Some people at my office celebrated a party recently with Buttercup Bake Shop cupcakes. I observed a woman savoring one of their red velvet cupcakes. I was curious about the concept of red velvet cake, so I set off to create a birthday cake to explore (and possibly demystify) the intrigue.

I searched my baking books and was dismayed to find few, if any, recipes for this cake. Even the Cake Bible produced no results. Was this a conspiracy? So I did an internet search and came up with three recipes from epicurious.com, Joy of Baking, and Cakeman Raven’s cake via Food Network. Cakeman Raven’s 1 1/2 cups of oil seemed a bit much, so I leaned towards the other two recipes which called for butter. However, I did not want to eliminate the oil entirely as it would add moisture, so I added a token 2 tablespoons. I tried to use as little red food coloring as possible, but basically ended up using about the entire 2 tablespoons generally called for this cake. The resulting cake was extremely red so I felt I should have added less in retrospect.

very red cake!

Alas, I concluded that the lure of the red velvet cake was largely psychological. The mere mention of red velvet cake prompts “oohs” and guilty smiles. The color red is indeed seductive, dramatic and has a stimulating effect, but adds little intrinsic flavor value. I figured this is the reason why it was so difficult to find in my recipe books. Overall, though, it was a good cake, turned out extremely moist and was well-received.

this was a chocolate cake with mocha frosting and filling. i piped a shell border and placed chocolate covered espresso bean on alternate shells. i spread a layer of apricot jam in the middle so the roses on top, made from dried apricots, allude to the apricot preserves within. the roses were made by splitting a dried apricot in half (they should have be en pre-split during the pitting process), and rolling each half in parchment paper with a rolling pin to thin it out. once the “petals” are flattened, wrap and form several into a rose. the leaves are hand-formed from modeling chocolate.

i wanted to try covering a cake’s side with chocolate, so i experimented with modeling chocolate (aka chocolate plastic). it is a mixture of melted chocolate and corn syrup and the final result has the consistency of tootsie rolls. modeling chocolate can also be used to sculpt with, but i rolled it out into a thin layer using a rolling pin and cocoa powder to prevent sticking. i also used a knife to cut out a freeform edge, and applied the layer to the edge of the cake.

a culinary tribute to independence day…

I took a class at the ICE recently with Chef Chad Pagano called “Exploring Petits Gateaux” (the translation from French is “Exploring Little Cakes”). Chef Chad is currently preparing for the 2007 National Pastry Team Championship held in Nashville this July (which is scheduled to air on FoodNetwork later in the year), so the recipes for the class were originally conceived for possible use for the competition.

Pictured above are some of the cakes created in our class (unfortunately, they were taken with my camera phone, so the quality could be better). The upper left photo features a “Nougatine Parisienne”, which consists of layers of pistachio macaroon sponges, caramelized apricots, and nougatine cream. The sides are wrapped in a wall of chocolate transfer sheet. Creating the various components of each petit gateaux really is a really time-consuming process, so our teams were limited to one creation. I made the nougatine, which is akin to fancy peanut brittle. Timing is key, from toasting the almond slices, to achieving the correct blond caramel color (this took some figuring out!), to spreading the mixture thinly on a sheet to cool. Part of the nougatine was ground and incorporated into the nougatine cream, part was broken in irregular chunks and spared for decoration. The cake was garnished with a layer of melted apricot jam, whole pistachios, nougatine, bubble sugar, and thin slivers of toasted vanilla bean. An exquisite and decadent presentation!

Chef Chad demonstrated some basic sugar techniques, which was a real delight. I have glassblowing experience, and since melted sugar behaves similarly to molten glass, I felt an affinity for the process. The lower left photo is what happens when isomalt sugar is melted in an oven on a silpat covered by another sheet of silpat. Chef Chad added a mere few drops of food coloring to the sugar, which created these amorphous patches of color. We later used the resulting “sugar bubbles” as garnish.

The upper right photo features the “Passionata” — layers of coconut dacquoise disks, passion fruit bavarian, and pineapple filling, glazed with a passion fruit miroir. This was actually my favorite, as I’m kind of on a passion fruit kick right now (the green tea/passion fruit dessert I had from the Sadaharu Aoki Patisserie in Paris got me hooked).

