Real Baking with Rose Discussion Forums

September Chocolate Bake-Off

2010-09-05T09:22:41-05:00

Hi all, just starting a new topic for this month’s Bake-Off

Red Velvet Birthday Cakes

2010-09-08T17:46:09-05:00

So, we had the pleasure of celebrating my twin girls’ 3rd birthday this past weekend! Thanks to all who provided advice on working with fondant / decorative letters. The girls have seen me looking through RHC quite often, and they were taken with the red velvet cake page…so much so that they started to request a “red heart cake” for their birthday. Being the indulgent mom that I am, of course I ended up making exactly that! I made rolled fondant (for the first time! - as usual Rose’s recipe worked to the T though and it came out perfectly) and used letter cookie cutters, and then piped a simple border and outline (also a first!). They like to call themselves “Zoe Zebra” and “Lexie Lion” (for Alexa), and get excited seeing A’s and Z’s. So the cakes were a big hit!

Since we had 20+ people over, I also had made the ice cream cake (with mint chip ice cream) and the lemon canadian crown, both of which people loved. I’d say that the red velvet cakes won the presentation battle (though the lemon crown was a close second), but people really attacked the lemon and ice cream cakes with the most enthusiasm! The red velvet cakes though, were also very tasty, especially with the vanilla mousseline.

Anyway, I never would have been inspired to or even able to produce four such lovely and delicious cakes a year ago…it’s all thanks to Rose’s books and being inspired from all of the stories and photos on this forum, so thank you all for helping make our birthday party a big success!!!

Downunder differences

2010-09-09T02:43:03-05:00

I am a newbie, so if this has been asked/answered already, excuse me in advance.
Have just started baking from ‘the Bible’, and have now made my second Shaker lemon pie (the first was actually lime).
As this is classified as a fruit pie, can it be frozen raw????...am not quite sure how the raw egg/lemon mixture will go.

The Bible has been interesting reading for a Southerner (I reckon I am, coming from the deep south in Sydney, Australia!)
Where a ‘classic’ marriage for those of you in North America is rhubarb and strawberry, it is rhubarb and apple for us.
So my next adventure is a rhubarb and strawberry tart for my daughter’s 22nd birthday.

My hubby is fascinated that I am now weighing everything assiduously (always cup measured before)...I LOVE metric for baking, grew up with Imperial measures until 1966 when we ‘metrified’
My writing and teaching means I go between both regularly, but nothing beats metric for me.
Weighing is soooooo easy though, when it is presented so simply

ohh i am so excited

2010-09-07T19:10:51-05:00

I had started a message before but my cat Mike decided it should be sent before I was finished.Anyways I have had my cake bible for about 20 years.It is stained,dog eared and well loved.I have lent it to countless people over the years who have loved my cakes and I was so excited to put a lovely face to the recipies

Chocolate Doningo Cake

2010-09-08T06:43:22-05:00

Here is one of the 2 cakes I baked this week.This one is for one of my bosses.He was actually really touched when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday.He said chocolate with chocolate frosting,nothing fancy,for I had brought in the triple layer devils food cake and frosted it with both chocolate buttercream and ganache.I used the domingo recipie for it is for a single 9 inch layer,which is perfect for 2 6 inch layers.As promised here are some mistakes I have made with this cake over the past two decades.If not using the dutch processed cocoa,u have to use the other amount specified in the recipie!!!I am always so amazed at how meticulous she is with these recipies.Also make sure u don’t leave in pan too long.Don’t overfill pans if u are using a different sized pan.What i have done especially if using those shaped pans,is to liquid measure the pan by filling it up with water and measuring how much water fills the pan and then i cut that amount in half.Beleive me,I had to clean my oven out alot in the beginning.Also if you put a large baking sheet on tha bottom shelf to catch spillage helps as well.Off to work I go!!!

Bread without butter

2010-09-08T05:05:57-05:00

I just had to share an emergency substitution. I was making a hearth loaf of white bread, and realised I didn’t have any butter. In a moment of laziness, I fetched out of the fridge a jar of rendered pork fat I saved from a roast pork earlier. It came out so delicious, that I’ve run out of fat, and may have to roast another piece of pork. The bread was light, with a great crust, lovely colour and a subtle flavour of the herbs I roasted the pork with. Wonder-wifery at it’s best, a friend of mine would say.

Chocolate raspberry wedding cake

2010-09-07T09:01:26-05:00

For my stepson’s wedding, I made this cake using the chocolate passion cake recipe (RHC), raspberry ganache (also RHC), and chocolate lacquer glaze (also RHC). The cake was really delicious and I got many compliments, most importantly from the bride and groom. The only problem I had was that the glaze was shiny to start with but them dulled quite a bit. I’m wondering if the dulling was a result of high humidity, because when I made a test cake a couple of weeks earlier I didn’t have this problem and I’m pretty sure I followed the same process. Any thoughts?

Apple Crumb Quick Bread Variation

2010-09-06T19:04:29-05:00

This morning I baked the Apple Crumb Bread in TBB. I wanted to make it a little sweeter so after the bread was cool, I made a glaze of confectioners sugar and heavy cream. It tastes really good.

