Mister Man's Birthday

We quietly celebrated Mister Man's birthday on Friday.  He wasn't down with the pomp and circumstance, preferring instead to tiptoe into his new year.  So it was all about dinner (meat), drinks (beer), and cake (Boston Cream Pie - his request).

We went out for the dinner. I bought him the drinks (except for the delightful Mint Julips made by Miss Annie). And I baked the cake for him from scratch (including the custard). It even looked exactly like the photograph in the book!! Have a peek! 

The cake in the foreground is the one that I baked with my own two little paws. The cake in the BACKGROUND is just a photograph from the best cake baking book a gal could own (a book that everyone who is seriously interested in baking cake should buy....It's called Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by  Alisa Huntsman, Peter Wynne, and Tina Rupp).  I know you might have a difficult time distinguishing my masterpiece from the photograph, but there you have it.

Now allow me to reach around and give myself one big pat on the back. 

P.S. I'm trying a new font size based on some feedback from the running posse, so let me know what you think. 

P.P.S. If it sounds like I'm gloating or boastful, I'm just kinda pleased as all get-out, cuz I've never tried making a chiffon cake with homemade custard!!!  And I figger I've earned some bragging rights, what with all the whisking, folding, stirring, separating, and the most difficult thing about making this cake for an Aries like me: NOT OVERWORKING IT AT ANY STAGE..... 

Cake! Glorious cake!

This, my friend, is a cake. A PINK cake to be precise. It is delicious and light and strawberry in flavour. And it is the first cake in a series of “test cakes” that I’m trying out (or perhaps “trying on” is more accurate, as I’m sure some of these cakes are gonna end up on my hips….)

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.

As you may have read earlier, Mister Man and I are getting hitched in about 15 months. We’re heading back to my homeland (Newfoundland) where my fabulous family resides. Of course, we’re inviting our friends and family from the mainland to join us. For many of them, this will be their first visit to the exotic far-east of Canada: the land of cultural excellence, icebergs, fried cod tongues (delicious! now don’t be hatin’!), jigs ‘n reels, fish ‘n chips with dressing and gravy, carnation-milk-in-yer-tea and so much more….

Here’s Paully and Michele in Newfoundland with Mister Man. And an iceberg. Yuppers. That is a real honest to goodness iceberg behind them.

We’re gathering in Newfoundland for the big event, and we’re trying to figure out how to make our wedding special. And meaningful for everyone who'll be with us.

I have worked in the arts all my life (in theatre, film and special events). I’m a feminist. I am a bit of a Pollyanna. I’m a sentimental fool, and I love the notion of honouring tradition. (This info is necessary to understand how the next part of the cake saga unfolds.)

So as Mister Man and I scratch our heads trying to figure out how to make this event “ours”. I immediately start thinking about the wedding cake and how freakin’ GREAT it would be if only I could bake it. Hm. Clearly, this is a stupid idea. *Pfftt* How am I going to bake my own wedding cake when I don’t even LIVE in Newfoundland anymore?

And then, the Pollyanna part of me kicks in and I start thinking about all of the great things that collectives of women have done throughout history. I ponder ritual and passage. I am awestruck at the thought of all of that estrogen together in one room. I think of how, in ancient times, women would gather to sew great tapestries or a wedding quilt.

And suddenly, my head was filled with beautiful images of my friends and family coming together from opposite ends of this country over a glass of champagne & orange juice to collectively make our wedding cake!!! There they were, taking in the spectacular view of the Atlantic ocean from the beautiful home of Paully and Michele. And I saw my Newfoundland aunties tucked into a corner of the dining room measuring flour and sugar with our mainland friends who are artists, writers, directors. I saw “Mom of Mister Man” weighing chocolate with The Mums and a bevy of women artists from Newfoundland. I saw us collectively baking this cake – this brilliant symbol of two people from different communities coming together. And I have to say that I even cried a little because the image was so perfect and beautiful – a brilliant (and delicious) metaphor.

However, not everyone thought this was a great idea. But more on that later….

Until then, suffice it to say that the next 15 months will be filled with testing cake recipes in search of the perfect recipe for the baking of the collective wedding cake.

The pink cake, pictured at the beginning of this post, was the first cake I auditioned. We even had an official jury grade this crumbly morsel of love. The cake was fun! And pink! And I kind of accidentally went a little crazy on the icing, intending to only dot it in a tasteful minimalist style....But I got carried away once I felt the power of that cake decorating pump thingie in my hands!

This cake was tasty for sure (though a tad dry… so maybe I baked it a couple of nano seconds too long??) But I don’t think it’s the cake for our big event.

In any event, the recipe came from Smitten Kitchen and here it is:

Pink Lady Cake

For the cake
4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries
8 egg whites
2/3 cup milk
1 to 2 drops red food dye if you like (to make the pink color pop more)

For the cream cheese frosting
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Make the cake
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pans. Line with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes; the batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point.
3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye, if using, to blend. Add the whites to the batter in two or three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans. If you’re worried about the layers being even, you can weigh each of the pans!
4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto wire racks and peel off the paper liners. Let stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour.

Make the cream cheese frosting
5. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.
Frost and assemble the cake6. Place one cake layer on a cake board or platter. Spread about 2/3 cup frosting over the layer, spreading it to the edge. Repeat with the second layer. Add the top layer and frost the top and sides of cake with remaining frosting, reserving a small amount if you wish to tint it and pipe a decoration on the cake. Sugarlove's note: I dare you to try to be less fru-fru than me!

This recipe was TOTALLY lifted from the wondrous website of Smitten Kitchen

The Cake: A Beginning

So here I am yabbering on about baking (or at least hinting at it in my banner), and I have posted nary an image, thought or recipe! Clearly I am one sad slacker!!

Allow me to share a tale with you, gentle reader. A long time ago, when I was but a wee snip of a thing (okay, I was actually never really “wee”. I popped out of the womb as a “big-boned lass” and nothing much has changed over the years except scale…..)

In any event, one of the things I loved about childhood is that The Mums used to encourage my brother Paully and I to bake. I have many fond memories of standing on a chair and carefully adding ingredients to a cream coloured bowl. (you know the kind that resemble a cable knit sweater?) There was something utterly magical about putting all of these ingredients together and having a cake or a batch of cookies emerge 20 minutes later! My love for baking continued with the acquisition of my easy bake oven. (Old school, natch!!) Golly.... I can still smell the wonderful scent of the 60 watt lightbulb "baking" that chocolate cake!!!

And then I became an adult. And with the onset of adulthood came utter apathy for baking. I mean, really, [insert eye roll] why bake when bakeries and patisseries abounded? I had more important things to do than chain myself to an oven for god's sake! I had to THINK and PONTIFICATE and WAX POETIC and drink Pernod!! [insert shaking fist and self righteous head nod]

Flash forward to a mellower me. I started following some amazing food blogs, and I found myself inspired again. (Thank you Smitten Kitchen and Pioneer Woman - you have made me see the world in a brave new sugary light.) And I had this urge to bake again. And ever-so-tentatively, I tiptoed back into the baking arena. Once there, I found a kind of peace and joy that I hadn’t experienced since my mother stood behind me and helped my little paw stir that batter into a bliss…..

And THEN Mister Man (I did mention how wonderful he is yes?) purchased THIS for me for the last festive season.

Need I say more? This baby has made mama one happy camper!! And I’d go out on a limb and say it’s made a few friends kinda happy too over the past year....

Stay tuned for the saga of where this next leads me.....