Pictured on the lower right is the “Pralinette” — layers of marjolaine sponge cake disks, Italian meringue, light praline cream, wrapped in chocolate plastic (aka modeling chocolate). The chocolate plastic is rolled with a rolling pin using cocoa powder to prevent sticking, and then cut to size. Once wrapped around the cake, the top edges are folded in to the center. The nest-like garnish was created from isomalt sugar melted with a bit of water. The melted sugar drips from the end of the spoon and once the correct temp is achieved, it can be “spun” by threading the sugar quickly around your hand.

I think this class will definitely keep my inspired for a while. I can’t wait to recreate or modify some of the creations, but first, I’ve got a big baking project this summer that’s been keeping me preoccupied — my first wedding cake for friends!! More on that to follow…

Here’s a photo of some scones I made recently using this orange glazed blueberry scones recipe as a base. Instead of blueberries, I folded in some jam at the end. I happened to use raspberry and apricot jams. I prefer wedge-shaped scones, which is achieved by forming a round and cutting it into slices, pizza-style.

this was a birthday cake for a recipient who likes strawberries, so chocolate-dipped strawberries on top of the cake seemed a likely decoration. this is a chocolate cake with a layer of sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream inside. i stabilized the whipped cream with gelatin to avoid a potentially runny mess (might have gotten away with not doing this at this time of year, but i thought i wouldn’t take the chance).

i dipped the strawberries in ganache - chocolate melted with whipped cream, and then melted additional white chocolate and drizzled that over the dark for added contrast.

Here’s a mocha chocolate cake that I literally whipped up on the morning of a party, so spontaneity was the name of the game. I didn’t have any buttermilk, which is what I normally use for my chocolate cakes, so I decided to experiment with soy creamer instead. I also added minimal traces of cayenne, ginger and cinnamon. I was really quite happy with the outcome. The cake was less dense, but also more fragile, as it was much lighter in texture. However, it was incredibly moist, as well.

I came up with the ideas for the decorations on the fly, as well. I had some slivered almonds on hand, so I tried making some sort of basket or wall-like pattern. I made the flowers out of gum paste and sprinkled the top of the cake with coconut flakes. This was a huge hit!

it’s a new year and i’ve resolved to practice healthier habits. i cashed in a gift certificate i received from my father-in-law for a class at the institute of culinary education and took a course on vegan chocolate desserts taught by fran costigan. i was quite pleased by the results and thought very little was sacrificed in terms of taste by using exclusively nondairy items.

pictured above is the recreation of the dessert my group created in class, the black bottom chocolate chestnut tart (made for my dad’s birthday). it was composed of an organic chocolate cookie crust, a layer of ganache, chocolate chestnut filling, and chestnut cream. alas, i have no photo of a slice or cross-section of the tart, but the light chestnut cream created a nice color contrast against the chocolate filling and dark cookie crust. whole chestnuts or marrons glaces would have been an ideal topper for the tart, but since i ran of chestnuts, but did have some ganache to spare, i made truffles with the latter, rolled them in cocoa powder or chopped nuts, and used that for decoration.

fran was a lively teacher and created her recipes after years of experimentation and tweaking. it was really interesting to learn how various ingredients could be substituted, i.e. agave for sugar, canola oil for butter, soy creamer for milk, etc. (of course, it’s not a matter of simply substituting canola oil whenever butter is called for, often other ingredients are also incorporated to create the right chemistry).

my health-conscious parents were quite pleased with this no cholesterol dessert. i was happy with the clean taste and happy to serve them a less guilt-ridden dessert. i’m looking forward to trying some other vegan recipes from fran’s class - “gianduja” cheezecakes in a chocolate hazelnut crust (using tofu), and triple chocolate black forest cake. yum…

The buche de noel is a Christmas cake in the shape of a tree log. I used Nick Malgieri’s recipe from his book, Perfect Cakes. I baked a layer of chocolate genoise sheet cake, then frosted it with mocha buttercream. The sheet cake was then rolled into a cylinder. One end was truncated, and the cut piece placed atop the cake formed a branch. I frosted the cake with the remaining buttercream and used an offset spatula and/or fork to create a bark-like texture. The mushrooms, holly leaves and berries and pine cones are all made of marzipan. As a final touch, the entire assembled cake is dusted with cocoa powder and confectioner’s sugar. Happy Holidays!!!