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My practice cake for the Wilton Decorating class, week 2 (July 21,2007).

h1.

Narrative

This cake was an awful trial because the time really ran out—even though I started a little before 8:00 AM! I should have baked the cake the night before and then refrigerated it. Unless the cake is due at, say, 6:00 PM, it’s just not reasonable to expect myself to create the whole cake in one day.

The recipe (Bee Lian’s Rich Orange Cake, doubled with all-purpose substituted and half teaspoon vanilla added) was odd for me because I’d never folded in fresh egg whites before (or whisked egg whites to peaks at all!) Now, the texture of the resulting cake was really fantastic. Although the top felt squishy out of the oven—not cool—the taste was well worth the imperfections in the cake surface.

I had considered many orange cake recipes, some of which included liqueur or orange essence. Essence is sketchy, so I passed on that, and I didn’t want to run out and buy Grand Marnier. This one, however, required orange zest and fresh orange juice, which I preferred because it seemed fresher. Of course, I used oj from the store because it didn’t ask for freshly squeezed, and the rind had been frozen from last week. I used the Simply Orange organic orange juice to make sure that no additives would ruin the cake texture. Also, it didn’t ask for vanilla, but I put half a teaspoon in anyway because the lack freaked me out, and I substituted all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder for the self-rising flour it called for.

It baked funnily: it wanted to burn on the top before it really set up well, and I think it was a problem with the egg-white-folding technique, rather than with my oven temperature being off. Because of the cake’s fragility, I found it difficult to remove the cake, and the sides were a tad torn in a few places. Part of the problem could have been the Wilton Cake Release, which I probably didn’t put enough of in the pan. So, it might be yummy enough on the inside (ie moist and fluffy) to justify the problems with crumbs.

The crumb coat didn’t solve the crumb problem because of the icing I use. This icing was the Cream Cheese Frosting in Cake Decorating for Dummies (pretty much this frosting, except with only 1 tsp vanilla and 3.75 cups 10X sugar). I was worried about it because it was so soft: it wouldn’t have formed stiff peaks if I’d whisked it for hours. Probably, I should have tried crumb coating it with this goo, and then worked on making it stiffer later. As it was, I added confectioner’s sugar and shortening to get the consistency right. This time, I overshot, and the icing was grainy, uber-grainy, so it looked sandy on the cake after it crusted over.

Meanwhile, the crumb coat didn’t work. Maybe I didn’t refrigerate it long enough, or—just as likely—you shouldn’t crumb coat with cream cheese icing. Next time, because thickening it ruined the texture, I’ll crumb coat with buttercream and then just trust that the final layer will set, making sure to keep it in the fridge until just before serving.

To save my sanity while I desperately tried to smooth out this impossible icing, Andrew suggested that we put it in the freezer. When it came out, it was difficult to work with but produced great results. Next time, I’ll definitely freeze it again and heat the spatula: that combination should do the trick.

What I learned

1. Substitute all-purpose flour for self-rising by adding half a teaspoon of salt and one and a half teaspoons of baking powder for each cup of flour
2. Crumb coats are a tricky business, and I need to learn more about them. Should I have cooled it more or let it crust more? Should the layer have been thinner? Should I have used a thinner icing?
3. Use tons of Wilton Cake Release, or frosting will be a nightmare. If that still doesn’t work, start using parchment on pan bottoms.
4. Star borders and Swiss dot work require lots of patience: make sure to hover just above cake with the tip, stop pressure before removing tip from surface. Don’t hurry!
5. Buy the cake coloring gels (not the paste) next time, but for now, just remember that it actually takes quite a bit of paste to color a batch of frosting and that it’s annoying to use so many toothpicks with the paste!
6. Deep, saturated colors look more professional.
7. Spend lots of time making sure color is evenly distributed in frosting. No one wants an unintentionally marbled surface!
8. Do invert cakes with parchment on top of cooling rack.
9. Covering cake board w/saran wrap works just fine, preventing grease from getting on cardboard rounds, and the cake won’t slide around on it if you put a glob of frosting under it.
10. Cookie cutters do make excellent templates.
11. That advice about purposely underbaking might be a little suspicious. The cake did seem to sink just a tiny bit after removing from oven, and it wasn’t exactly cooked in the very middle. I hated the squishy feeling of the cake layer out of the oven too soon. Use the “springing back” test, but just be quick about it!
12. The cake leveler requires different strategies for different layers, depending on what shape the cake’s in and how dense it is. Sometimes you will have to saw a bit, and other times it’s a good idea to score the sides first before doing insides. Just make sure to press fingers against the wire from the time when the cake’s 60% done to the finish. Make sure to keep one hand on leveler, the other hand on the cake to keep from sliding.
13. Be very cautious when adding more ingredients to frosting. Frosting can go from puddly to grainy within 1 c of 10X sugar. And remember, shortening is gross. Consider adding more butter; soften it over stove.
14. To frost a rebellious cake, put it in the freezer for seven to ten minutes, and then use a spatula dipped in hot water. You can put more pressure on slightly frozen frosting!
15. Use tweezers to take out crumbs that stubbornly stick on your cake.

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