IMO, I could have removed the bread from the oven a few minutes earlier.

Rose’s cakes usually are done at the minimum time for me. This one, however, I baked until almost the maximum. I had a little trouble discerning it’s doneness due to the toothpick hitting the apples

Recent Projects

2010-09-03T11:48:34-05:00

Here are a few of my recent projects. I haven’t baked as much as I would have liked to this summer, as it has been so very hot, but I did manage to piece together a few things on cooler mornings.

First up is the RHC Golden Lemon Almond Cake, baked as a layer in a 6 cup medium-deep tart pan. This is my new favorite pan (it is the pan recommended for the Gateau Breton), as everyone seems to absolutely love this presentation and it is quite easy. The blueberries have been tossed with Rose’s hot glaze, and the border is the buttercream paired with this cake in the wedding section. I have also made the Bull’s Eye Genoise in this pan, syruped with Amaretto and topped with creme fraiche and fresh raspberries- didn’t get a picture, but it was good.

Cake notes:
-For a layer version, use a smaller portion of the wedding cake batch (6/9” batch, not the 12”) to get the leavening right.
-The cake will have the best texture if the pans are filled half full.

White chocolate lemon buttercream notes:
-Taste: I loved this buttercream, and I’m not a huge buttercream fan and definitely not a white chocolate fan. So I think it’s pretty impressive that this buttercream won me over. It is abolutely perfect paired with the cake. There are enough eggs and butter to dilute the white chocolate so that it isn’t the least bit cloying or overly sweet. I made the version with just lemon zest/oil, from the golden dream wedding cake, not the lemon curd version that is paired with Woody’s Lemon Lux cake.
-The white chocolate custard can be made ahead and refrigerated, just bring it to 65F before proceeding.
-The bc seems a little soft to me, compared with, say, mousseline. I liked it better than mousseline, but I suspect it may not be as heat-resistant.

In the spirit of RLB…

2010-08-22T11:04:18-05:00

Since I bought RHC last year, I have not grown tired of browsing the recipes and imagining the whole process of baking and completing each of them. Actual baking of the sponge cakes, angel cakes and baby cakes (especially the financiers as shown in the pic) have turned out wonderful creations.

However, it has been a different story with butter-based and oil-based cakes… one of the earliest tries I had was the Woody’s Lemon Luxury Cake, which I shared in an earlier post (http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/index_ee.php/forums/viewthread/1793/) that the cake turned out denser than I thought. I continued to try out the Southern Coconut Cake with Silk Meringue Buttercream - the buttercream was absolutely delicious, but when the cake was out of the oven, they felt hard to the touch. I proceeded to ice them one layer on the other according to the recipe. It was confirmed that again the cake was too dense only when I was going to serve it and had to literally push down my weight into the cake to cut it!

Not to be discouraged, I tried the Banana Refrigerator Cake next. This was a disaster and a huge disappointment! By then, I had bought an oven thermometer, and ensured my ingredients were fresh and of the right temperature as indicated. The only thing lacking is the cake strip (I live in Singapore!), but that shouldn’t have caused the cake to flatten out and basically taste like pancake!

I didn’t really had the time to pursue the reason(s) further, but the last straw came a few weeks ago… A friend asked me to help bake a cake for his mom. I decided to try the Lemon Luxury Cake again… I was especially careful again with the temperatures, timing of beating, etc. This time round, it was even worse than the first time. The cakes were flat and heavy. The butter cream was soupy and hardly could hold when I tried to ice the cake.

I thought of Rose’ nearly-scientific approach to baking and was determined to prove that I can succeed in the recipes…. This time round I decided to give the Bernachon Palet D’or Gateau a try, and I would follow the recipe to the T. So yesterday, I bought an instant-read thermometer, finally, and used wet dish towels and foil to wrap up the sides of the cake pan in place of the strips. I measured the temperature of the butter (65 to 75 degree F) and the rest at room temperature as indicated. On my stand mixer, I beat the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients according to the recipe. I use a Kenwood machine, so I don’t really know what is “medium” on this machine. But I suspect it is not as strong as a Kitchenaid, so I turned it higher, and beat the batter slightly longer. The batter was thick and fluffy, as indicated in the book. The batter filled the pan halfway and I thought this time it would work.

The cake hardly rose throughout the baking, and I started to suspect something was not right (the height would be about 1inch, which seems too short). True enough, when I turned out the cake, it was very dense at about 1 inch tall. Just like the last few times!! Arrggghhh….

Temperature of the ingredients was not the problem. Neither was the oven temperatures since I have an oven thermometer that I monitored closely. The other 2 factors I could think of were only the baking powder, baking soda and perhaps not enough beating to strengthen the structure. I was not going to give up! This morning, I tried again, adding about 1.5times the amount of baking powder and soda as indicated, and beating on a slightly higher speed and longer time. .... Success finally!!! The cake rose to about 1.5 inches, was soft, moist and tender. The cake strip (wet towels) achieved a flat even top and soft side crust unlike the hard over-cooked side crusts I used to get. Finally…

I really hope that I have nailed down the issues. Perhaps I will give the Lemon Luxury Cake a third try… Wish me luck!