World Of Cakes Part 2

The continuation of the World of Cakes, Part 2

Pound cake

Making pound cake is something new for me. Before I moved to the South, it was something that never came to mind when I thought of a dessert. Here in Mississippi, where it is traditional for a guest to bring a pound cake to a function, we made one for a class lab. 

According to folklore, it has been said the reason how pound cake got its name was because you would use a pound of butter with a pound of sugar in a pound of flour. I’m not sure where those measurements came from, but they are kind of close. This somewhat dense cake does use other ingredients to help it rise and provide some texture. 

Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of my pound cake.  I kept the flavor basic as well; it was just a vanilla pound cake. 

Jelly Roll Cake

This cake turned out great! I have tried to make a rolled cake before, and they didn’t turn out too well. The cake was either too thin, which made it dry, and it was crumbling while I was rolling it. Another time, the cake was better but was still cracking. I think for that last time, it was because the cake had cooled a bit too much and it was starting to give. 

For the time, I knew that I would have to roll the cake right as it was coming out of the oven. The recipe that we used had a direction where you would put powdered sugar on a kitchen towel and then roll it. I’m not sure if it helped with anything since the school towels were those long fiber restaurant towels. We used a lot of powdered sugar on it for whatever reason. The sponge cake turned out good. It was in the oven for a little too long since it crisped the edges a bit. I just trimmed those off. The sponge cake was a lemon flavor. I do want to point out that I did not like whatever the lemon extract we had in our bake shop. It smelled like lemon-scented chemicals. I know better for next time. While it was cooling a bit, I went to make a classic buttercream with the ratio that I had mentioned earlier. For the jelly portion, it was, what I’m calling it, a fruit red sauce. I contained cranberries, strawberries, and raspberries. And before there are any questions, we had frozen cranberries from over the holidays for some reason, and I wanted to use them. The tartiness of the raspberries and cranberries helped with cutting the sweetness of the buttercream.

As a whole, it was a decent cake. The best I could describe it was like a rolled naked cake. Honestly, with the flavors of the jelly and the buttercream, you couldn’t taste the lemon flavor of the cake. So, I could get away with making a decent cake. I have tried in class, saved a slice for my fiancé, then gave the rest to my coworkers. I always enjoy trying the cakes I made in this baking class. So far, they have thoroughly enjoyed the Chiffon Cake with the Raspberry Orange sauce. 

Overall, I have enjoyed this baking class. While pastries are not my minor, it’s always good to be rounded in your skills when you are becoming a chef. You don’t have to be the one making the cakes, but being able to at least make a basic cake and showing someone else who is, how to bake.