Let's talk birthday cake. I do love me a good birthday cake. Not only do I love eating cake, I love making it as well. A good friend of mine (and former roommate)is celebrating the day of her birth next week, and we are all commemorating with a big party tonight at her place. A few weeks ago, I asked if I might be able to help with the food, and her boyfriend came back with a very specific request (actually, specific requests are helpful because then I don't second guess myself in the creativity department): A cat shaped cake, in her favorite flavor combination, lemon with chocolate frosting.
Let me say that again: A cat shaped cake, in her favorite flavor combination, lemon with chocolate frosting.
Well, okay.
I'll be totally honest-I like lemon cake, and I love chocolate frosting, but combined together? Not really my favorite. To each their own though. and a cat cake-well, I'd never made a cat cake before (once for my family's Easter celebration my dish assignment was the bunny cake, but for some reason it didn't go very well-and my sister makes the best bunny cake anyway). I love me a good challenge though, so I got to work.
Here's the way to get yourself a cute cat cake, in many fun steps.
1. Make Lemon Cake (see recipe at end). The original recipe told me it would yield one 10 inch cake, so I doubled the recipe. This turned out to be a huge downfall.
The bowl was too small, the measurements were too big, and my kitchenaid mixer totally freaked out. That machine is easily 35 years old, as a guess, and still runs quite well, but the grooves holding the bowl into place have become a little loose over the years. There was enough butter in there that wasn't soft enough that the bowl came loose and I wound up having to stand at the mixer with both hands firmly planted on the bowl so it wouldn't fly across the room.
After I got everything into the bowl, I realized I couldn't get everything incorporated with my little kitchenaid, so I had to ditch it and try my hand held mixer to get everything set. Until it became too much for that too, and then I had to use a regular wooden spoon. I could have gotten my workout that day from making this cake batter alone-there was no need for the gym with this task!
(I wish I still had pictures of this. I know I took them but I may have accidentally deleted them. So sad. If I find them I will repost them here)
2. If making this cake several days in advance, as I was, let cool and then wrap very well in plastic (I also used tin foil, which I'm sure is a big no-no, but I wanted to be sure).
3. Prepare cake for transport to my sister's house, where a chest freezer is in existence (because my own is filled with stuff already).
4. Bring treat for sister and family to bribe with bringing said cake to store in said chest freezer for a few days.
5. Make fudge frosting (see recipe below). This can be done a few days in advance (or for me, the morning before I frosted the cake. I doubled the frosting recipe, just in case. This had much better results than the cake doubling process from the day before. Except that I was short one unsweetened chocolate square. Later taste testing proved that the missing square made absolutely no difference. Cover frosting, and do not refrigerate (yes, really).
6. Get cake back from sister's house when ready to frost.
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7. Invite a friend over. Drink lots of wine and get her to take pictures of you decorating the cake. (Decorating is much better and way more entertaining on a buzz!)
8. Said friend is able to give advice on things you should try and opinions of how cake is looking, but mostly will laugh as you work with frosting, marshmallow, cake, and licorice.
9. Cut second cake a little smaller than the first (this will be the head). If you do this right you will have a nice border left that you can split-to serve as the cat tail and cat ears.
10. Frost cake with a thin chocolate layer (I used canned frosting to do this, gasp!). This will help to hide holes between the piped frosting that should look like fur. Then pipe cake using a flower tip to simulate fur using the homemade frosting. Cut marshmallows in half and stack down the cake to simulate legs and cover with frosting.
11. Decorate face with a flattened, stretched marshmallow, black licorice, and pink fondant.
11. Make a cat collar in the birthday girl's favorite color using fondant, and proceed to write the Happy Birthday message there, preferably using a food pen (yup, those actually exist. Try any craft store).
12. Refrigerate cake for the next day. Pray it doesn't fall apart or something doesn't fall on it. When it does (and it did), fix in the morning with more piped fur frosting.
13. Bring to birthday party. Hope the birthday girl likes the cake (I will have to get back to you on this one).
14. Bring backup dessert as well for those of us who don't care much for the lemon/chocolate combination.
I did get to try some of the scraps of the lemon cake, and I have to admit that I liked the cake very much. It was really dense, but had a very distinct lemon flavor. It also holds up quite well, which helps, especially if you're carving it into a shape. The fudge frosting is one of my favorites-I got it from a coworker at Tufts, and it's from Rosie's Bakery. It's really easy and very rich. My friend who was over giving me moral support while I prepared this cake told me that she quite enjoyed the fudge frosting, and over time, grew to like the lemon/chocolate combo. I thought it was decent too, though I don't think it will ever be my first (or second, for that matter) choice for cake. Overall, I was very happy with the way this tasted and the way this turned out! If it's not your choice for flavor combo either, make 'em separate. They're both quite good, if I do say so myself.
Luxury Lemon Cake (recipe obtained from Boston.com)
(This recipe claims it makes one 10 inch cake, so I doubled it and found myself with 4 9 inch rounds. I'd say if you are making a layer cake with this recipe, keep it the single version. If you're making a cat cake like above, you might want to double just in case you make a mistake and you need backup cake)
Finely grated rind of 3 lemons
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 3/4 c. sugar
5 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1. Set the oven at 325 degrees. Grease and flour your cake pan(s) and set aside to be ready.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the lemon rind and extract.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into another medium bowl.
4. In an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for 3 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar in three portions, beating for 1 minute after each one. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each one. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl to keep everything fully mixed together.
5. Blend in the lemon mixture. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in 3 separate additions, alternating the wet and dry ingredients, beginning and ending with flour.
6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s) and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.
7. Bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake is clean (it took me about an hour for this to be done).
8. Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then take out and let cool fully on wire rack. Either frost once cooled or wrap well in plastic and freeze until ready to use (can be frozen for about a week).
Fudge Frosting (recipe from Rosie's Bakery)
* 6 OZ. Unsweetened chocolate (use the Baker's brand-they come in handy 1 oz. squares!)
* 1 c. plus 2 tbsp evaporated milk
* 1 1/2 c. sugar
1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds or so. Cool.
2. Blend the evaporated mild and sugar in a blender at medium speed for 30 seconds. You really need to use a blender for this, do not use a hand-held mixer or a spoon.
3. Add the chocolate to the sugar mixture in the blender and blend on high speed until the frosting thickens, Approximately 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. You will notice the mixer's sound will change when the frosting has thickened.
4. Spoon the frosting into a bowl and let it set at room temperature for 30 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the frosting to set for at least 1 more hour before frosting your cake. Do not refrigerate the frosting. Just make sure it is covered well.
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