Saturday, March 15, 2008

In which it is shown that Jovis probably shouln't bake cakes

So, Zion's birthday is on Monday (for the historically inclined, today is the day, 4 years ago, that I caved in to my own desperation and took castor oil!). When I asked him what kind of cake he'd like he gave me a surprisingly detailed and creative answer for a four year old (at least in my experience). He said that he wanted, "a vanilla cake, with almonds. And with chocolate frosting so that it looks like a chocolate cake, but really it's a vanilla cake!" (I am totally glowing with foody mama pride over this, in case you were wondering!)

Anyway, this request was later modified somewhat to include strawberries and whipped cream and vanilla frosting instead of chocolate. I had this vision in my head, a vision of a layer cake with strawberry jam in between the layers, with a light coating of vanilla buttercream and sliced almonds all around the edges. Just before serving it would be topped with a glorious mound of whipped cream.

This afternoon I made strawberry jam (12 oz organic strawberries + 3/4 c sugar). Then I read a bunch of cake recipes, none of which were quite right for reasons of flavor or eggs or both. Then I baked my own cakes.

First the overflowed and burned a bit in my oven (the overflow, not the cakes). Due to the overflow the cakes were not pretty, but I didn't mind since they'd be covered up anyway. The real heartbreaker is that one of them just plain refused to come out of the pan, and the other came out rather unwillingly, resulting in further damage to its aesthetic appeal. *sob* Two guesses who'll be baking another cake tonight after the kids are in bed....(the party is in Brooklyn tomorrow, you see.)

I suppose I should look on the bright side and focus on how much nicer this is than being 9 days past one's due date and drinking castor oil!

Later that evening....

Well, I just couldn't face making another cake. So I decided to try putting the jam on the one layer, and then some sliced almonds, and then topping it with whipped cream tomorrow. Here's the result. It's not too bad, right?




And, for fun, here is the jam. Robert tasted it and said, "Good strawberry jam!" "Yes," I replied, "I'm very good at making jam. Just not cakes!"

7 comments:

the main stitch upholstery said...

i love your blogs! this is wonderful and perfect and i think zion will be thrilled that his momma made him exactly the cake he wants. (my kids always are and somehow, even when i think i messed up they think it is perfect) jule thinks i am wonderful and everything i do is wonderful. i hope it lasts forever! i love that you made this for him and i think your great even if you make overflowing cakes and it burns on the bottom of the oven.

Melany said...

Mmmm... looks good! I might have to try making some jam.

Unknown said...

And that is the real reason we decorate and frost our cakes. Cuz they're ugly inside.
hey, do you grease and flour your cake pans before you add the batter? One thing I like to do is grease them and put a round of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. That way there is no way in heckorino that the cake will stick to the bottom.

NedaAnn said...

The cake looks yummy.

Unknown said...

I think it looks delicious!

Happy birthday to Zion!

Abby said...

Happy belated Birthday to Zion!!!! I remember seeing pictures of the little tiny mister four years ago. I can't believe it's been that long ago! The cake looks great, I'm sure it tasted great too! :)

Tamara said...

That's a fabulous cake! And yeah - waaaay better than being 10 months pregnant and sucking down castor oil ;)