Cake Update

The first attempt at cake was a failure. Not a total, inedible failure, but one flat, dense sponge cake. So what did William do? He tried it again, of course.

We determined that the first recipe he used was relying on technique instead of good basic ingredients. To be specific, it was based on whipping a lot of air into the cake instead of using basic leavening ingredients like salt and baking powder.

And so we turned to the Cake Boss. We found a basic yellow cake recipe by the titular cake baker from that show. And much to our delight, be not much to my surprise, the recipe was much simpler.

The only problem was releasing the cake from the pan. The pan was greased and floured, but the batter absorbed a lot of the flour, and so it stuck fast to the bottom of the pan. It wouldn't come out until Karen came home; she has a knack for these things, partly from experience with sweet breads. We left a thin layer of cake at the bottom of the pan, which Karen and I promptly scraped off and ate.

The rest of the cake is still intact and ready to frost tomorrow. And the verdict on taste? Just the scrapings from the bottom, even with the extra flour from the pan, are delicious! I think William is on his way to being a terrific baker.

And we'd better find some people to invite over for cake, or we're never going to lose any weight.