A Pumpkin Cake to Share
Nov 06, 2007 | From the kitchen of Rose
I had to share with you...
From: Cathy Waller Subject: Happy Halloween! To: RoseI just wanted to share with you a little of what I've been up to. I brought this to a Halloween party last night, and it was a hit! It was 4 layers of Perfect All-American Chocolate Cake with Orange flavored Mousseline Buttercream filling and icing. One of the best compliments, besides its spectacular taste, was that most people thought it was a centerpiece, not a cake.
Next is a 3-tiered anniversary cake and another sculpted cake to feed 100. Thanks, friends, for all your encouragement, help and support!
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Christine
11/19/2009 10:44 PM
I'm having trouble getting my cakes to rise as much as Rose's recipes say I should expect them to and am feeling stymied about how to trouble-shoot it.
I'm using commercial quality cake pans from Williams-Sonoma (this is the exact pan I have: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/b001/?pkey=x%7C4%7C1%7C%7C4%7Cround%20cake%20pan%7C%7C0&cm_src=SCH ) and I'm using Magic Cake Strips for even rising.
In the oven, the cake looks like it's rising beautifully and then when it comes out, it shrinks back down to more like 3/4 inch thick (and not the expected 1 1/8 inch thick the recipe states.
Because my pans are 2" deep, I also tried increasing the volume of cake batter to Rose's recommended 1 1/3. But the result was a cake that was the same height as when I just the regular volume. This has been my experience with the following recipes: All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake, White Velvet Butter Cake, and Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake.
What am I doing wrong?
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Marcia Ann
07/22/2009 01:37 AM
What is the PA-ACC recipe? I'm having trouble finding a cake recipe for sculpted cakes that tastes good.
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Bill
10/22/2008 09:22 AM
I use that comibination of cake and buttercream all the time... Yum...But I have never made anything as beautiful as this...WOW
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Cathy
10/21/2008 04:43 PM
Thank you! I didn't really have to do much sculpting since I made it with 2 8" rounds and 2 9" rounds, with the 9" ones in the middle. It worked great. I covered and let it set in the freezer first then sculpted a little prior to the crumb coat.
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Deb
10/11/2008 03:32 PM
How did you shape the cake, it is beautiful!!
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jenny
08/17/2008 04:19 PM
So now you need to make another and
post the whole process on you tube!
Please???? What fun that would be to
watch!
Jen
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Sangeeta
12/06/2007 11:43 AM
This is the most beautiful pumpkin I have ever seen.How many days/hours does it take to complete everything? I am new so just curious. Thanks.
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Cathy
11/08/2007 11:33 PM
Thanks Rozanne! I think the sculpting & decorating took me about 3 hours in all. This includes the leaves made (ahead of time). I let the leaves dry/harden for an afternoon out in the open, then placed them in single layer in a ziplock bag. This made it possible to mold and shape them against the pumpkin when I was ready to put them in place since they were still pliable.
I had made the cakes and buttercream/filling ahead, so that 3 hours doesn't include that.
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Rozanne
11/08/2007 04:09 PM
Great job Cathy. Very creative. How long did it take you to complete the whole cake?
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Cathy
11/08/2007 10:28 AM
Sandra & Cathy,
It was baked in layers--4 (2 8" & 2 9"--the 9"ers in the middle) and it was pretty easy to cut. Cutting horizontally through the middle and then down gave us two pieces at once.
I find sculpting to be a lot of fun. I carve the cake frozen as it is just beginning to thaw or very cold. This keeps it from chunking off.
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Brenda from Flatbush
11/08/2007 09:27 AM
This is a WORK OF ART--and having made the PA-ACC recipe many times, I also know that it is exquisite to consume...thus avoiding one of my pet hates, the "gorgeous" but utterly inedible cake. (I have a particular loathing for elaborate constructions that are only "technically edible" but not meant to be eaten; what's the idea, that they won't poison the dog if he gets to them? But I digress...)
