Celebrating nothing in particular with the homemade funfetti cake recipe from Molly Yeh’s cookbook, Molly on the Range. Jump to recipe. [Read more…]
pink raspberry cake with buttercream frosting + a birthday party for two
The best bit of parenting advice I ever received is this: don’t listen to anyone. My friend Patrick told my friend Lucas that when he had his daughter, and then Lucas told me. Shouldn’t all advice be so simple? You already know what’s up, just do it.
This is my way of telling you that both my daughters had birthdays this week and I’ve spent too much time scrolling through old pictures and crying. Not necessarily ugly crying, but still. This parenting stuff is real.
And where there are birthdays, there is cake. [Read more…]
chocolate stout cake
People, it’s time. The season of decadent foodstuffs has begun. Even though in the past few weeks I’ve tested new dessert recipes, whipped up a Thanksgiving pie, and attended a cookie party, I decided that a recent weeknight birthday celebration for five called for a three-layer chocolate stout cake. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry, because I lightened things up with a whipped cream frosting. Instead of ganache. It’s called restraint. [Read more…]
clementine olive oil cake
With an upcoming exhibition of my paintings looming, I headed home from the studio late on New Year’s Eve. The streets were oddly quiet for a Saturday evening, though the air was somehow supercharged with anticipation. Though I’ve long loved dressing up and singing “Auld Lang Syne” with something sparkly in my glass, New Year’s Eve babysitters are hard to come by in the city, so this year we planned to celebrate at home. [Read more…]
a happy birthday
The birthday party was a success. We were glad that our family and friends could join us.
Everyone enjoyed a hot dog, and some were especially enjoyed with pimento cheese on top. We had several salads, including ambrosia, the preparation of which is pictured below.
The kids had fun. We busted out the goodie bags, complete with play dough, early. This led to some very high quality baking, and they nearly showed up the monkey cake.
The monkey cake did turn out really well, despite some late night baking mistakes. When doubling a recipe I have the tendency to double most of the ingredients. In this case, I forgot to double the milk and had to scoop the batter out of the cake pans and put it back in the bowl. Luckily, the cake was still buttery and delicate; just as cake should be.
Yellow Cake in the Shape of a Monkey Face
(adapted from Alice Waters’ the Art of Simple Food)
yields enough for a large two layer cake, and 15 or so cupcakes
8 room temperature eggs, seperated
2 cups room temperature milk
6 cups all-purpose flour
8 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 sticks of room temperature butter
4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Bring ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter the cake pans and coat with a light dusting of flour. If you like, butter and flour parchment cutouts to prevent the cake from sticking. Add liners to the cupcake pans.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
In another (large) bowl, beat the butter until fluffy, then add the sugar. Continue beating, adding one egg yoke at a time, then add the vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour mixture, divided into thirds, and the milk, divided in half, until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix. With clean beaters, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then fold into cake mixture. Pour into cake pans and cupcake tins and put into the oven immediately. Bake until cakes just start to turn golden, roughly 40 minutes.
For the Frosting (White and Chocolate)
3 sticks room temperature butter
2 cups powdered sugar
4 oz. melted chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla
heavy cream to taste
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Beat the butter until fluffy, then add the sugar. Once mixture seems creamy and spreadable (add the cream to acheive desired texture), add the vanilla and lemon. Set aside a quarter of the frosting. Then add 4 oz. melted and cooled chocolate to the mix and blend.
Add some ears to the layer cake and frost accordingly, use chocolate chips, crushed and whole, for the eyes and mouth. Voila, monkey cake. Want some?