Cake

I like to cook and bake but there are some things that kick my butt every time. As some of you know, anything with gelatin or Jello will confound me to no end so I tend to shy away from using such ingredients. I also struggle with the lowly little dried bean. Soak or don't soak? Add baking powder or not? Add salt first or later or both? Use red, black, pinto, kidney or other? Simmer on the stove or use a pressure cooker? All this to say, I use canned beans. A particularly disastrous baked beans recipe attempted years ago keeps me humble.

Another nemesis for me is cake, plain and simple. I'm not talking about a cake mix, pretty sure a trained monkey could pull that off. Rather, I am referring to a from-scratch product. Because I am old enough to remember an era when boxed cake mixes were either a luxury or difficult to procure, I have a taste memory of delicious, moist, slightly crumbly cakey goodness slathered with homemade frosting served as a special treat for company or for a special occasion. We had some of the raw ingredients on the farm such as eggs and cream so there was no excuse for not honing our cake baking skills. Alas, it did not happen for me. I could pull off an angel food cake, IF I separated the eggs properly with no yolk sneaking its way into the precious whites. I learned how to use the egg yolks in a buttery sponge cake that was always a favorite. But an old-fashioned chocolate or white cake was a mystery to me.

When I ask my 92-year-old mother about making cakes, she always reminds me that cake making is a tricky process, prone to producing a dry cake or something that is just plain blah. And she says that the best thing that happened on that front was the invention of the cake mix. I always agree with her and yet, I feel I might still be able to slay the cake dragon.

Thus the reason I made another attempt at making a cake. It was my husband's birthday so I had a deadline to motivate me. He loves cake and truth to be told, he would be just as happy (or happier) with a box cake as a homemade one, but I was determined to make this happen. I found a recipe from America's Test Kitchen, a source of well tested, very detailed recipes. I needed specific information and the cake recipes of my youth were prone to cryptic instructions and loosely identified ingredient amounts. Cake demands precision.

To the best of my ability, I followed the comprehensive steps. Set eggs and butter out so they can reach room temperature. Separate eggs. Whip egg whites and set aside. Blend dry and wet ingredients. Gently fold in egg whites. Grease, flour and add parchment paper to two cake pans (mine are of slightly different sizes but I chose to look the other way. Sorry, Test Kitchen.). Bake until inserted toothpick is free of clinging batter. Cool for ten minutes and remove from the pans. Then, move on to the frosting. The Test Kitchen recommended their recipe for foolproof chocolate frosting made in a food processor. My moderately sized food processor struggled to handle all the ingredients but, my goodness, the frosting was divine. I did a lot of quality control with the finished results and I would make that frosting again, cake or no cake.

The final cake was very tasty and my husband enjoyed every last bite, but was it worth all the effort? A tricky question. I liked the flavor and texture better than a cake mix, but most folks would probably be just as happy with a cake sans all the fuss. In reality, we are comparing apples to oranges. Each has its benefits and each is good for you.

My advice is to just eat cake.