Erin Bakes Cake: Make + Bake +
Decorate = Your Own Cake Adventure! by Erin Gardner is what
happens when the game Twister (rainbow unicorn edition) and pure
cake innovation come together. It is a brilliantly done collection
of cakey components to mix and match to create stunning, must-make
and must-eat cake.
Base cake recipes with multiple variations, crunchy, nutty
add-ins for fillings, buttercreams, jams and more allow you to
raise your cake flag high. For instance, the Sweet Bouquet Cake
combines - Ginger Birthday Cake, Pineapple Lime Jam, Candied
Macadamia Nut Crunch and Raspberry Buttercream to make a cake that
would rival any bakery's version and worthy of any celebration.
Erin provides countless decorating tips and tricks, substitution
guides, remixes (not box mixes) but ideas to turn your tall layer
cake into a sheet cake, single layer or cupcakes. Her book is a
explosive array of color and cake ingenuity meant to transform us
into cake bosses. Note, throughout Erin does give instructions if
using a box mix as well as tips for making that box mix taste more
like homemade - but people - it's cake - it's special - make
it taste like homemade because it is - homemade. Seriously, do what
you need to do that works for you - but don't be afraid of baking
from scratch - there is a world of difference in taste.
I used the Chocolate Cake we are sharing here today for a
birthday cake and it was perfect. Erin's Peanut Butter Cake and
Vanilla Buttercream used in her Three-Ring Circus Cake - is next on
my list. Erin Bakes is my new go-to for fun, delicious
and anything but boring cake. I'm going to suggest that we bake
from Erin's book in The Cookbook Junkies Cookbook Club soon.
Special thanks to Rodale and the author for sharing a recipe
from this technicolor dream (I am resisting the urge to type
"crumbcoat") of a book. Rodale is offering three copies of this
book in our contest below - scroll down and enter.
Chocolate Birthday
Cake
Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the
blue +Bookshelf button).
doctor, doctor! The boxed equivalent
to this recipe would be a devil's food or dark chocolate cake mix.
For a denser cake that more closely resembles homemade, add 1 large
egg yolk and one 3.5-ounce box of instant chocolate pudding mix to
the ingredients called for on the box.
Yields:
10 cups batter
Two tall 8-inch round cakes
Three regular 6-inch round cakes
8 ounces unsalted butter,
softened
2 ½ cups packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 large eggs
1 ½ cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 cups warm water
1 cup whole milk
4 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for the pans)
Position a rack in the center of the
oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray and flour pans in your chosen
size.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
(or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer), beat together
the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt at
medium speed until fluffy and lighter in color, stopping to scrape
down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure there
are no butter lumps, about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, until completely combined. Stop and
scrape down the sides of the bowl halfway through mixing and after
adding the last egg.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and warm water
until combined. Once the cocoa powder has dissolved, add the milk
and whisk to combine.
With the mixer on low, add half of the flour to the butter
mixture until just incorporated. Slowly add half of the milk
mixture until combined. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl
with a rubber spatula. Add the remaining flour and mix until just
incorporated. Add the last of the wet ingredients and mix until
combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake,
rotating the pans' positions halfway through baking, until a
toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean or with
a few crumbs clinging to it, 45 to 50 minutes for 8-inch round pans
or 30 to 35 minutes for 6-inch round pans.
The publisher is offering three copies
of this title to EYB Members in the US. One of the entry options is
to answer the following question in the comments section of this
blog post.
Which recipe in the index are you excited to try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest
before posting or your entry won't be counted. Please be sure to
check your spam filters to make sure you receive our email
notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the
publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at
midnight on October 18th, 2017.