3poundbaking-blog

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The ingredients, salted caramel filling and everything sealed in the fridge

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Update 10

This weekend I began preparing for the final 3 pound presentation night. As I mentioned earlier I am going to make a three tiered cake with chocolate salted caramel, cinnamon roll, and vanilla raspberry tiers. Today, I went shopping for all of the ingredients I needed for all of the cakes and the icing. I managed to get everything I needed except for vanilla bean paste. This ingredient is for the vanilla cake layer. I ended up having to order it on amazon prime so that it will get here on Monday. Additionally, I still have to buy cake rounds and dowel rods to support the final structure of the cake. A round will go under each tier and three dowels will hold up each round. Today I made the chocolate cake batter for the largest layer and the salted caramel filling for it. I used a different recipe for the chocolate cake than the one I had used earlier in my project because I felt that that recipe was too dense. This layer is going to by made from 12x2 inch cake pans so I had to double the recipe. Some people say that doubling cake recipes doesn't work well but that makes literally no sense if you do it right and monitor the baking time so I did it anyways. I was nervous while mixing all of the ingredients together because I though my bowl was going to overflow! Next I made the salted caramel filling. I melted butter in a sauce pan and added brown sugar and heavy cream. I whisked it and let it simmer for several minutes. Once it thickened I let it cool for 30 minutes. Then I added powder sugar and more cream and whipped it in the mixer. Usually I don't like salted caramel very much but this filling tastes amazing! I also made the cinnamon roll cake batter and cinnamon glaze. I have to wait to make the vanilla cake and raspberry filling tomorrow when the vanilla paste ships in. I will make the buttercream then too. I am going to wait to bake and ice the cakes until Tuesday night. So that they will be as fresh as possible on Wednesday. I am going to have my cake on display for the first half of the night and then I will serve it after most people have been able to see it. I hope that everyone likes the flavors and that there are enough people to eat all of it!

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The Yule Log (update 9)

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Update 9 (🦃The Thanksgiving Special 🦃)

Happy Thanksgiving! I spent Thanksgiving at my sister's new house in Virginia with my family and no working oven or electric mixer! But that didn't stop me from making a cake. I decided to make a cake that I've always wanted to make and also fit the holiday theme. I made a Bûche de Nöel cake, otherwise known as a Yule log. It wasn't quite the right holiday for one but I wanted to make it anyways since the three-pound project ends before winter break. This cake is a chocolate sponge cake roll, filled with homemade, sweetened whipped-cream filling and covered in mocha icing. It is iced and decorated to look like a log. I started by making the chocolate sponge which had some instant coffee in it. I had to whip the egg whites by hand until they turned white and formed peaks. This step is done to make the cake fluffier and more spongelike. When the batter was done I put it into a parchment lined baking sheet and tried to put it into the miniature oven we had purchased to make our side dishes in. Unfortunately, the pan I had chosen was too large to fit inside. I then had to use the parchment lining like a bag to pick up the batter and transfer it into a smaller pan. This somehow worked and the cake was finally baking. However, the thin remnants of batter stuck to the extra parchment began burning and smoking before the actual cake had finished cooking. I quickly took the cake out of the oven thinking it was a goner but magically none of the main layer had been burned. I removed it from the charred parchment and rolled it, un-filled, while it was still warm. This step made rolling the cake much easier since it was still warm and malleable. I let it cool in the rolled position while I made the filling. Without an electric mixer, I had to hand-whisk the heavy whipping cream until it thickened and then added in powdered sugar and vanilla. I also made the chocolate icing with coffee, Kahlua, melted chocolate chips and heavy cream. When the roll had completely cooled I unrolled it and covered the inner side with a layer of the cream filling. I then re-rolled it. I cut a end of the roll off at an angle and stuck this piece to the side to make it look like a thick branch had been growing out of the main log. I then iced the whole thing in a way to make the icing look like bark. Despite the early problems I faced this cake turned I perfectly. I believe that this is the best cake I have made so far in terms of appearance and authenticity to the recipe. My family and our guests loved the look and taste (except for my sister who complained that it was too "bitter" but I think she was just saying that to be rude). It was also the only homemade dessert we had at dinner. I probably should have made this recipe before my last Charlotte Royale cake. It would have made the Charlotte cake much easier because I would have had experience making a Swiss roll. However, I chose not to because I wanted to save it for Thanksgiving. I am going to make this cake again on the actual Yule holiday and bring it to Christmas dinner.

