"It's like trying to make a masterpiece with a screwdriver and a hammer and hoping for the best..."
My wife (above) trying to reassure me that making your first iced cake without a spinning table and sweet piping bags and the like is still going to make a really good cake. Not The Spring Baking Championship great. My first try.
I woke up this morning wondering what to do with the blueberries. They were not great no matter where I bought them from. We are between seasons. The ones from Sam's were granular as though they were frozen and the ones from the local grocery store were so tart as to pucker the mouth.
I would like to say that I did it on my own, but I had an extra set of hands (who washed a lot of dishes and held the bowl, and just generally reassured me I was not an idiot, which I need sometimes, given as I am to throwing in the towel when I get flustered - ref. country line dancing, playing the guitar, painting, and on).
Here it is below - because anyone can make a cake out of various leftovers in the pantry and fridge.
My wife (above) trying to reassure me that making your first iced cake without a spinning table and sweet piping bags and the like is still going to make a really good cake. Not The Spring Baking Championship great. My first try.
I woke up this morning wondering what to do with the blueberries. They were not great no matter where I bought them from. We are between seasons. The ones from Sam's were granular as though they were frozen and the ones from the local grocery store were so tart as to pucker the mouth.
I would like to say that I did it on my own, but I had an extra set of hands (who washed a lot of dishes and held the bowl, and just generally reassured me I was not an idiot, which I need sometimes, given as I am to throwing in the towel when I get flustered - ref. country line dancing, playing the guitar, painting, and on).
Here it is below - because anyone can make a cake out of various leftovers in the pantry and fridge.
On the left, cake batter cooling in the fridge. On the right, cooling in the freezer, blueberries bubbled in a little Caro syrup.
Left to right...top to bottom...
- cut circles of parchment
- butter bottom of pans
- lay the circles in, butter the circles
- add some flour
- cover the pan, empty the extra out
Thicken up the blueberries with some flour.
Mix into batter. So swirly. Add to pans. Smack the bubbles out a few times.
Then, into the oven. 350 until you can draw a knife out clean.
Cut the pointy tops off each cake with a bread knife and a steady set of hands or two; two is better than one, as is often the case. Set to cool. I put them in the fridge for a while. My icing was thicker than a pair of Pentecostals engaged in a tent revival, so I let it sit on the counter. You might want to cool your icing. Your call.
I looked up a lot of cream cheese icing recipes, but I didn't have enough cream cheese to make any of them, so I went with this hybrid, which required some serious whippin' in the mixer:
- 2 sticks of butter
- 12 oz cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 10 cups powered sugar
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- the rest of the blueberry compote (mostly juice with a few stray blueberry pieces)
Get all of it into a freezer bag with an icing tip, but it was really not necessary and I pulled it off shortly after starting, opting to use the free-flow of the plastic tip-guide instead. Bottom layer down, swirl some tubes, smear with flat icing knife or butter knife. Top layer, repeat.
The sides were not easy and I know a fourth grader could have done a cleaner job just by the number of paper towels it took to clean the extra off the plate. Mind you, a spinning cake stand would have been very helpful, along with a square edge to smarten things up a bit. My family is generally non-complaining about experiments from risotto to gnocchi, to baked goods bearing no resemblance to their title.
The sides were not easy and I know a fourth grader could have done a cleaner job just by the number of paper towels it took to clean the extra off the plate. Mind you, a spinning cake stand would have been very helpful, along with a square edge to smarten things up a bit. My family is generally non-complaining about experiments from risotto to gnocchi, to baked goods bearing no resemblance to their title.
And...complete.
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