Spork or Foon?

The Cake Slice Bakers: Chai Spiced Cake with Honey Ginger Cream

A great man once said "If at first you don't succeed, don't cry about it, you big baby! Do it again!"

Or something like that.

I initially made this cake for Easter dinner.  It was very easy to put together.  Very straightforward.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients (minus the milk).  Add butter and some milk to the dry mix.  Then add the wet ingredients.  Pour in pan. Bake. Eat and enjoy.

Here is what I did:

Mix the dry ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Curse the fact that I forgot to add the butter.  Try to add the butter at the end, watching it clump and coagulate.  Take a spatula and try to press the lumps of butter out.  Beat for ten minutes.  Fret the entire time that I am overbeating the batter. Pour uneven amounts into pans.  Overbake. Shape cake sloppily.  Ice cake sloppily.

What was amazing about this cake, however, is that after the disaster that was my experience baking the cake, it still tasted good.

Great, in fact!  It was slightly dry and didn't rise at all, but the cake was still delicious.  It was a hit at Easter dinner.  People commented on how amazing the cake was.  They paired it with strawberry ice cream.  Even more amazing! 

So I tried it again, knowing that if the cake was that good after I pooped all over the process, it would be amazing when I didn't poop all over the process.

And WOW, was this cake amazing.  I mean, really. WOW.  The batter was light when I poured it (in even amounts this time) into the pans.  The cake rose beautifully.  For the first time ever, I took my time to even out the edges carefully.  The cake was light with a gorgeous crumb when I evened out the tops.  To ensure moistness (why do people hate that word when describing cakes?  It is the ultimate compliment!), I added some ginger simple syrup to the layers and frosted the cake.  

The dynamic chai flavors of cardamom, star anise, ginger, cinnamon, peppercorn and cloves shone through and paired perfectly with the sweet and slightly tangy honey ginger frosting.  

Without a doubt - and I mean this wholeheartedly - without a doubt, this is my favorite cake I have ever eaten. Ever. Ever, ever, ever.  

Please, if you can, for all that is good and holy, make this cake.  You don't know what you are missing.  Check out the other Cake Slice Bakers here. And check out the book, Sky High:  Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes here.

Chai Cake with Honey Ginger Cream adapted from Sky High:  Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes

1 1/3 cups milk
6 chai tea bags
4 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ¾ cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
Honey Ginger Cream (recipe below)
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.   Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans.  Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
 
In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer over medium-low heat.  Add the tea bags, being careful not to let the paper tags dip into them ilk. Remove from the heat and allow the tea to steep for about 5 minutes.  Remove the teabags carefully squeezing the milk from them back into the pan.  Let the chai milk cool completely.
 
In a medium bowl, combine whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/3 cup of the chai milk.  Whisk to blend.
 
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt in a large mixer bowl.  Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds the dry ingredients.  Add the butter and the remaining chai milk and, with the mixer on medium low, beat to blend well.  Raise the spread to medium and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing only to incorporate after each addition.  Divide the batter evenly among the 3 prepared pans.
 
Honey-ginger cream


2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6 ounces softened cream cheese

6 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temp

1/2 cup honey (liquid)

1 tsp. freshly grated ginger


 
Place all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to incorporate, then scrape down the bowl and process until smooth and well blended.  Transfer to a bowl and chill for an hour before using to fill and cover the cake layers, allowing any excess to drizzle down the sides.

Decorate as desired.

Cake Slice Bakers - Lemon Chiffon Cake aka "Bad Picture Friday"

I wanted to come out with a bang for my first Cake Slice Bakers Cake. This was to be not only my first layer cake, but my first cake made from scratch EVER. And I was pretty proud of it! My layers set up perfectly! The frosting went on like magic! The cake was delightfully high! I even piped on some yellow lemons for decorations!  Let's get those photos going!

(Sound of screeching tires)  My camera and this cake did not get along for some reason.  

Let's call my camera Franz the photographer.  And this cake is Caroline Chiffon, the famous 90s supermodel.  

Well, Caroline is one of those "I don't get out of bed for less than 10,000 page impressions a day."

Franz is a low-budget, you-can-find-me-at-Target type of guy.  

They bickered.  They stopped speaking to each other. Even the sun didn't want to get involved, staying behind his cloud for the better part of the week.

Hence, the awful photos. 

But this is not about the photos. This is about the cake.

And oh, what a cake it was.  Amazingly light, fluffy chiffon cake, layered with a deliciously tart and rich lemon curd and topped with an even lighter, sweet frosting.  

Two weeks ago I hated lemon.  Then came Dorie's Lemon Cup Custard.  Then a Lemon Yogurt Cake. And now a lemon chiffon cake.  You think I'd be tired of the lemon.  But oh, no. I can't get enough.  I don't hate her because she's beautiful. 

But Caroline Chiffon really needs to fix that attitude! 

TRIPLE LEMON CHIFFON CAKE
ADAPTED FROM: Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes
BY ALISA HUNTMANS AND PETER WYNNE

FOR THE CAKE:
MAKES A 9-INCH TRIPLE LAYER CAKE

8 eggs, separated
1/4 cup walnut oil**
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 and 3/4 cups of cake flour*
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

[*1 cup of cake flour is equal to 3/4 cup of AP flour plus 2 tablespoons of corn starch]
[**equal amount of either almond oil, hazelnut oil, or canola oil]

Preheat the oven to 350*degrees F. Line the bottoms of three 9-inch pans with parchment paper but do not butter or grease the pans. 

In a med-large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and water.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until light and frothy. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.

Sift the flour, remaining sugar, baking soda , and salt into a large bowl. Whisk gently to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Pour in the egg yolk mixture and mix to create a smooth paste. Add one-fourth of the egg whites and fold in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites and divide the batter among the three pans.

Bake for about 16 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks to cool in the pans. Once cool run a knife around the cake to in order to un-mold the cakes. Carefully pull off the parchment paper from the bottoms of the cakes.

To assemble the cake, place one layer on a cake stand. Top with a heaping 1/4 cup of lemon curd and spread it evenly. Repeat with the remaining layers. Frost the top of the cake and the sides with the lemon cream frosting.

RICH LEMON CURD

MAKES 1 CUP

3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
grated zest of three lemons
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temp.

Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, sugar, lemon juice , and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Transfer to a small non-reactive saucepan. Gently heat the mixture, whisking until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. make sure not to boil the mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and cover the curd with plastic making sure the plastic touches the curd. This should prevent a skin from forming on the curd. Refrigerate until cold. Then remove 3 tablespoons of curd and set it aside for the icing.

LEMON CREAM FROSTING
MAKES 3 AND 1/4 CUPS

1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoon of lemon curd

Whip the cream and sugar in a large chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd, forming a stiff frosting.