Yes you read that right. I’m asking if there’s any cake from TCB or RHC that I can make without mixer. I’m going to a friend’s - in another state - and she has no baking equipment. I’m willing to bring some baking supplies (spatula, cake pan, thermometer) but I don’t want to lug a mixer. I can’t think of any of Rose’s cakes that I can make w/o a mixer (though I’m sure with some muscle power of both of our husband’s we might be able to whip up a butter cake LOL). Any thoughts is appreciated!
Yes you read that right. I’m asking if there’s any cake from TCB or RHC that I can make without mixer. I’m going to a friend’s - in another state - and she has no baking equipment. I’m willing to bring some baking supplies (spatula, cake pan, thermometer) but I don’t want to lug a mixer. I can’t think of any of Rose’s cakes that I can make w/o a mixer (though I’m sure with some muscle power of both of our husband’s we might be able to whip up a butter cake LOL). Any thoughts is appreciated!
I would have thought it was possible to make any of them without a mixer. People creamed butter, whipped egg whites and made genoise long before mixers were around.
Flour Girl, thanks for the offer. I’d love the recipe if you don’t mind!
CharlesT, I know. But the instructions these day are with mixer. So when Rose said whip at high speed for 5 minutes until it’s tripled in volume, how would you translate it to by hand? It’d take the whole day…
I was in Guyana, S.A. a few years ago and my host made a cake whipping by hand. And, she spent a good part of the morning, standing up whipping, walking around whipping, sitting down and whipping some more. Let us know how it works out…
Flour Girl, thanks for the offer. I’d love the recipe if you don’t mind!
CharlesT, I know. But the instructions these day are with mixer. So when Rose said whip at high speed for 5 minutes until it’s tripled in volume, how would you translate it to by hand? It’d take the whole day…
I’d be happy to. It should be in your private message’s now.
Pound cakes seem to have the lowest mixing times, though you’ll have to estimate when the batter is adequately aerated/developed. What about a custard-based cake, like cheesecake?
In some senses, it might be easiest to make either chiffon (cupcakes or tube pan) or the bittersweet cocoa almond genoise, because the key beating action in those is to whip whites to barely stiff peaks; even though that might be a lot of hand whisking, at least you’ll have a marker for when it will be done (be sure whites are lukewarm to minmize whisking time). And both are great with whipped cream, which is easy to do by hand. I tried the BCAG recently with coffee whipped cream and it was very, very good.
I agree fully with Charles. You do not need a mixer to make any of Rose’s recipes. I have made many of them by hand. In addition the mixer can actually extend the mixing times. A balloon whip can whip egg whites and cream in less time than it takes my Kitchenaid. The main reason for including machine mixing times in recipes is that it improves repeatability.
I have hand made Genoise several times and not only is the cake superior to the machine mixed it did not take 20 minutes. Sounds more like 20 minutes to bake.
I recently got back from a trip to my family. I took 3 cakes, already made, with me. Of course, airport security checked it out and then returned them to me. I made a tray of brownies, Rose’s apple cinnamon surprise loaf from TBB and a different crumb banana cake from Flo Braker. I froze the 2 loaf cakes and removed them from the freezer the evening before my flight. I felt they would be less fragile if I did that. I carried the 3 baked good in a shopping bag. They arrived in perfect condition and met oo’s and ah’s from my family (who never get a chance to taste my baking).
How about the banana cake with dreamy creamy frosting? It is pretty easy to mix that without a machine. The sticky toffee pudding as well as long as you don’t mind chopping the dates by hand. Good luck. Why does the recipe have to be from Rose’s books? I’ve made many cakes by hand using the creaming method and they work just fine.
I’d think the double-whammy groom’s cake would work, also, for a few reasons:
1. It’s about 1/2 got brownies, which never really need a mixer.
2. It’s made in a bundt pan, which is more forgiving.
3. The cake part is minimal around all those brownies, so I don’t think the structure would really come much into play.
But that’s just a guess.
Ah, the old, “beat vigorously for 150 stroke days.”
Good luck and have fun!!!!!!!! The nice thing is I would guess that, at worst, whatever you make will be dense and delicous rather than fluffy and delicious!
I’ve made all of Rose’s recipes without a stand mixer (though I did use a small hand mixer for beating hot syrup into buttercream). I don’t have a stand mixer, so I tediously whip the egg whites and even whipped genoise by hand! Not pleasant, but doable! I want to get a stand mixer.
CharlesT - 07 March 2011 06:38 PM
Jenn - 07 March 2011 06:17 PM
Yes you read that right. I’m asking if there’s any cake from TCB or RHC that I can make without mixer. I’m going to a friend’s - in another state - and she has no baking equipment. I’m willing to bring some baking supplies (spatula, cake pan, thermometer) but I don’t want to lug a mixer. I can’t think of any of Rose’s cakes that I can make w/o a mixer (though I’m sure with some muscle power of both of our husband’s we might be able to whip up a butter cake LOL). Any thoughts is appreciated!
I would have thought it was possible to make any of them without a mixer. People creamed butter, whipped egg whites and made genoise long before mixers were around.
I have an old cookbook of cakes and frostings. One recipe says “Beat 200 strokes, or 2 min. on electric mixer.”
With Rose’s recipes, if you use a hand (instead of stand) mixer, you beat for 2 minutes (rather than 90 seconds) for the “main” mixing and then 45 seconds (rather than 20 seconds) for the liquid part.
So, that would be 200 strokes for the main + 75 strokes for each liquid additions.
But, since you increase times from stand > electric mixer, I’d assume you’d increase again for electric > hand. Maybe go 250 for main 100 for each liquid.
BTW, this is a short, old cookbook. I’d be happy to scan it for you and email it to you if you give me your email address. I’ve never made anything from it and, of course, it’s all volume, but it still might be fun. The ingredients are often rather interesting in that they appear to be somewhat lower in sugar—I spot checked one against Rose’s (pineapple upside down cake).
