that long after I iced it.

On Tuesday afternoon, Terry and I pulled in the driveway after our two days in Rochester, and Bret, Natalia, and Gabby were just leaving after coming to feed the dogs and let them out. I asked him if he had given the girls cake, and he said that he didn't, because we hadn't told him he could. Being the good grandma that I am, I cut a piece and was feeding it to the girls.

Natalia: "I want a polka dot bite."
Grandma: "Sure; here you go. Here's a bite for you, Gabby."
Natalia (as Grandma gets a bite ready with cake, icing, and "polka dot" (new technical name for fondant)): "I just want a polka dot. Give that bite to Gabby."
Natalia (as Grandma again prepares a bite with not only polka dots, but cake as well): "No! I just want a polka dot. That's Gabby's bite."
a few bites later...
Natalia (as Grandma gets a polka dot bite ready): "NO! Gabby can't have the polka dot! Give that bite to me."

(Fast forward to Friday night when they came to visit)
Grandma: "I made another cake. Would you like a piece?"
Natalia: "Sure."
(walk into kitchen)
Natalia: "Where's my polka dot? I don't like this cake." (Mind you, this is before she even tried a bite.)

(Skip to Saturday afternoon. I've just leveled off a white cake before putting it into the freezer. Warm "cake topping" is a Nordstrom family favorite.)
Grandma: "Natalia, do you want a bite of cake? Gabby likes it."
Natalia: "I don't want some today. I'll just have polka dots. Where are they, Grandma?"

I'VE CREATED A POLKA DOT MONSTER!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were discussing Almond Pound Cake at work a week or two ago and I've been searching high and low for a recipe that I made several times a few years ago. I can picture the recipe in the cookbook - recipe on the left page, photo on the right... but I cannot find the recipe. I went through every cookbook and couldn't find it. I finally searched for Almond Bundt Cake and found a recipe that seemed somewhat similar. I had a little concern since it doesn't contain any leavening.  It rose though - coming to the top of my bundt pan. I made that on Thursday night and took it in on Friday. Oh yeah... Joy's comment: "What is the point of a cake without frosting?" Needless to say, she didn't try it. Jenn, Jeri, and Wendi enjoyed it however.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I reverted to cake mixes today to get Olivia's graduation cakes into the freezer. I am making two 12x18 white cakes and two 12x18 cherry-chocolate cakes. The chocolate ones can't be frozen, so I will have to make them next Friday night / Saturday morning.

After going so long on "scratch" cakes, it was sort of strange to go back to the box. On the other hand, I've made Betty Crocker white cake so many times, I wasn't worried about it failing. That is one problem with trying new recipes - you never know if you're following the directions exactly as the author intended.

As I mentioned above, the warm cake topping was a favorite for everyone - except 'Talia.

Fun with Fondant

Years ago I tried using rolled fondant on a cake and I think we threw the whole cake away. Since then, I've understandably shied away from fondant. However, many of the blogs I follow and of course the cake shows on tv all use lots of fondant, so I wanted to give it another shot. All of the recipes came from the Cake Bible: 2 9-inch layers of Golden Cream Butter Cake, Moussaline Buttercream, and Rose's Rolled Fondant recipe.

I baked the cake last night. The timing called for 25-35 minutes, and I probably should've taken it out closer to 30 than letting it go the full 35. I let the cake (actually, there were 2 layers, so I should say cakes) cool a bit in the pans and then popped them into the freezer. While the cakes were cooling, I made the fondant since it is best if it sits for a few hours (or a day in my case).

The fondant went together remarkably easy, and the bite I tried even tasted good!

Tonight I made the buttercream and put a crumb coat on the cake. I put it in the fridge to let the buttercream set while I rolled out the fondant. Again, it was pretty easy... I'm a little scared about what it will taste like!!

After Terry left for work, I went to take a picture of the plain white cake and decided that it needed a bit of color. The easiest thing seemed to color a few leftover scraps of fondant and make a polka-dot cake.

I will let you know how it tastes in a day or two. Of course, Terry had to point out that it might have been poor timing on my part to make a cake when were going to be gone on Monday and Tuesday.... hopefully either the cake is good enough that it's all eaten tomorrow, or it will still be good on Wednesday!

Bad blogger

I realized that I've baked two cakes in the last few weeks that I didn't include here, and of which I neglected to photograph. I think it's because they were 'plain' cakes without any icing, so there didn't seem to be a need to take pictures.

Two weeks ago (or so), I made Genoise Rose from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. It was the first genoise I've made, as well as the first recipe calling for beurre noisette (browned butter). I'm not sure I am sophisticated enough to tell the difference between a genoise and a regular butter cake, but this one was very good. It was baked in a Bundt pan and brushed with an orange liqueur-based syrup after coming out of the oven. There was no icing added. Terry certainly enjoyed it.

Last week, I baked the pound cake from Rose's Cake Bible. Again, it was unfrosted. I did dust this with powdered sugar to take to work. Wendi and Jenn liked it :) One observation I had was that this cake is better when sliced somewhat thin instead of taking a thick piece. I think that it seems to 'melt in your mouth' more when cut about 1" thick.

Sorry about the lack of photos.