Third time's a charm?

I think it's time to move on to a new recipe. I made the Yellow Cake for the third time last night. This time I used actual cake flour.

 

As mentioned on the box, it is 27 times finer than all purpose flour. I really did notice a difference, it was incredibly soft, I wanted to lie down in it. And it did make a big difference in the final product, the texture of the cake was much softer. However,  IT WAS STILL DRY!!! I even added an additional two tablespoons of butter, and was very generous in my measuring of the milk. I did make an error with the assembly again (I think it is the same error I made the first time, involving the milk.) I added the entire 1 cup to the egg yolks, instead of just using a 1/4 cup there, and adding the other 3/4 cup to the dry mixture first. This may be the crux of the problem, as I understand it has something to do with the gluten breakdown (blah, blah, blah) anyway, I blame the recipe, because it says 1 cup milk in the ingredient list, rather than breaking it down into the two measurements. I have since changed it in my version, for your benefit, and in case I ever decide to try this one again. But my audience is loosing patience with repeated episodes of dry cake, so it will probably be a while. 

This one was for my brother Mike's birthday. We had fun anyway, and it didn't stop us from eating half the cake. 

 

That Chocolate Frosting recipe is a keeper though, it saves the cake every time.

Catch up and DRs Birthday

Oh my, a lot of food has been made since I last wrote. Most of it pretty banal, but all of it from scratch. I have been struggling with motivation on a level that shouldn't already be a problem so early in the year, so close to the making of New Years resolutions, resolutions that haven't even been given enough of a chance to fail. I read somewhere that it takes a month to break or start a habit, and now four months (almost) into this project, the making of the food is the new normal. There are so many things that don't even feel like effort any more, like making bread or granola. Even yogurt is only a mild effort. I finally had to make baking powder, and it really couldn't have been easier. I did have a totally unsuccessful go at making sour cream for DR's birthday chili, which was weird because I made it over the Christmas holiday and it worked out fine. But I guess I'll have to revisit that to see what went wrong. It was probably the fact that we were having guests, DRs friends who already think I am a little nutty came over to play poker, and partake of the weird set of snacks that result from trying to stay within the rules. There was an olive tray (remember the olive amendment), that included pickled okra left over from Thanksgiving, Tex-Mex Chili with tortilla chips which were made by cutting into triangles and frying corn tortillas that have been in our fridge since September (I didn't mention this to the guests), guacamole (this falls under the handmade by someone else rule - they make it fresh at Figueroa Produce), the sour cream that never set, nuts, and yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

I revisited the cake recipe from Baby J's birthday and set out with such high hopes that I was correcting all my previous mistakes. I bought actual pastry flour, assembled it while Baby J was sleeping so that he wouldn't distract me from combining the ingredients in the proper order, carefully sifted the flour, everything was going so well. It all started to fall apart when I tried to use the roasting rack in place of a cooling rack and totally split the first layer all to pieces.

I was devastated, but the second came layer out perfectly,

and DR was able to frost them so you couldn't tell at all, so I was sure that crisis had been averted and it was going to be wonderful, (my sampling of warm, broken piece was wonderful as only warm, broken pieces can be). But when it came to eating it actual slices of cake it was dry as dirt. The frosting was great, but I think the cake was even worse than the first one. I am blaming the flour. I was so excited to find actual Pastry Flour that I didn't take in that it was whole wheat pastry flour. (I'm also easily seduced by promises of making things that are delicious and better for you at the same time.)

It has come to my attention that whole wheat flour sucks moisture out of baked goods at significantly higher rate than white flour. I guess I thought it being pastry flour meant that it self corrected for the whole wheat aspect. I would like to test the theory of making it again with the an additional egg yolk and a little more milk, but I can't bear the possibility of another disappointment just yet. And it is quite a bit of cake for two adults to have around the house... and no matter how dry and awful it is, somehow I still end up eating it. The whole adventure was not lost, however because I got to test a little bit of knowledge passed on to me by my sister KK at Christmastime... Before shopping for the cake and frosting I noted that we had a box of powdered/confectioners sugar left over from the cake I made in December, so I didn't buy anymore. I didn't note that I need 3 cups of it, and that the 4 cup box was 3/4 empty. But in discussing making some dessert for Christmas, KK mentioned that you can make confectioners sugar by putting regular sugar in a coffee grinder.

 

The name powdered sugar should have tipped me off, that it's just sugar, powdered. Anyway, this was a thrilling discovery that worked out great, though it was pretty time consuming making sure all the grains were ground up. I had to grind it in batches, and run each batch through twice. But the frosting was delicious, so at least something worked out. 

Yellow Butter Cake

I found this recipe on thejoyofbaking.com

There is a long description of how to combine the ingredients and why the order and process is important to the actual moistness of the cake. Due to the fact that my cooking assistant was a one year old birthday boy who thinks he's too big for a nap, I completely messed up this delicate process. The result was not the perfectly moist cake that was promised, but rather a kind of dry and crumbly one. The birthday boy in question had no reservations about enjoying his very first slice of cake, but I was disappointed....

However, I was comforted in knowing that this information matters, and that if I had followed the directions properly the cake would have been perfect, and in the future I might just do that.

6 large egg yolks

1/4 cup milk + 3/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

3 cups sifted cake flour (I couldn't find cake flour at the store, but my brilliant baker cousin Molly informed me that I could just substitute all purpose flour with a bit of corn starch, and a little internet searching proved this to be true. Cornstarch lightens all purpose flour and reduces the protein content... however using actual cake flour probably would have helped some.)

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar 

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder 

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces (I was a little impatient with the butter getting to room temp. It was probably too cold)

Preheat oven to 350º F.  

Butter two 9-inch x 1 1/2 inch cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper, then butter the parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl lightly combine the egg yolks, 1/4 cup milk, and vanilla extract. (pay attention here! I added the entire cup of milk at this point...this was a crucial error!)

In the bowl of your electric mixer combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended.

Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. ( I had to start adding the egg mixture here because of my milk error, which means the gluten didn't have a chance to break down before I added the liquid, which has a toughening effect, which is why the cake was dry.) Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Increase the speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Gradually add the egg mixture, in 3 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg.  

Divide the batter and pour into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with an offset spatula.  (Pans will be about half full.) Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.  

Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes.  Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack.  To prevent splitting, re-invert cakes so that tops are right side up.  Cool completely before frosting.