Tuesday, June 30, 2009

TWD - Perfect Party Cake


This week's Tuesday with Dorie brought back memories for me, some good, some bad, because I had made the chosen recipe once before for the Daring Bakers. The recipe was for was Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, chosen by Carol of Mix, Mix Stir.

I had some issues with my previous Perfect Party Cake, as it was the first time that I had ever cut cake into layers (or holes!) or made a meringue buttercream frosting, and the cake stuck like crazy to everything it touched. In that case, "Perfect Party Cake" was a misnomer.

Making the buttercream this time came off without a hitch and reminded me of how far I've come, although the cakes themselves were still pretty "sticky". However, I didn't want to make exactly the same cake again, so I went for minis, with cherry jam in the middle and crushed toffee on top for decoration.

I found these cakes awfully sweet, and unfortunately, I still did not like the buttercream. However, my colleagues really liked these, just as my previous colleagues liked the big "snowball" cake I made last time. This brought back plenty of ghosts for me - friendly ghosts though, of sharing the Party Cake in Melbourne, of Simon our resident photographer taking a photo of the cake, and of people being in almost religious awe of it (even though I knew that those layers of frosting hid some cake-making sins). I also posted about it while I was in New Zealand for a Split Enz concert, where I saw the thermal springs for the first time, visited the historic Treaty House, went for a "sail" on Auckland harbour, dared to go through the Hole in the Rock, and met Sonny, our hilarious Rotorua tour guide, and Martin Bosley, restauranteur extraordinaire.

Thanks to Carol for bringing back some pretty special memories for me. You can check out how the other members of TWD fared with the Perfect Party Cake by visiting the TWD blogroll.

22 comments:

Leslie said...

These are SOO cute! I struggled with mine, too, but mostly because it didn't rise and I over baked it.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

That looks very pretty :) Isn't it funny how cakes and food brings back such great memories (I guess sight, smnell and taste is triggered)!

Engineer Baker said...

I agree - not a huge fan of the buttercream. But your cupcakes look wonderful!

Pamela said...

Those little cakes look adorable! My cake is made, but I haven't tried it yet. I'll have to wait until the morning to find out what it tastes like. Hope I like it!

Jules Someone said...

Well, at least now you know. They look good!

Tammy said...

I dont like buttercream either. when I made it last year I used whipped cream

The Caked Crusader said...

I love the way you've made them individual cakes - there's something very special about getting the whole cake rather than a slice if you're like me (i.e. greedy!)

Mary said...

very nice, you have to be careful when making buttercream its not easy as it may seam coz if you add too much butter it tastes only of butter.

♥Rosie♥ said...

Oh these little cakes are just berautiful!! Any chance of passing one over ;0) *slurp*

Anonymous said...

I love your mini-cakes. They look wonderful. YUM!

Soy*Baby said...

Very cute. I love little cakes.

Kayte said...

Seems a lot of people had issues with the icing and not caring much for it...the great thing about this cake is that it is the Perfect Party Cake (she did not say "And Icing"), so you can mix and match it in hundreds of ways. I have to say one of my favorite ways is those cupcakes you made...those look really delicious!

The Blonde Duck said...

They look cute to me!

Amanda said...

Love the cupcakes! I'm not a fan of the buttercream either, but the cake was amazing :0)

Cakelaw said...

Hi Leslie, I know I had the same issues when I made it last time - one of the reasons why I had trouble cutting the cake into layers!

Hi Lorraine, absolutely - I think this is why food is such a huge part of our lives (no matter what Andrew Denton says!).

Thanks Caitlin :)

Thanks Pamela - I am going to pop over to yours shortly and see how it went.

LOL Jules - true!

Hi Tammy, whipped cream may be nicer. I have a lot of frosting left in the fridge, but I think I'll toss it.

I agree Crusader - there's something very satisfying about getting a cake to yourself.

Hi Mary, agreed. This buttercream has 3 sticks of butter, so I think it is going to be buttery no matter how long you beat it.

LOL Rosie, thanks :)

Thanks Wendy.

Hi Kim, I love little cakes too - the cute factor comes in with smaller sizes.

LOL Kayte - agreed!

Thanks Duckie!

Hi Amanda, yes, a lovely lemony cake that you could use for other things.

Cakelaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
isabelle said...

Love the cupcakes, so cute! I dont like buttercream either.

Hindy said...

Everyone made cupcakes and they're all so cute. Now I have to make this recipe all over. Luckily today is a holiday, so I have time.
Love your photos!

Teanna said...

I used a different icing and loved it! So glad your coworkers loved it just like they liked you previous "snowball" cake! Hahah love that name!

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

I am glad this cake brought back some nice memories and gave you a sense of accomplishment and progress in your baking skills. Great job.

Anonymous said...

Your mini Perfect Party Cakes are soo cute! I also think your original Perfect Party Cake looked beautiful! I brought mine into work and used the exact same wording as you did to describe my cake to my co-workers who thought it looked professional - the frosting covered a multitude of sins! =)

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Isabelle. I believe it is this type of buttercream in particular.

Thanks Clivia :)

Thanks Teanna

Hi Carol, thanks for being our host.

Absolutely LA - gotta love a frosting layer that doubles as glue, plaster, pat etc