After some debate and a look through several children's cookbooks, the pair decided on a three-layer chocolate cake with orange frosting, complete with purple, green and black decorations. The c. 1934 recipe we found was called Demon Cake (another name for devils food?) which made it ideal for the Halloween holiday season.
The cake was a bit complex; it required the separation of five eggs, for one thing. Miles had a fun time doing so, and now I have a bunch of broken eggs for my omelet tomorrow morning. Thanks, Miles! But he finally got the hang of it and quite enjoyed the squishy feeling of the whites slipping through his fingers.
Zoe proved herself a natural pastry chef by her innate ability to beautifully decorate the cake. Not only could she handle a pastry bag with ease, she was able to write Happy Halloween quite legibly even though writing legibly with frosting is very challenging.
As always when I bake, there was a near disaster of sorts when the someone bumped into the oven and accidentally moved the dial from 350 to 450 degrees. The design of my oven (the nob sticks way out from the panel) invites this sort of thing all the time. Luckily, I checked the cakes after 15 minutes and not only were they done, they were almost charcoaled.
But, once the frosting was on (I used the buttercream recipe from the Magnolia Bakery), the cake was delicious, and quite gorgeous.
Vanilla Buttercream
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
8 - 10 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 tbs. vanilla extract
Place the butter in a mixing bowl. Add in five cups of sugar, then the milk and vanilla. On medium speed of an electric mixer, beat about 3-5 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating about 2 minutes after each addition, until the icing is thick enough for good spreading consistency. You may not need all the sugar.
Zoe proved herself a natural pastry chef by her innate ability to beautifully decorate the cake. Not only could she handle a pastry bag with ease, she was able to write Happy Halloween quite legibly even though writing legibly with frosting is very challenging.
As always when I bake, there was a near disaster of sorts when the someone bumped into the oven and accidentally moved the dial from 350 to 450 degrees. The design of my oven (the nob sticks way out from the panel) invites this sort of thing all the time. Luckily, I checked the cakes after 15 minutes and not only were they done, they were almost charcoaled.
But, once the frosting was on (I used the buttercream recipe from the Magnolia Bakery), the cake was delicious, and quite gorgeous.
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| ZOE SAID: SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, EAT NO EVIL (EXCEPT FOR DEMON CAKE) |
Vanilla Buttercream
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
8 - 10 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 tbs. vanilla extract
Place the butter in a mixing bowl. Add in five cups of sugar, then the milk and vanilla. On medium speed of an electric mixer, beat about 3-5 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating about 2 minutes after each addition, until the icing is thick enough for good spreading consistency. You may not need all the sugar.
MMMmmm! I will have to do this my 6th grade daughter. And I'm sure my 17-year-old will eat it all up!
ReplyDeleteVictoria on an island near Seattle
Is the Magnolia icing the one you typically use on cakes like this?
ReplyDeleteNice cake! Looks great. From a fellow Brooklyn food blogger & baker
ReplyDelete@Victoria: Let me know if you make it. Love the idea how a fun project with your sixth grader will please your 17-year-old. (Of course, I can't believe Wiley is 17!!)
ReplyDelete@Barbara: Frosting is my Achilles heel (I will blog about this soon) so I decided to use a more sure-thing frosting than the one that was recommended for this cake, which involved cooking a sugar syrup.
@Sasha: Thanks so much! Always glad to hear from a fellow Brooklyn food blogger. Perhaps you'll join me in the first annual Brooklyn Bake-Off, which I planned to have this fall but now am looking at January or February.