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Process pictures of the Charlotte Royale cake from update 8.

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Update 8

This week I made an incredibly difficult cake called a Charlotte Royale Cake. When preparing to make this cake I tried to think of every possible way it could go wrong and somehow all of the disasters I faced weren't ones I had imagined. I started off by making the sponge cake. Making the batter went perfectly. I divided it between a circular cake pan and a baking sheet pan. I placed the thin cakes into the oven, and when I pulled them out later one was fine but my sheet cake was completely lopsided. All of the batter had slid to one side as if it were on a gradient. I looked in the oven and discovered that the racks it was on wasn't properly aligned on the tracks and was raised on one end. The uneven cake had baked so that the shallow side had turned into a rock while the other side was fine. I realized that I needed to remake the whole sheet. I only had four eggs left while I needed six so I had to divide the entire recipe by two-thirds. When I baked the new layer it turned out well but a small corner section was still dry. I then covered the sheet pan layer in strawberry jelly and rolled it into the swiss roll. This resulted in a huge sticky mess because the jelly seeped out of the cake as I rolled it up. After letting the roll chill I gently cut it up into sections. I used these pieces to line a large bowl. Then I filled it with vanilla no-bake cheesecake filling and enclosed it with the round cake layer. After letting it chill for a few hours I took it out and flipped it onto a plate, but I had forgotten to move the cling wrap lining the bowl from under it. So I had to put the cake back in the bowl, move the wrap out of the way, and flip it back out again. In the process I accidentally hit the top of the cake with the bowl and flattened the top a bit. While the cake didn't turn out perfectly I think it was very good considering how much had gone wrong. Most importantly it tasted amazing. I originally got the idea to make this cake from watching the television show "The Great British Bake Off" with my friend. I want to make this cake again, and hopefully have it turn out better, for her birthday. I am glad I learned how to make this style of cake because it can easily be modified to have different flavors and fillings for any occasion. It also looks very impressive. I think when I make the cake again it will be much easier. While making this cake I realized that none of the bowls in my house are actually round on the bottom. I will need a bowl that is completely rounded for my next attempt.

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Update 7

Last week’s cake will be the last of my recipes for learning the basics. Next week I plan to make a Charlotte Royale cake and will continue to create more difficult cakes after that.

I have been trying to think of a way to practice icing cakes with out having to make a cake and icing every single time and I think I have found a solution. When I was in elementary school we would pretend to make cakes by covering sponges in shaving cream. So, I am going to find some large sponges that I can carve into circles and will practice on them. It might sound a little weird but I don’t see why it can’t work.

Lastly, I have begun planning out my wedding cake for my final presentation. As of now I plan to make a round, three tiered cake. The tiers will be vanilla cake with raspberry filling, chocolate cake with salted caramel filling and cinnamon roll cake. I will ice it with buttercream, even though fondant would be way easier (fondant tastes gross). I am still deciding how I want to decorate it.

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Update 6

This week I made a yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting. It was a pretty easy cake but I felt like I should know how to make it since it is a lot of people’s favorite cake. I added a bit a vanilla pudding mix in to make it more flavorful and to give it a better texture. I think I should have used sweetened cocoa powder instead of unsweetened because it make the icing taste a bit like dark chocolate. Icing it went very well and the cake was just about as smooth as you can get fudge icing to be.

I took the cake with me to homecoming dinner for dessert. Everyone loved it.

