When you're a kid, you don't tend to notice the taste of your birthday cake very much. Basically, to a kid, a cake is a cake. What really counts to kids is how the cake is decorated (what kind of cool toys are on it, what it is shaped like, etc.). For instance, I know that a favorite cake for me and my sisters when we were little was a cake baked in a funnel shaped pan so that it would look like a hoop skirt. You would pop a Barbie doll into the hoop skirt cake and decorate the cake to look like an elaborate ballgown.
But as an adult, the taste of your birthday cake is what really counts. This year for my birthday, I was fortunate to have two birthday cakes (and they were both wonderful, moist, scrumptious concoctions).
I am a sucker for almond flavoring. The first cake was a beautiful pink and white almond cake. As one of my anti-frosting family members put it "wow, this is the only frosting I have ever liked!" This is a wonderful cake and paired with vanilla bean ice cream, it was to die for.
The second cake was a devil's food cake with rich chocolate frosting. I was trying to find a cake that would come close to those horribly tempting chocolate cakes that are sold at Costco (if you've ever seen the movie "Matilda," it looks like the chocolate cake in that movie. It is massive and a dark chocolate color). I thought it was very similar and a few of my family members thought it was even better than the store-bought version. Yummy!
Pink Almond Party Cake
Prep Time: 40 min
Total Time: 2 hours 20 min
Makes: 12 servings
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil, and egg whites called for on cake mix box
2 teaspoons almond extract
6 drops red food color
Garnish:
4 oz vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark), chopped
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Red food color
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 cups powdered sugar
4-5 tablespoons milk
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom and sides of 2 (9 or 8 inch) round cake pans with baking spray with flour. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients, including 2 teaspoons almond extract and 6 drops food color, as directed on box. Pour into pans.
Bake as directed on box for 9 or 8 inch round pans or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, in a small microwavable bowl, microwave candy coating uncovered on High for 1 minute, stirring twice, until melted and smooth. Stir in 2 teaspoons oil. Spoon about half the melted coating into another bowl; stir in 2 or 3 drops red food coloring to tint it light pink.
Line 6-ounce custard cup or other small bowl with foil. Pour half of the untinted coating into foil-lined bowl. Drop half of the pink coating on top; pull a knife through coatings to make marbled design. Repeat with remaining untinted and tinted coatings, adding on top of marbled coatings. Refrigerate about 20 minutes or until set; remove from refrigerator. (If refrigerated longer, let stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften.)
In large bowl, beat butter, shortening, 1 teaspoon almond extract, the powdered sugar, and 4 tablespoons of the milk with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Beat on medium speed, adding enough of the remaining 1 tablespoon milk until fluffy and spreadable.
Place 1 cake layer, rounded side down, on serving plate; frost top. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Frost side and top of cake.
Remove coating from bowl; peel off foil. With vegetable peeler, make curls by pulling peeler around the outside edge of block of coating. Place curls on top of cake.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Follow High Altitude directions on cake mix box for 2 (9 or 8 inch) round cake pans.
Time-Saver Option: Stir a teaspoon of almond extract into a container of Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White frosting for a fast and delicious frosting.
Nutrition information: 1 serving: 570 calories, 26 g fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium, 79 g carbohydrate, 4 g protein.
Source: Betty Crocker website. If you want to see an absolutely beautiful picture of this cake, click here
Cake:
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil, and egg whites called for on cake mix box
2 teaspoons almond extract
6 drops red food color
Garnish:
4 oz vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark), chopped
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Red food color
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 cups powdered sugar
4-5 tablespoons milk
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom and sides of 2 (9 or 8 inch) round cake pans with baking spray with flour. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients, including 2 teaspoons almond extract and 6 drops food color, as directed on box. Pour into pans.
Bake as directed on box for 9 or 8 inch round pans or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, in a small microwavable bowl, microwave candy coating uncovered on High for 1 minute, stirring twice, until melted and smooth. Stir in 2 teaspoons oil. Spoon about half the melted coating into another bowl; stir in 2 or 3 drops red food coloring to tint it light pink.
Line 6-ounce custard cup or other small bowl with foil. Pour half of the untinted coating into foil-lined bowl. Drop half of the pink coating on top; pull a knife through coatings to make marbled design. Repeat with remaining untinted and tinted coatings, adding on top of marbled coatings. Refrigerate about 20 minutes or until set; remove from refrigerator. (If refrigerated longer, let stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften.)
In large bowl, beat butter, shortening, 1 teaspoon almond extract, the powdered sugar, and 4 tablespoons of the milk with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Beat on medium speed, adding enough of the remaining 1 tablespoon milk until fluffy and spreadable.
Place 1 cake layer, rounded side down, on serving plate; frost top. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Frost side and top of cake.
Remove coating from bowl; peel off foil. With vegetable peeler, make curls by pulling peeler around the outside edge of block of coating. Place curls on top of cake.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Follow High Altitude directions on cake mix box for 2 (9 or 8 inch) round cake pans.
Time-Saver Option: Stir a teaspoon of almond extract into a container of Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White frosting for a fast and delicious frosting.
Nutrition information: 1 serving: 570 calories, 26 g fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium, 79 g carbohydrate, 4 g protein.
Source: Betty Crocker website. If you want to see an absolutely beautiful picture of this cake, click here
Old-Fashioned Devil's Food Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
Flour for dusting the pans
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil's food cake mix or devil's food cake mix with pudding
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fluffy Chocolate Frosting (recipe below)
Directions:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease two 9 inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.
Place the cake mix, cocoa, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again, if needed. The batter should look well combined. Divde the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28-30 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.
Meanwhile, prepare the Fluffy Chocolate Frosting.
Place one cake layer, right side up, on a serving platter. Spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer, right side up, on top of the first layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with clean, smooth strokes.
Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water, plus additional, if needed
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter; at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar; sifted, plus additional, if needed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Place the cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the cocoa comes together into a soft mass. Add the butter and blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is soft and well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Place the confectioners' sugar and vanilla in the bowl, and beat with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the frosting lightens and is fluffy, 2 minutes more. Add more boiling water, a teaspoon at a time, or more confectioners' sugar, a tablespoon at a time, if the frosting is to thick or too thin to your liking.
Use the frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake or cupcakes of your choice.
Source: Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn, published 2001
Notes: I wanted to deepen the chocolate flavor even further, so I added about 1 ounce (3 squares) of melted baking chocolate (semisweet) to the cake batter and about another ounce (3 squares) of melted baking chocolate (again, semisweet) to the frosting. I didn't have to do anything further to the cake mix batter. But I did have to experiment with the wet and dry ingredients in the frosting. I added a little more powdered sugar (I eyeballed it) and I added a few tablespoons of milk to keep the frosting moist (the extra chocolate dried it out too much). Both the frosting and the cake were fantastic. I made this another time and accidentally used Ghiradelli 60% Cacoa bittersweet chocolate and I didn't like the flavor as well. It was too dark. Don't go darker than the semisweet baking chocolate, in my opinion.
We have got to keep a camera ready from now on! But the almond cake was amazingly easy to make. I did make extra frosting because I like lots of frosting, unlike Derrick. I wanted to be sure to have enough to fill the middle and cover the cake.
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