25 Jun
Cookies & Cream Oreo Look-Alike Cake
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 32 Comments
My grandpap’s favorite cookies, by a long shot, are Oreos. As far back as I can remember, any time we visited my grandparents, there would be a glass fishbowl-style cookie jar full of Oreo cookies sitting on the kitchen counter. We were always offered one (or a few, if my grandma and mom weren’t looking) and it didn’t take us long to realize that they were his favorite snack. This past Father’s Day we celebrated my grandpap’s 83rd birthday with a cookout. My mom asked if I could make a cake for the occasion and I immediately figured I would incorporate Oreos into the dessert. The result is a two-layer chocolate cake filled with a cream cheese/whipped cream mixture that has chopped Oreos folded in, and topped with a chocolate ganache. I skipped a traditional full icing in order to make the cake actually look like an Oreo cookie.
15 Apr
Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 24 Comments
Many of you know that until recently I suffered from a number of food allergies, one of which was peanuts. As a result, the most tempting dessert featured in Dorie Greenspan’s utterly superb Baking: From My Home to Yours
30 Jul
Strawberry Mirror Cake
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 20 Comments
I joined the Daring Bakers in September 2007 with my inaugural recipe being Cinnamon Rolls & Sticky Buns, but prior to my joining, the group had already made 10 fabulous, daring recipes. It is my goal to eventually tackle all of them, as well as the few that I had some trouble making since I joined. When my friend Annie said that she was interested in making the Strawberry Mirror Cake that was chosen by Culinary Concoctions by Peabody in July 2007, I figured it was a great way to jump start my way to completing all of the ones I had missed. And true to Daring Baker form, this was certainly a challenge! But I stuck it out, and it was definitely worth it, both for the sense of accomplishment and flavor of this wonderful cake.
01 May
Vanilla Cake + Chocolate Hazelnut Filling + Chocolate Frosting =
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 21 Comments
Happy Birthday to my sister, Lauren!!
After I started taking my cake decorating classes, my sister asked if I would make (and decorate, of course) a cake for her birthday. Of course I said yes! Then she saw the drunk clown cake and demanded that a drunk clown grace the top of her cake. Haha, okay, of course that can be done! Err, so I thought. I was pretty pressed for time yesterday and I didn’t want to chance a clown catastrophe, so instead I gave her a cake of crooked writing and a martini glass. That’s drunk, right? 
Oh, and I added polka dots to the sides:
When I asked what flavors she wanted she said a yellow cake, chocolate frosting, and some type of hazelnut-flavored filling. The cake is a classic yellow cake, made using the Fluffy Yellow Cake recipe from Cook’s Illustrated (recipes for the cake, filling, and frosting follow below). I decided to torte the layers for a more “sophisticated” cake, and between them is a very thin layer of chocolate frosting topped with a hazelnut ganache.
I was really happy with this cake except that I would have poured the ganache into the cake and let it set there instead of at room temperature, as it got a little too hard and was nearly impossible to work with between the cake layers. Everyone thought that the flavors of the cake were great, and said it was really rich, so if you want to make something a little less rich, I would suggest not torting the layers and instead going with a traditional 2-layer cake.
29 Mar
The Perfect Party Cake
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 64 Comments
And perfect it was. This was no surprise, given that this is a Dorie Greenspan recipe. Thanks to Tuesdays With Dorie I have become a huge Dorie fan, and have found that all of her recipes are nothing short of foolproof.
This month was hosted by Morven at Food Art and Random Thoughts and we were given quite a bit of leeway for this challenge. It was certainly a nice change of pace, so thank you! The original cake recipe calls for lemon zest and extract, but not being the biggest fan of lemon (as was evidenced by giving away my Lemon Meringue Pie in January), I took the advice of my friend Laurie (otherwise known as quirky cupcake), who thought that orange would be a nice complement to the raspberry used in the recipe. Well, isn’t she a smarty pants, because orange tasted fantastic in this recipe!
Aside from that change, the only other modification I made was the icing, as the original recipe calls for a meringue buttercream, but I thought that a cream cheese frosting would be just wonderful with the citrus and fruit flavors in the cake. It turned out to be perfect, although I would like to give the meringue buttercream a shot one of these days as well.