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Update 5

So, this week I made a chocolate cake with raspberry meringue buttercream icing. The chocolate cake was delicious and very dense. It had a small amount of flour and a cup of Greek yogurt in it which made it almost like a soufflé. Then I made the raspberry icing. I had to use the microwave to defrost the frozen raspberries and they caught on fire. I was worried that the meringue would be difficult to make but it was actually easy. I let it cook for a long time to make sure that the eggs were safe to eat. It whipped perfectly and looked good when I added the butter. Next, I added the raspberry reduction and it became a bit runny. It had the consistency of yogurt. I decided to put it in the fridge overnight to try and get it to stiffen. On Friday when I went to ice the cake it was a good consistency but as it warmed up it started sliding off the cake. It looked awful and made a huge mess. I decided to just remove as much of the icing as I could so that we could at least eat the cake (which my dad was very happy about because he doesn’t like raspberries).

I haven’t decided if I will try and redo this icing recipe yet. I think if I have extra time I will try to because it tasted great.

My poor cake after I scraped off the icing.

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Update 4

This weekend I learned how to make a cinnamon roll flavored cake. First I made a cinnamon flavor sheet cake. While it was baking I created a cinnamon glaze out of water, confectioners sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. I coated the top of the first layer in the glaze. Then I made cinnamon buttercream icing. The original recipe I was following wanted me to use 3 pounds of confectioners sugar to make the icing which is absolutely ridiculous and would have yielded nearly 4 pounds of icing, so I found a similar, smaller recipe. I put a layer of this over the glaze in the center of the cake. Then I added the second layer and iced the cake with my buttercream. I used a new icing tip which is very wide and designed for icing the exterior of cakes. Finally, I added some of the extra glaze to the remaining icing to make it darker and used this to decorate the top and bottom edges of the cake.

My cake turned out much smoother looking than my first cake and had a higher level of difficulty. It also has a much more interesting flavor and is very delicious.

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Update 3

Creating the floral decorations for my cake did not go as well as planned. I did further reasearch to find out why I was having difficulty making the roses. I discovered that I was using the wrong type of icing. I need to make decorators icing which is stiffer and holds its form better than regular icing. I will make this icing and continue practing how to make flowers in my future recipes.

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Here is the picture of my iced cake from Update 2

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Update 2

Today I started learning the technical skills of decorating. I baked a classic white cake and made imitation Publix buttercream icing. The cake tasted very good but each layer came out of the oven lopsided, as if they had been baked on a slope. The icing tasted good as well but was a bit too thick. I completed the first part of decorating (icing the cake) and will add flowers tomorrow. While it is the smoothest cake I have ever iced, it is still not perfect. I believe this is due to imperfections in the cake’s surface and not my technique.

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Update 1

Due to hurricane Irma the start of my project was delayed. Publix had no eggs! I did order the decorating supplies I needed from Amazon. I got a set of piping tips and bags, and an icing turntable and spreader. Everything should be arriving by the end of the week.

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3# Project Proposal

For my Three Pound Project I am going to learn how to do advanced baking and cake decorating. I have already learned how to make simple cakes, such as pound cake, but I want to learn how to create much more complicated recipes. For the decorating aspect I want to learn how to properly frost a cake so that the icing looks smooth and to create various flowers out of frosting. I also hope to do some chocolatiering for my decorations. I have always loved baking with my grandma so more complex cake baking should be very fun for me to learn. I also hope to use my new skills to create cakes for my friends and family.

Most of the resources I need to study baking are available online. I have used Pinterest to find decorating tutorials and interesting recipes I plan to make. I will need to buy decorating supplies as well as the ingredients for each recipe. If I end up needing extra help I will find a class but I believe I will be able to learn on my own. I plan to begin my project by making simpler cakes (cinnamon roll layer cake) and then progressing to much more challenging recipes, such as Charlotte Royale cake. I hope to culminate my skills at the end of the semester to create a multi-tiered, multi-flavored wedding cake to display and serve at the final 3# presentation.

One of my main concerns is that my cakes won’t turn out looking as beautiful as I want them too. I have a tendency to let my expectations get too high. Another concern I have is that for some of my recipes, I don’t know what they’re supposed to taste like. I will need to find taste testers who have tried similar dishes so that I know if I’m making them correctly.