Jul 7, 2010

Last Cake, Next Cake

Apparently we cake people are also ice cream people. Although we made different shapes, and used different flavors of ice cream--many of us opting for homemade ice cream with our homemade cake--I think we were unanimous in our praise for the final result.
The friend-indulgent Jennifer filled her cake with not one, not two, but THREE different ice creams, so that all of her invited guests would get their favorite. If you visited Jennifer's house, you had your choice of peanut butter, rocky road, or strawberry.
I was lazily reading Katya's blog, indulging in a little schadenfreude when she was talking about a few small mishaps she encountered, but I stopped smiling when I saw the nasty burn she got--hope it's better by now! Katya's weekly words of wisdom: "Some days just aren't my day, and I'm grateful that on those days I don't work in an ER or the Pentagon. I'm usually grateful about that on the good days too." Her ice cream of choice was homemade cherry almond.
Raymond made his cake with homemade ice cream too--his was coffee made with his own "strongly brewed espresso."
I mentioned last week that Lynnette had already made her homemade strawberry ice cream, so all she had to do was compose the cake and add a few more fresh strawberries for a lovely accent. Once you've already got your homemade strawberry ice cream, it's hard to go far wrong, and she didn't.
Mendy didn't make homemade ice cream because he didn't have time to experiment with parve, but he bought a good-looking soy-based cherry chip. Like me, Mendy also had a little trouble cutting his cake into even slices. There's that schadenfreude popping up again! Sorry, Mendy.
The ever-organized Nancy B. (vanilla bean and cappuccino mocha chip) made this cake way back in February and has just been biding her time to post her great success: "It was a couple of weeks before I quit being stopped in the hall by either people who had a piece and wanted to rave about it (again), or those who missed out and started the conversation with 'So, I hear you brought in a wonderful cake...make sure I hear about it next time.'"
Gartblue barely batted an eyelash making this cake, whipping it up, as she did, between cookies, a wedding cake, mini pavlovas, and lemon cheesecakes, in her all-baking all-the-time weekend.
Monica made two brilliant moves: 1) to make the cake in a loaf pan so that she could get easy slices and 2) to make homemade zabaglione gelato. The only less-than-brilliant move was not to make enough cake.
Jenn has felt lately that she's been baking under an unlucky star, but everything went perfectly for her with this recipe, including her homemade fresh bing cherry ice cream. Heavenly photos of a heavenly cake!
Kristina (homemade strawberry ice cream made from homemade strawberry preserves) got a reminder of how useful spouses can be sometimes at bringing us back to earth. She reports that she "was feeling rather sorry for myself over a heap of dishes when my husband came into the kitchen and wondered why I didn’t seem happy. “Nothing’s going right tonight. I shouldn’t bake in the evening after a day out in the sun weeding.” “What’s gone wrong? What can I do?” “I accidentally substituted for 1 cup instead of 1/2 cup of cream, so I had to get out more stuff and make a double batch of hot fudge sauce.” “Um, sweetie? That’s not really a problem.” Good point.
Vicki's variation was using a nine-by-thirteen pan to get easy square pieces. It's a "new family favorite!"
Julie went a different ice cream direction from everyone else and used her favorite starlight mint--she was "not disappointed." She went for the ice cream sandwich variation, although, as others have noted, the differences between the "sandwich" and "cake" are infinitesimal.
Joan, fresh from her FEATURED BAKER triumph, came through triumphantly once again, although not without a lot of worry and a bit of chagrin at using store-bought ice cream. (Nothing wrong with that!) She came up with the idea of using the extra batter to bake some chocolate financiers--with the hot fudge as dipping sauce, and with cups of espresso on the side, she had some happy neighbors who were invited in for an impromptu feast.

Joan passes the FEATURED BAKER crown on to Faithy. (By the way, Faithy, will we ever get to know your real name? Or will you be forever a mystery woman?) Here is her verdict on this cake: "OMG, Best Ever! Totally heavenly, totally awesome, totally out of this world.. you can already tell how much i am in love with this cake...lol! This is by far the best ever ice-cream cake i've ever eaten!" Can you tell she likes the cake? Her version also had homemade ice cream--the exotic-sounding coffee stracciatella. The coffee in the ice cream may have been responsible for sending Faithy on a caffeine-induced high. She accused herself of rambling on excitedly when "words are hard to come by" for her. Whether the enthusiasm was caused by caffeine or just by the cake, it was fun to read her post. And, by the way, the family loved the cake too.

Next week, another quick-and-easy cake--the mini vanilla bean pound cakes. This was obviously a scheduling error because I try to space these Q&E cakes so that I won't run out of them. After these two in a row, there'll be only 9 cakes left on that list.
For these minis, there are only a few things to be aware of. There's a PLAN AHEAD notation--make the cakes at least one day ahead. Make sure you have vanilla beans. And get yourself some mini loaf pans if you want to make the mini cakes.
Here's a picture of the two-cup disposable loaf pan compared to a standard pan (I think this one is a 9" by 5", holding about eight cups).
After that--the chocolate banana stud cake. Get your bananas soon if you want to have ripe bananas on hand!

14 comments:

Monica said...

Faithy... CONGRATULATIONS! Well deserved and I too would love to know your real name... give us a hinttttt does it start with F? or Faithy is jumble of your real name? or? just tell us already, we can keep a secret.

As always Marie I can count on your recap to remind me that I did not visit all of the bakers blogs... off to check them out..

How was montreal.. you need to give me tips, since in less than 42 days I will be crossing the border.

gartblue said...

Yay for Faithy! She sure sound deliriously happy with her cake.

I've been looking high and low for the mini disposable loaf pans, they just look so adorable and classy, compared to a normal pan. Will keep on looking before weekend comes calling .. otherwise, cupcakes, i guess. *sigh*

anitsirK said...

