Stephanie of
Confessions of a City Eater chose this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie baking project and what a project it was...I think everyone was waiting for this recipe to be picked since it is on the cover of Dorie Greenspan's cookbook "Baking From My Home to Yours".
I've learned over the months that I've been baking along with the TWD group, that it's very, VERY important to read Dorie's recipes through and then read them again and maybe even read them a third time to make sure I know exactly what she's saying. For instance, in this recipe I wasn't sure when making the frosting what stage the egg whites needed to be whipped to before I started adding in the syrup, because she says to begin whipping them on medium, but if they get firm, shiny peaks before the syrup reaches 242 degrees then you have to slow them down. I personally would like information that said beat the whites until they were at such and such stage, then add the syrup, which should be 242 degrees. And then if she would want to add the part about how she might want to go about doing that, at least I would understand where I wanted things to be when they go together. I know...picky-picky. I just have a difficult time understanding what she's saying many times. I get so caught up in the recipe, I forget to take pictures as I go. Oh well!
After reading the P&Q this time and everyone having problems with the cake rising very much, I was a little hesitant to try. And I didn't have 8 inch round pans. But I found a couple of 8 inch square ones and decided to give it a go anyway. And of course, my cakes didn't rise very much either. One of the difficult tasks of this recipe was cutting the layers in half since they were so flat anyway. The picture on the cover has much fatter layers than my cake!! But the cake does taste delicious! More like a cakey brownie! The frosting tastes like whipped marshmallow and the mix of the two is just pure bliss.
Yum! Thanks Stephanie for a great choice! Go check out the recipe on Stephanie's blog and taste it for yourself!
I've learned over the months that I've been baking along with the TWD group, that it's very, VERY important to read Dorie's recipes through and then read them again and maybe even read them a third time to make sure I know exactly what she's saying. For instance, in this recipe I wasn't sure when making the frosting what stage the egg whites needed to be whipped to before I started adding in the syrup, because she says to begin whipping them on medium, but if they get firm, shiny peaks before the syrup reaches 242 degrees then you have to slow them down. I personally would like information that said beat the whites until they were at such and such stage, then add the syrup, which should be 242 degrees. And then if she would want to add the part about how she might want to go about doing that, at least I would understand where I wanted things to be when they go together. I know...picky-picky. I just have a difficult time understanding what she's saying many times. I get so caught up in the recipe, I forget to take pictures as I go. Oh well!
