JULY 20, 2010 1:34AM
Rate: 19
clearly I should have been paying attention....
First up in the Home Ec curriculum was the "sew a dress with mom" project. My fondest wish tended more toward meeting the Beatles or marrying Illya Kuryakin, not learning to sew. My father enlisted a neighborhood mom to help and she thought girls only came in one size; small and dainty. Over 5’9” with feet past a size 10, I was nothing close to small. I did get credit for completing the dress and lucky for me the teacher never noticed the masking taped seams hem, or that it was a thousand sizes too small.
The next project, "baking with mom" lamentably meant one thing. Cake. The Home Ec teacher had great affection for all things cake, evidenced by the unending stash of Little Debbie treats in her desk drawer. I pleaded my case using the poor-sad-orphan-card to get a reprieve, but the teacher knew that I had one breathing parent left, which meant I was only one-half orphan. I was toast.
We had to bake the thing from scratch which involved purchasing ingredients that were not labeled Jiffy Cake Mix. I didn’t have a lot of cash, so I brilliantly figured I’d buy only the important sounding ingredients for my chocolate cake.
Nesquik seemed more versatile than Hershey's cocoa. Margarine was cheaper than butter and sort of looked the same. I'd use water instead of milk; who would know? Powdered sugar for frosting seemed extraneous since I had to buy the regular kind anyway. Why not use the same stuff for both? Why buy vanilla flavoring if the cake was going to be chocolate?
Baking at 350? I preferred even numbers, like 400 which sounded as though it would bake the cake faster. It did. Well-done to burned cake transpired in a matter of minutes. But hey, it was already chocolate; the dark part was well hidden and it still smelled mostly like cake.
The granulated sugar frosting was, well, lacking. When I found some sliced almonds in the pantry to pat strategically into the grainy frosting, I was feeling quite smart. It looked rather elegant if you squinted, which I hoped my home economics teacher would be doing when I brought it to school the next day.
I needn’t have worried about carrying it – the thing was heavy as a brick and just as petrified. I dramatically carried the cake like it was fragile; leaving everyone to imagine that it was delicate. There were so many cakes that I easily shoved mine behind the surplus. Other girls were clamoring for the teacher to taste their creations. Something about the law of averages saved me; there were only so many bites of sweetness a person can eat before they surrender. Mine was left alone. But because it looked like cake I got credit. Even motherless, I managed the façade of cake and passed home economics. Barely.
These days I never forget to use vanilla even when I make a chocolate confection. The one lesson I learned from making that 7th grade cake wreck was that any cake can be made to look presentable, but not all presentable cakes taste good. Given a choice, I opt for both, but taste wins every time. This chocolate and yellow cake is a favorite, and one day I will actually learn the art of marbling.
(Gluten Free) Marble Layer Cake
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour or featherlight gluten free flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (if using gluten free flour)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup almond flour sifted
- Pinch salt
- 2/3 cup cream
- 2/3 cup milk
- 6 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
- 1 teaspoon almond flavoring
- ½ teaspoon fiori di sicilia
- ¾ cup boiling water
- 2/3 cup valrhona unsweetened cocoa sifted
- 2 scant cups white sugar (superfine works well)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
In a bowl, whisk together sifted flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flavorings. Add flour and milk/cream mixture alternately until incorporated. Don’t over mix.
In a bowl, mix sifted cocoa with boiling water until it is sludge. Scoop about 3 cups of the batter into the chocolate mix. Whisk until incorporated.
Alternate scoops of chocolate and vanilla batter in baking pan until both pans are filled evenly. Using a butter knife, gently draw a figure eight to marble the batter.
Tap pans on counter to settle the contents and remove air bubbles. Give pan a quick shake and place in oven. Bake about 35 minutes until lightly brown or toothpick comes out clean.
Cool five minutes and turn out on a rack. Cool completely.
Cut each layer in half.
Brush with simple syrup, if desired, and frost with your favorite: Ganache, butter cream, dark chocolate glaze or combination.
Notes: To marble correctly, don’t mush the knife through like I did when you make that figure eight. It comes out without the distinct markings. Less is more. Really. I used both ganache and butter cream just because I wasn’t sure which I wanted. Next time I would use a thinner layer of ganache between the layers and pour a glaze over the top and sides. Still, there is no such thing as too much chocolate.
Bon appétit and let us eat cake.
Comments
You know I would have had to fight you for Illya. (Swoon!) My recollections of Home Ec are a little vague, although I don't know if was simply not very interesting or was actually traumatic, which was a real possibility.
Excellent job of faking it with the cake, by the way. I can just imagine your relief when she skipped over your chocolate brick :)
Excellent job of faking it with the cake, by the way. I can just imagine your relief when she skipped over your chocolate brick :)
oh what I'd give for a slice of cake and a tall glass of cold milk right about now! loved your story too!! :) And I agree, taste is always more important!
As I understand it, meeting the Beatles was sort of a critical mass issue. History exclaims that you are excused! Excellent cake. MOST excellent photo, my dear! xoxoxoxox
Oh yhea - the story ain't bad either ;) heehee
Oh yhea - the story ain't bad either ;) heehee
You've canceled out that home ick cake by three thousands percent.
I hated home eck. I wanted more than anything to take shop. Girls weren't allowed, and there was deep mystery going on in that noisy basement classroom. One day, I got to take a note to someone in there. The boys were making wooden nut dishes at their benches. Twenty years later, building guitars with a local luthier, I understood how much easier it was to make a nut dish than a cake.
I hated home eck. I wanted more than anything to take shop. Girls weren't allowed, and there was deep mystery going on in that noisy basement classroom. One day, I got to take a note to someone in there. The boys were making wooden nut dishes at their benches. Twenty years later, building guitars with a local luthier, I understood how much easier it was to make a nut dish than a cake.
