For the very first time, The #1 Cooking Group ate dessert first.
Well, okay, we didn't exactly eat it, but we tasted....
and we tasted...
and we tasted...
(How could we not taste? See our role model in the painting? She's licking the spoon, too!)
As a rule, we haven't done much baking in Ninecooks group cooking, because we plan to cook and eat, and clean the kitchen, within three hours. However, the #1 group meets on weekends, so we have a bit more time for the actual cooking. And Mary, whom we all ask to bake our birthday cakes, volunteered to teach us how to make a basic cake, and to tweak the recipe ever so slightly to create a delicious variation.
We started with a Light Chocolate Cake, made with Dutch cocoa and a touch of cognac. Half of the group worked on that recipe while, at the same time, the others converted the recipe to a spice cake, by replacing the cocoa with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (and an extra third of a cup of cake flour).
Though both cakes could be baked in a tube pan, we opted to make them layer cakes, in part because the cakes themselves would bake more quickly...but really because we figured out that we'd be able to use more frosting.
For the frosting recipes, we turned to the King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion and used their recipes for Easy Buttercream (for the spice cake), and Easy Chocolate Buttercream (for the light chocolate cake). We made both frostings while the cakes cooled, and observed that the white buttercream stayed more moist, while the chocolate one needed to be loosened a bit (with a touch of brandy, which seemed to do the trick). Our guess? The white frosting contained some vegetable shortening, the chocolate one only butter.
After the frosting, we decorated simply with nasturtiums from the garden.
The rest of our dinner came together quickly: grilled salmon and haddock with peach and tomato salsa; grilled squash from Cathy's garden; salad greens and feta from Glocester Greens and Goats, with pears from my trees; corn on the cob; and grilled garlic bread.
It was all prelude, however, to the cakes. Both light and delicious, both beautiful. Both gone!
It was warm enough to enjoy our meal on the porch — a real treat before Fall really settles in. And for the #1 Cooking Group, Fall promises to be fun; two more members of this group have offered to lead our next cooking sessions. Look for Jessica's Korean barbecue and Jennifer's Mardi Gras/cajun menus in the months ahead as we continue our fifth year of cooking together.
I've always been a little phobic of baking - seems so much more like science since unlike a stir fry a too much or not enough can cause disaster. So this was great to get some hands on experience with the egg whites and batter. Plus the pre-cake meal was fab. (It's a wonder I had any room for dinner with all the bowl licking I did!)
Posted by: Jessica | September 19, 2006 at 08:24 AM
Cake is comfort food for me. I have many fond memories of hungrily making Duncan Hines cakes with my sisters after school and slathering them with rich butter frosting. The cakes were always a bit small and the frosting never went far enough and we shaved off little "slivers" for days until there was no more and it was time to make another cake. Even teenage chubbiness did not end the wonder of cake.
Posted by: Mary | September 20, 2006 at 06:53 AM
Box cakes were the only kind my mother (or I) ever made, so I'm still a bit afraid of scratch cakes. It was great to make them with the cooking group -- the recipes were simple, they came together quickly, and it encouraged me to try creating new variations on my own. Cooking with friends often gives me the courage to try new techniques and new recipes on my own.
Posted by: Lydia | September 20, 2006 at 09:12 AM