...anyway, I'm thinking of making tiny cupcake-pumpkins now...we've been mainlining Downy Yellow Buttercake cupcakes around here and it's time to take it to the next level!
Rose is a goddess, bakers rule, etc....
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Cathy Wernli
11/08/2007 09:08 AM
A beautiful display! I have been leary about carving cake, but I think even I could carve a pumpkin. I think I'll try this for Thanksgiving! I do think I would use a "tier" technique for easy serving. Thank you so much for the idea!
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Sandra Bell
11/08/2007 07:27 AM
Beautiful pumpkin cake. Was this baked in a special pan or in layers? God Bless, Sandy
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Cathy
11/08/2007 06:38 AM
Cathy, The cake is beautiful!!
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Hector
11/07/2007 02:18 PM
Cathy, the answer to your question is YES! and got all in photos!
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Cathy
11/07/2007 02:12 PM
Thank you, Hector. Are you discovering any great finds in Italy?
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Hector
11/07/2007 03:03 AM
the most delicious pumpkin I've seen!
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Zach Townsend
11/06/2007 04:00 PM
Neat - I learn something everyday! I always love the challenging of figuring out something clever for composing a cake - especially if it can easily be hidden from public eyes.
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Cathy
11/06/2007 04:00 PM
That is an interesting idea, Zach. I might have to think about that. This was not covered in fondant, however. It was in Mouselline buttercream. But I'm sure it could still work. Just have to keep it smooth over the two tiers.
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Patrincia
11/06/2007 03:58 PM
Zach - yes, that is how a very tall wedding tier is constructed, only foam core is used for the divider instead of cardboard.
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Cathy
11/06/2007 03:58 PM
Whoops, I tried posting a link for the definition, and it may not have gone through.
Thank you guys!
I believe sugar dough and gum paste terms are basically interchangeable. It is defined as a more pliable gumpaste by baking911.com.
Sylvia Weinstock uses it interchangeably. I get an excellent quality sugar dough from Kereks. The consistency is perfect, and they sell it in a 5 lb container.
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Zach Townsend
11/06/2007 03:52 PM
Interesting thought about the slicing. With a cake like this, seems it would be possible to create a "stacked" cake similar to a wedding cake where the top and bottom sections can be pulled apart and sliced as two cakes. The top section would, I supposed, be resting on a cake board. The break in the cake could be covered by the fondant. It would require a little deconstruction to remove the two cake layers but I'm sure something creative can be accomplished to make that part easy...fun to figure out.
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Zach Townsend
11/06/2007 03:20 PM
If someone were to say "sugar dough" to me I'd automatically think pâte sucrée.
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Patrincia
11/06/2007 03:16 PM
Cathy - Excellent, excellent cake!!!
Rose - Yes, some people do call fondant sugar dough.
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Bill
11/06/2007 02:11 PM
Cathy...this cake is spectacular...just beautiful!
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Rose
11/06/2007 01:18 PM
is sugar dough fondant by another name?
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Cathy
11/06/2007 01:08 PM
Thank you. The leaves were made of sugar dough, colored with paste, veined, and brushed with petal dust and luster. Pistachio marzipan is a great idea. I have worked with sugar dough mostly in the past and prefer its consistency, so I used that.
The cake was about 8 3/4" to 9" tall (4- 2" layers + filling). So the pieces were very tall! They looked beautiful, but even thinly sliced it was a bit more than THE PORTION TELLER would recommend. :) Therefore, later, I began to slice horizontally around the middle to do just what you said, Zach. That worked well. But I'd suggest cutting a tall piece first, then cutting horizontally so you can see where you're cutting and don't cut right into the filling.
It was a lot of fun.
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Zach Townsend
11/06/2007 10:17 AM
So impressive and definitely more like a center piece! How tall is the cake? I'm curious when you slice it, how tall does that make one piece? do you slice the cake around the middle to divide the height?
Zach
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Matthew
11/06/2007 08:53 AM
Beautiful cake and beautiful picture Cathy! Did you use pistachio marzipan for the leaves?
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