People who say something easy is "a piece of cake" have never made a cake.
The Nesquik cake story is pretty priceless, but I am totally distracted by the claims on Illya Kuryakin. I met him about 15 years after my own fixation had waned, and I still nearly fainted.
Excellent.
But because it looked like cake I got credit.
This is a good metaphor for some aspects of life in general. :-)
But because it looked like cake I got credit.
This is a good metaphor for some aspects of life in general. :-)
I watch CSI for a dose of Illya once a week. He's still age appropriate (for me anyway) and my fantasies are more interesting. ha!
This would make Freaky swoon . . . this is a masterpiece!
Susan - Home Ec was traumatic. Not only did I present that terrible cake, but it was the year I learned to forge signatures and skip class. The Janitor's closet was a cool place to hang out - the stuff that guy had in there....
bethy - taste is more important for sure. I hate hate hate going into a fine pastry shop and buying a beautiful creation only to find it tastes like cardboard.
Annie - thanks! I gave up on the Beatles, but still wanted that McCartney wig...sadly.
green - I wanted to take shop, too. I was really glad my girl got to take shop years later. She made a parson's table and I still haul it around. I would really enjoy if she painted it (hint). Building guitars must be lots of fun. Pics?
Robin - so true.
Mumble - jealousing. I bet he is charming.
Gabby - NCIS? But yep, me too.
Owl - I always save a purse sized piece for Freaky. You just never know.
Rob - indeed, isn't it.
bethy - taste is more important for sure. I hate hate hate going into a fine pastry shop and buying a beautiful creation only to find it tastes like cardboard.
Annie - thanks! I gave up on the Beatles, but still wanted that McCartney wig...sadly.
green - I wanted to take shop, too. I was really glad my girl got to take shop years later. She made a parson's table and I still haul it around. I would really enjoy if she painted it (hint). Building guitars must be lots of fun. Pics?
Robin - so true.
Mumble - jealousing. I bet he is charming.
Gabby - NCIS? But yep, me too.
Owl - I always save a purse sized piece for Freaky. You just never know.
Rob - indeed, isn't it.
I miss home ec, actually, and am sad that I think it's disappeared from schools. But I know that it could be traumatizing for many. That chocolate frosting is begging for someone to stick a finger in it! Yum!
Takes me back to the days of making Cheese Straws and Banana Milk Nog. Thank god we never made it as far as cakes in my home eck class.
Almond flour? Featherlight gluten free flour? I have so much to learn...what an understatement.
Well, this was cute, but today junior high girls don't take Home Ec. Or even its politically correct renamed version, "consumer science." Boys don't take shop class. Nobody is taught any practical skills in secondary education any more. Thanks, President Bush, for making a nation of people as ignorant as you.
Many people wouldn't even have the improvisational skills to make the brick concoction the OP wrote about. In a kitchen with fresh ingredients, requiring only basic cooking skills to make a meal, they'd starve to death. (I understand that's the next thing in those horrible Saw movies.)
The Japanese were right. Americans are lazy and stupid.
Many people wouldn't even have the improvisational skills to make the brick concoction the OP wrote about. In a kitchen with fresh ingredients, requiring only basic cooking skills to make a meal, they'd starve to death. (I understand that's the next thing in those horrible Saw movies.)
The Japanese were right. Americans are lazy and stupid.
"Why buy vanilla flavoring if the cake was going to be chocolate?"
I have been wondering the same thing for years! Maybe this is why I'm a lousy baker.
Another excellent story, L! :)
I have been wondering the same thing for years! Maybe this is why I'm a lousy baker.
Another excellent story, L! :)
Linda - I did pile it on a little thick; the frosting, that is. But we do love chocolate.
sixty - I'd settle for banana egg nog. I think.
anna - Bob's Red Mill has the almond flour. Sift it for using in a cake and it will be nice and light. Don't bother to sift for cookies. Authentic Foods sells the featherlight gf flour. Use that for cakes and lighter pastries. Their Classic Blend is like a good all purpose flour and gluten free. Have to buy it online, but it still is the very best gluten free flour out there. If you need links, PM me.
tom - agreeing with you. wow.
Lis - seriously. I figured chocolate called for chocolate, not vanilla. sigh.
sixty - I'd settle for banana egg nog. I think.
anna - Bob's Red Mill has the almond flour. Sift it for using in a cake and it will be nice and light. Don't bother to sift for cookies. Authentic Foods sells the featherlight gf flour. Use that for cakes and lighter pastries. Their Classic Blend is like a good all purpose flour and gluten free. Have to buy it online, but it still is the very best gluten free flour out there. If you need links, PM me.
tom - agreeing with you. wow.
Lis - seriously. I figured chocolate called for chocolate, not vanilla. sigh.
Oh Lord. Home Ec. I dreaded it with nearly the same intensity as PE and Shop. A class that coupld push me in a defining direction sent me into a tailspin. I preferred the vague disciplines, where I might float around in the middle without having to actually produce anything beyond a mildly interest, my hand raised an appropriate number of times. You'd think I was on pot; you'd be wrong. Such malaise cannot be chemically induced. It must come from the soul. But that cake....I could muster some enthusiasm for that!
I'm so glad that there are people who keep the lost art of cake making (and baking in general) alive. 'Cause I'm not doin' it!
This was lovely. I was spared Home Ec by some stroke of luck. Phew! I loved the reasoning behind your purchases. xo
This was lovely. I was spared Home Ec by some stroke of luck. Phew! I loved the reasoning behind your purchases. xo
No comments:
Post a Comment