Does anyone know what you would have to change to bake the mini pound cakes as a layer cake? I was thinking double the recipe, but I'm just not sure what size of pan I should bake it in.

It's grandma's birthday, and I want to take her something on the weekend with a nice mousseline buttercream, which I just can't quite picture in a loaf shape.

Marie said...

Monica,
We were in Montreal for the jazz festival, so that's how we spent a lot of our time. But we got in some other sights that I'd recommend--especially the Botanical Gardens. We liked walking around vieux Montreal (just wander around Rue Saint-Paul), and the Parc du Mont-Royal is a big park in the city. People call it "The Mountain"--it's not really a mountain, but steep enough that I came home with blisters on both feet after walking it with cute sandals instead of sensible walking shoes. The Basilica Notre Dame is really pretty, and so is the smaller Chapelle Notre Dame de Bon Secours. The McGill University campus is a nice urban campus. It's a good walking city, and there are lots of nice French bistros. There were some museums I wanted to go to (Musee des Beaux-Arts and Contemporary Art Museum), but we saved them for Mondays--the day that most of them were closed.
Try a Montreal bagel. Wander around the Plateau neighborhood. Brush up on your French.

Katya said...

Schadenfreude away. If you need more fodder, it's been well over 100 degrees in Brooklyn two days running.

The burn is not gone, but thank you all for your suggestions, I am alternating vitamin E with neosporin, and hopefully it will look better soon. My glassblower friend says that Preparation H, the hemorrhoid medication, is a staple in glass shops. I guess it would reduce inflammation...

Jenn said...

Faithy, congrats on being the featured baker. Though I know Faithy is not you real name, you will always be Faithy to me, :).

Marie, great write up as always! And yes it's fun to see which ice cream flavor everyone chose.

Katya, the burn mark will go away, but it'll take some time (several months). I have a couple of big ones - one on the back of my upper arm, and another one above my hip bone (strange location, I know, but it was because I was reaching for something on the shelf, and didn't realize there's a hot baking sheet nearby). I am a klutz :).

faithy said...

Thanks for featuring me Marie! :D

Faithy, came about because i've always like the name Faith and initially wanted to name my daughter Faith too..but for some reasons couldn't. So when i started to post questions on forums, i was told not to use real name so i made up this name which stuck for this long..ya..15+ years, i think? Those whom i've known via forum locally and have met up eventually all know my real name. Actually i have no intention to hide my name but figured probably better this way too cos i'm also working for a big boss here..so sensitive issue..esp. Singapore sooo tiny & small (then for eg. the 500+ staff will know how i 'tripod' my boss by making him his birthday cake..hahahaha.) Grew up not liking my real name as well cos i have the exact same name as my elder sister! Who on earth name their children the SAME name..right? Yup..my mom did! *roll eyes*..

Monica, no need to guess, i'll email you my real name shortly..lol!

Mendy said...

ב''ה

Congrats Faithy. Great job, as always.

Same name as your sister. Ouch!

Monica said...

Marie.. I'm taking down all the recommendations.. it will be a one day trip, we are actually staying in VT in a lake cabin we rented with our best friends and the cabin's backyard stops at the Canadian border.. we saw pictures and the back yard has this fence that has a sign that says "STOP, CROSSING INTO CANADA" (they have it in French too!) we all thought it was so cool - what would happen if you put your foot down on "The other side"???? We will let you know.

I'm so looking forward to this vacation it's insane! Lots of hiking, biking, and canoeing and kayaking - Tom is besides himself, since he is a "outdoor" person. The cabin has a huge kitchen overlooking the lake, the pictures show hug windows and lots of natural light - I'm packing my cookbook and the camera!!

Faithy...I like it! all top secret like.

evil cake lady said...

Congratulations Faithy!

Yeah, I went with evil cake lady so as to keep my real self private--wasn't interested in clients finding my blogs. As you can tell I've let that slip a bit and even went so far as to link to my flickr page with my real name on it...oops.

Monica, your vacation sounds like it will be excellent! Can't wait for the photos!

Speaking of Canada, I'm going to Toronto for a short trip in a couple of weeks--any suggestions? I only have a couple of days to explore.

Vicki said...

Congrat's Faithy! Your cake really sounded magnificent with the coffee stracciatella ice cream.

anitsirK said...

evil cake lady and Monica -- what are your interests?

In Montreal, if I only had one day, I'd probably spend it at the biodome and the botanical gardens. It looks like the biodome is currently closed due to a labour dispute, though. Maybe take a trip up to the top of the olympic stadium. If you like shopping/wandering, definitely hit up Vieux Montreal as Marie suggested. Mont Royal has a nice view, too. If you're driving, I recommend a really good GPS, as Montreal can be a bit of a mess, traffic-wise.

evil cake lady, what are your interests? I ate at the CN tower recently, and it was a nice experience, though a bit pricier than I'd like. The rotating restaurant gives a nice view of downtown while you eat. There's lots of shopping, theatre, art galleries, the Royal Ontario Museum, the science centre... if you let me know what kinds of things you like to do, I can probably give lots of advice (email me at my username at gmail, if you like).

faithy said...

Thanks all..

If anyone of you are looking at the metric measurement like me for the vanilla bean pound cakes..there's typo in the metric measurement.. i noticed for sugar & flour stated as 150 ounces.. i think it is 150g.. cos it's 5.3oz..

Hanaâ said...

Congratulations Faithy. Well-deserved! Your cake looked awesome.

For the mini vanilla pound cakes, I will be using these mini loaf pans by Chicago Metallic. I got mine at Bed Bath and Beyond. I found this link to them on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-Silverstone-Non-Stick-Mini/dp/B00004R91Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1278647352&sr=8-3