A number of people reported having problems with the cake not rising, but mine seemed to puff up just as Dorie said it would. The recipe gives the option of using the paddle or whisk attachment of the stand mixer, and I opted for the whisk as I figured it would infuse even more air and fluff into the cake, and whether it was the whisk or not, the resulting cake was perfectly moist and fluffy.
The only problem I really had came during assembly. I found it near impossible to spread the frosting on TOP of the raspberry layer. The frosting just kind of slid around, and raspberry jam slid everywhere. In hindsight, I would put the layers prepared with the raspberry jam in the freezer to set somewhat before trying to frost on top of it. Another friend of mine, Amber, also had a great idea – she reversed the layer and put the frosting on first and then the jam on top. She said this worked very well, so that’s another approach to consider next time.
I loved this cake and couldn’t get enough of it. The flavors complemented each other perfectly and the result was an extremely moist and fluffy cake with both a light taste and texture. I couldn’t think of a better cake for a spring or summer special occasion!
This will certainly be a cake recipe that I keep to use as a base for multiple flavor combinations.
05 Feb
Black and White Chocolate Cake
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 35 Comments
This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Black and White Chocolate Cake, was chosen by April at Abby Sweets. Thanks April! This cake was an incredible combination of a moist yellow cake, a dark chocolate cream/custard, and white chocolate whipped cream. Let’s talk about each distinct part, shall we? This is the order in which I assembled this cake, making the dark chocolate cream and whipped white chocolate cream the night before since they needed to be refrigerated until completely chilled.
I’ll start with the dark chocolate cream because that was my favorite part of the cake. I had battled a fear of custard, curdled eggs, and undercooked eggs until I made Bostini Cream Pies for the October 2007 Darking Bakers challenge. It was a wonderful lesson in custard and boosted my confidence. I found this chocolate cream incredibly easy to make, it came together beautifully, and I had to resist eating it by the spoonful. I still have the leftovers sitting in my fridge – it’s perfect for dipping pretzel rods 
Now on to the white chocolate whipped cream. This I did not have such an easy time with. The first time that I made the whipped cream I used my stand mixer and beat it just a hair too far and it separated. Crap. I ran back to the store and got more cream and white chocolate. In the meantime, I read on Epicurious that a hand mixer is best because the strong motor of the stand mixer makes it difficult to gauge the whipping progress and can quickly overwhip the cream. So I busted out my hand mixer. My second attempt was more successful in that it didn’t separate; however, I think that out of fear that it would separate again I didn’t quite whip it far enough. I didn’t get much volume out of it and as a result, I didn’t have enough to cover the finished cake. I ended up whipping the leftover cream I had and adding that to the outer layer. I know some other people have had problems with whipping cream and knowing when it is at “soft peaks,” “firm peaks,” and how to walk that fine line before it separates. I was able to find this video at Epicurious which demonstrates how to properly whip cream. I think it’s very helpful, so if you’ve run into any similar issues, take a peek!
The cake was a classic yellow cake that was easy to throw together, baked up perfectly, and was nice and moist.
Put it all together, and what do you get? A wonderful combination of flavors and once again, another Dorie recipe that produces an elegant dessert that is fit for the fanciest of dinner parties. The recipe suggests decorating the cake with shaved or curled chocolate, but I chose instead to dust the top of the cake with some cocoa powder.
Our group continues to grow, and we now have 13 bloggers tackling Dorie recipes each week. How incredibly exciting! Check out my Tuesdays With Dorie blogroll to see what the others have made.
Next week: Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake
Last week: Orange Berry Muffins
Keep reading »
03 Aug
Perfectly Chocolate… Everything!!
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 10 Comments
I had been hearing numerous raves about Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake and was waiting for an excuse to make it. I finally broke down yesterday and, with no good reason, made the cake anyway It definitely lived up to all its hype, without question. It’s the best chocolate cake I have ever had. I chose to frost it with the equally sinful “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting. Really, this cake is too good for words…
“Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting (Source: Hershey’s)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add small additional amount of milk, if necessary (I did not need to). Stir in vanilla. Makes ~2 cups frosting.
Here, I saved you a piece… ENJOY! 
