The rain fell in sheets of rain as Colorado hardly ever sees. I slipped on a sweatshirt and draped my head in a scarf and leaned out the window, happily breathing in the air and rain. The skies growled, and ached with the weight of water, then as the rain calmed and the torrents changed to a drizzle, I decided to make a cake.
I found a white cake recipe from Joy of Baking.
Firstly, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round pans, lay down a layer of parchment paper and grease and flour again. I forgot to flour the pans before the parchment, and nothing went wrong, but if you like following the rules, go for it.
Take your eggs and separate them, whites in one dish thing and yolks in another. Then they have to become room temperature. This can happen by leaving them in a room for about half an hour until they reach the same temperature, or you can place your mugs of eggs in a dish of warm water to speed up the process a little bit. I chose the second.
Whisk together your flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
Then, beat your butter for about 1-2 minutes. I have this terribly affliction where I over beat my butter on a regular basis, so the minute guidelines in the original recipe were very helpful. Add in 3/4 cup of sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 more minutes. Proceed to stick a finger in the bowl, and scoop out the deliciousness, then lick your finger. Repeat. Then add in the egg yolks, one at a time and beat it all up again. Add in the vanilla.
Now calm things down to a low speed and alternate adding in your 1/2 cup milk, and flour mixture, in three additions, starting and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides as you go.
Now take the egg whites and beat them up in a new clean bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the leftover 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until you have stiff peaks.
Then take your main batter, and gently fold in some of the whites mixture, folding it in slowly so as to not let the batter fall. Slowly add in the rest of the whites and fold to combine. Do not over mix!
Gently spread the batter in your pans, and bake them for 20-25 minutes , until they pass the toothpick test. When done, cool the cakes in the pans for ten minutes on a wire rack and then turn out.
For Frosting.
I knew I wanted something chocolate on my cake, and I kind of just made it up as I went along. Any frosting with go splendidly with this type of cake though.
I warmed up about a 1/4 cup of half and half until just about boiling and then poured it over almost a cup of dark chocolate chocolate chips and two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Stir until smooth. I let that cool, and then divided this mixture in half. The first half I whipped up with a maybe a 1/3 cup whipping cream and some powdered sugar until it was lighter and fluffier. Then the second half (that I used for just between the layers) I simply beat up with a bit of powdered sugar because we decided we wanted it to be sweeter. I just kept adjusting as I went along and it tasted really delicious. I could probably eat a whole bowl of ganache.
It was really yummy, and as the rain continues to drip into the later part of the night that I am writing this, I am quite happy.
l.
