Cake For Today: Wait, I’ve Brought Dessert!
24 February 2009 | 9:46 PM
Wow. It’s been, like, a thousand years (read, a week) since I’ve last posted anything here and even longer since I belched out anything remotely creative. In my defense, I should tell you that I’m notoriously lazy. Be that as it may, today has thankfully provided me with a golden opportunity to create, or at the very least get back in the saddle and live up to the letter (if not the spirit) of my New Year’s resolution. My darling daughter turned four years of age today, and as part of the festivities I decided to make this cake in her honor.
All right, you say, big fucking deal – so you can follow a recipe. But take heart, friend: I managed to flip the script a bit and change it up. See, the original recipe as it were was very health-conscious, which is admirable to be sure but left me a little afraid of just how bad the thing might taste, given that it eschewed conventional ingredients such as flour, baking soda and eggs for store-bought cake mix and a liter of Diet Sprite. In any event, I elected to apply the recipe’s cool rainbowing effect to a traditional, from-scratch white cake.
- 1.5 sticks softened, unsalted butter
- 2t baking powder
- 2C flour (all-purpose)
- 1.5C sugar
- 6 egg whites
- 3t vanilla
- 3/4C 2% milk
- Pinch of salt
Combine the dry and wet ingredients separately. Then slowly add the wets to the drys, mixing the whole way. Divide the resulting batter into six evenly-sized portions, plunking some serious food coloring of your choice in each one. The brighter the better. Mix each color thoroughly. Grease and line two 8″ cake pans. Take three of the colors and put them into the first pan, one after the other, forming concentric circles. Repeat with the other three colors in the remaining pan. Bake both for 35 minutes at 350 degrees, or until they both pass a toothpick test. Once cooled a bit, pop both cakes out of their pans and let them cool entirely down to room temperature. Trim and frost as desired.
I should mention, I did follow the original recipe’s directions for the frosting and am pleased to say it actually turned out quite well – it oddly enough tastes a bit like buttercream, but without any of the nutritive holocaust that buttercream usually brings with it.
Anyhoo, since I’ve been out of the habit of being creative for a good couple of weeks now, I’m prepared to credit myself with a successful opus. Bon Appetit!
Posted by Andy in Play For Today