Blast from the Past: Under the Sea Baby Shower Cake

Almost exactly a year ago, a friend and I made a lovely baby shower cake for my little sister's first baby shower.

As the theme was "Under the Sea", so the cake theme was as well.  We expected around 40 people to the shower, and boy, did they all come!  It was quite the event; obviously my sister is very much loved for some reason....heh heh...

In any case, the cake was 4 layers, 4 different flavours, and awesome all over! I had to personally transport the cake from Toronto to Ottawa the day prior to the shower (of which I was also the Kitchen Lead for all of the food for the party - eek!), so I made sure to box each layer separately to minimize the chance of a gravity-hates-you cakey disaster on the way.

The fondant figures were not made by me; I concentrated on baking off the cakes, making the fillings/frostings, and torting, filling, and crumb-coating each cake. I also tinted each ball of fondant to the exact colours we were looking for (not an easy task, letmetellyou...).

The cake flavours were:

• Bottom Layer: Bourbon Vanilla Bean with Strawberry-Vanilla Buttercream filling
• Lower Middle: Deep Chocolate with Chocolate buttercream filling
• Upper Middle: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream filling
• Top Layer: Tropical Carrot Cake with Pineapple Cream Cheese Buttercream filling

Some close-up pics of the little fondant sea creatures:

I just love this little goldfish!

Great little seashells and starfish

Crabby Dude sez "hi!"

Crabby dude's brother

Our work station during production, with the inspiration cake pic

Well, a cake that could easily have fed 80 people ended up with only a few pieces left at the end of the day...not that I'm complaining! Everyone raved about the cake, and I was gratified to have been able to deliver on a daunting commission -- it just *had* to be right.

This is what the serving table looked like when the cakes had been cut and plated (this was only about 1/2 of the cake cut at this point):

Holy gigantic servings, Batman!

A last little note to all; don’t be disappointed if your cake doesn’t turn out *exactly* like your inspiration cake; after all, you're supposed to take your inspiration from the original image, not make a carbon copy! We made some small errors with this cake, ’tis true, but we learned some things and also improved a few things, too. 

All in all, we’re proud of our little cake, and we’re glad we had the opportunity to make it.

Angel Food Cake

In the midst of prep for my wedding at the end of this month (did I mention I'm making my own wedding cake AND the entire dessert table? Yes, I am just that crazy), I also agreed to make a birthday cake for a close friend's awesome mom, who dearly loves my baking. 

Because once again, yes, I am just that crazy.

After the mom and I had an Inigo Montoya-style chat about what historically constitutes a "strawberry shortcake", versus what people tend to think it means today, I did some thinking, some questioning my friend as to what cake flavours, textures, and densities her mum likes the best, and some good-old google-fu. I decided that what would probably be most appreciated was a vanilla angel food cake, torted and filled with sliced fresh market strawberries and a stabilized Chantilly cream for both filling and frosting.

Now, the last time I made an angel food cake from scratch, I was in pastry school, and the recipe made four at a time. So, it was time to research a good quality, foolproof recipe from a chef I could trust, since I really didn't want to waste so much product on an iffy recipe.

There are few TV personality chefs I trust more than Alton Brown, and this time was no exception. Brown's extremely well-researched Angel Food Cake recipe turned out perfectly; so well, in fact, that my notorious habit of tweaking every recipe I use to personalize it more to my tastes was quiescent...I simply could not think of a single change to his AFC recipe that would have improved it an iota, it's just that good.

So without further ado, here is the recipe for the best angel food cake out there. My only recommendation is that you follow it TO THE LETTER, as this cake can be incredibly persnickety and will likely fail on you if you deviate from the recipe! (No pressure).

Angel Food Cake

Source: Good Eats; Episode "Let Them Eat Foam (Angel Food Cake)"; host Alton Brown

Yield: 10 servings

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cake flour, sifted
• 12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better)
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon orange extract, or extract of your choice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the salt and the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside.

In a large bowl, use a balloon whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, orange extract, and cream of tartar. After 2 minutes, switch to a hand mixer. Slowly sift the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed. 

Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.

Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. 

Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).

Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.

Cook's Note: Since they're easier to separate use the freshest eggs you can get.

Per Serving (based on 10 servings): Calories: 208; Total Fat: 0 grams; Saturated Fat: 0 grams; Protein: 5 grams; Total carbohydrates: 47 grams; Sugar: 36 grams; Fiber: 0 grams; Cholesterol: 0 milligrams; Sodium: 115 milligrams