Search the Community

A Christian homeschooler graduated with highest honors, summa cum laude, so his parents wanted to honor that accomplishment at his graduation party. The bakery censored the cake and the boy had to explain why to his family. Pure magic and hilarity, made better because of the homeschooling part. https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/supermarket-censors-summa-cum-laude-from-graduation-cake/2018/05/22/75bb356a-5d9c-11e8-b656-236c6214ef01_video.html?utm_term=.ae881286f93b Picture of cake in spoiler

This was my birthday cake this year, I took pics because I meant to post it to celebrate with you the first Madam President (my birthday in November 7th) but we all know how well that plan went. The romantic and delicate name (no idea where it comes from) of the cake wasn't fit for the rage inducing occasion anymore. Anyway here's it, containing the right amount of chocolate and grappa (or rum, or cognac as you prefer) many of you may find helpful to face a festivity with unbearable relatives. Ingredients: -6 eggs, 6 spoonfuls of sugar, 250gr of white flour, 150gr whole wheat flour, 200gr amaretti, 200gr of chocolate, 140gr of butter, 4 big pears (or nashi or apples as you prefer), 50gr of grappa, a pinch of salt, baking powder. I prepared all the ingredients, melted the butter, sifted the flour with the baking powder and the salt, put the yolks in a bowl with half the sugar and the whites with the other half of the sugar, cut the chocolate in chunks, crushed the amaretti (not too much, better to leave them in pieces not a flour) and peeled and diced half a pear (the other half became my daughter's mid afternoon snack) and some little nashis (to be honest the recipe required apples but I love chocolate and pears). Heated the oven. I whipped the whites till hard and then the yolks until they change consistency, ripples and the sugar melts. I mixed them carefully stirring with a slow bottom-up movement until the mixture became homogeneous. Added the flour slowly one spoonful at a time always mixing as before, when it started becoming too dense to mix well I started adding some melted butter and alternating it with adding the flour. When the mixture was homogeneous again I added the chocolate, the amaretti and the fruits. Last thing the grappa. Poured everything in the oven pan and cooked for 45 minutes more or less (always check with a toothpick) at 180ºC. And this is it If you take it out immediately from the oven pan and let it cool on a grid it won't shrink. And the following morning for breakfast I should have put confectioners sugar on it but my daughter tends to inhale it eating and then chokes and coughs. I love this cake, it's a spirit lifter.

Fair warning: I'm not a blogger, foodie, or photographer. I don't have fancy equipment or a skill level higher than most fifth graders so judge accordingly. ------------ I asked for help when I needed a great coconut cake recipe and FJ came through. This is an amalgamation of the recipes shared today. For the cake itself I used http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/special-occasion-white-cake from @Leftitinmysnood with the following exceptions: substituted the almond and vanilla extract with coconut extract and due to a mishap I lost some egg white so was probably closer to 3.5. Basic white cake just cake flour, baking powder, a little salt, shortening (I use Imperial Margerine when any recipe calls for shortening - to do anything else would cause my mother to roll over in her grave), egg whites, sugar, cold water and extract. they key is to make sure the sugar and butter are properly creamed (I'm lazy so I've been know to short this part of the process - you can taste it) and to alternate adding the dry ingredients and water...fully incorporating each segment before adding more. My bottom oven hates me so I had to cut the temp to 325 and the time by 15 minutes to get them to come out evenly. and they looked underdone but totally weren't and would have been ruined had I left them in longer. Not sure why one didn't brown more. and, no I don't have matching cake pans. It's something I keep meaning to pick up, but I don't do layer cakes that often so I keep forgetting to buy them. Oh well, if the Pope or a Van Halen ever comes to dinner I'll buy better bake ware first. while they were baking I made the simple syrup with which to moisten the cake. I used a cup of sugar, 1/4 cup coconut water, 1/4 cup water and a splash of coconut extract. Brought to a boil until it reduced and let it cool. after the syrup and cakes were room tempI poked holes in the cakes and poured the syrup over each and put them in the fridge to chill. Thats a water streak on the table - I'm too tired to edit ...don't make me. i attempted to make the frosting suggested in the thread, but there was a prepare ahead step I didn't notice and so in the interest of time I just winged a variation buttercream frosting. Three sticks of butter, the seperated cream of a can of cream of coconut, powdered sugar, a little splash of coconut extract. There was a lot left over even after my taste testing enough that I wasn't hungry for dinner. It really was good. And I have no idea how much powdered sugar I used since I just eyeballed it. it's probably a good thing I don't write cook books. after the cakes were cool I frosted them - generous layer of butter cream and coconut in the middle and smothered the outside in the same. granted no one is going to hire me to work in a bakery, but I thought it came out okay. i don't cut well (i don't know why the photo is yellow) but it came out pretty moist...my family liked it... and not just the human members. I was on the couch and moved my plate temporarily to keep my leftovers out of reach of the pups when Shadow decided she wanted dessert...

Yesterday I noticed I had too many eggs. My overly producing chickens haven't noticed yet that it's winter, it's cold and they should slow down. Since even after giving away a lot of them, the eggs were still too many, I decided to make an eggs-consuming cake, here we call it Torta Margherita or Pan di Spagna (Spanish bread). It requires 8 eggs, 300gr of potato starch, 300gr of sugar, half an orange's juice, baking powder, some cinnamon, dried vanilla and grated orange skin. I whipped the whites with half of the sugar till hard. Then I whipped the yolks with the other half of the sugar till they doubled and became creamy and whitish. I mixed them together in a very big bowl carefully stirring with slow bottom-up movements. I added the sifted potato starch bit by bit always carefully stirring as before. At the end I added a pinch of baking powder, half an orange juice, a pich of cinnamon, vanilla and the orange skin. Mixed carefully as before. Then I cooked it in the static oven at 180ºC for an hour. It's important to start with a cold oven, turning it on only after putting the cake inside. After an hour I checked if it was ready and then left it on a grid to cool down. The result is a very big cake that lasts for days (not in my home ), best eaten with any sort of tea or caffelatte. If you want to reduce the doses you must half everything and use 4 eggs.