I didn't get a chance to write an entry last week because I came down with, what I can only describe as, a cross between the flu and the black plague. And my folks came up for a visit. So, between the two, I had no time or the inclination to sit down and write about food. However, I did see my parents visiting as an opportunity to try out a few new recipes. I'm always looking for some new guinea pigs.
I saw a recipe for a Maple-Pumpkin Stack Cake on the very last page of the Oct/Nov Cook's Country magazine and knew I was going to try this for Thanksgiving, in place of the usual pumpkin pie. I figured it would be more helpful to all 4 of my loyal readers (thanks Mamie, Mom, Dad, Kim), if I tried it out
before Thanksgiving. That and it's always good to have a little sweet something around when people come to visit.
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The Ingredients |
I think I have said in the blog before, a pastry chef, I am not. My desserts always leave (aesthetically) a little something to be desired. This cake was no exception. To be fair, Cook's Country started it. In the directions, it says,"grease two 8 inch round cake pans,
line with parchment." This is where they lost me. If you are anything like me (a novice, at best) when it comes to cooking terminology, I need them to be a little more specific. I tried pressing in the parchment. Is the parchment supposed to cover the entire inside of the cake pan? I tried an origami looking approach. Certainly all those folds were going to show up on the edges of the cake. Hmmmmm..... I got the feeling that I was being watched. I looked up from my pleated parchment and saw my mom looking at the great parchment disaster of 2012 and quickly avert her eyes and leave the room. I looked over to my right and my dad was seemingly looking at a newspaper. And casually say, "Are you making one of those blog recipes?" "Yeah, Dad. Trying." "Hmmm. Interesting." I couldn't bear to say I was lost on step one. I've got them fooled into thinking I know what I am doing. So when in doubt, I google. After using almost a whole roll of parchment, pausing for a wine break, several attempts at failed geometry (see kids, you
will use it in real life), resisting the urge to go buy a compass, I think I figured it out. I'm going to save you a trip to google and the store to buy math tools...
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Don't do this... |
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Do This.... |
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Just keep folding until you get this... |
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Flip the pan over to see where to cut... |
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And Voila! You have successfully
accomplished what it took me
30 minutes and 2 glasses of
wine to do! |
After the great parchment debacle, I was left up to assembling my cakes. I wasn't going to share the outtake pictures...as you can see, wine talked me into it. Maybe I should have taken a little more time lining up the layers. It looked like a less cool mad hatter version of a layer cake. And probably shouldn't have attempted to make the icing look more neat and tidy, it had the opposite effect.
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Oops... |
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Double Oops... |
I do have to say, even though I created a lot of problems for myself, this cake was fantastic (if I do say so myself)! It tasted like pumpkin pie, but maybe better. My mom said that it looked like it was going to be super sweet, but wasn't. It was just right, on the sweetness scale. My dad mentioned that it solved the whip cream on pumpkin pie problem. You got a little bit with every bite this way. And they both said that the pecans on top were that little bit of crunch it needed. (Who knew my folks would be such amazing critics!) The cake was completely gone in 48 hours. I asked everyone when they tried a piece, if they thought it could replace the standard pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and I got 5 big yeses and one no. Taylor (my die hard pumpkin pie eater), was the nay. I should probably also note, she ate more cake than anyone else....so you be the judge.
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Cook's Country Oct/Nov 2012 |
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