Cake Donuts

The Art.

    Last year, I was fortunate enough to have an Awesome Roommate, who gave awesome gifts. One such gift that she bestowed upon me was a donut pan to make baked donuts. I was so excited to try it out, but somehow with defending my Ph.D. thesis and selling my house I didn't get around to making any donuts...until now. Don't worry, I made sure to invite Awesome Roommate to make/eat them. Since we're both impatient people, we decided to make cake donuts instead of raised ones. Because who has time to let dough rise when you could be that much closer to eating something tasty? Definitely not us. The maple bacon ones were my personal favorite, but you also can't go wrong with dark chocolate glaze.

The Science.

    The main difference between cake donuts and raised donuts is the leavening. These cake donuts have baking powder in them, and when combined with the acidity of the yogurt and the heat of the oven the batter makes bubbles of carbon dioxide and steam. These bubbles make the dough light as it bakes up and give the donuts their cakey texture. Raised donuts, on the other hand, are made with yeast. Yeast cells are little powerhouses of metabolic energy, and we use this to our advantage in baking. As the yeast munch on the sugars we give them in the dough, they respirate and create carbon dioxide. It takes a little while for their metabolic processes to activate, but when they do, there are tons of bubbles. This is why you have to knead raised donuts to develop the gluten, so that the batter has the strength to hold those crazy strong bubbles inside and rise sky-high. Like I said, we were feeling a little impatient that day, so we opted for the delicate texture of these tender cake donuts.
 

The Recipe.
Donuts:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons salted butter
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

     Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a donut pan (or muffin tin). Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the butter and crumble with your fingertips, or mix on low speed with your standing mixer, until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Combine the milk, yogurt, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl and whisk until the egg is beaten. Add the milk mixture to the dry mixture, and stir until just combined. Spoon into the pan until the molds are 2/3 full, and place on center rack of oven. Bake for 14-17min, until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Dark Chocolate Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons dutch cocoa

4 tablespoons milk

pinch salt

Maple Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon milk

pinch salt

    Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Dip slightly cooled donuts into glaze, adding a second coat after the first has dried. Top with sprinkles, bacon, coconut, nuts, or whatever you desire. You can also roll some of them in granulated sugar for a simply pretty treat.

Lemon Scones

The Art.
    I know you may find this hard to believe, but I have never made scones until recently. I'm not really sure how this happened, considering I drink approximately two gallons of Earl Gray a day and enjoy 4pm teatime, but here we are. I was having my Dear Friend Ben over for tea one afternoon, and decided to take a stab at some scones. This was a last minute baking adventure, so I didn't have much to work with for flavoring. I had a lemon in my fruit bowl, so I grated some zest into the dough and I was quite pleased with the result. I served the scones right out of the oven with honey butter and raspberry jam (yes, lemon and raspberry together again!) and they were delicious. I couldn't believe how easy it was, and they were the prefect treat for afternoon tea.

The Science.
    These scones are based off of a recipe that is a copycat of a duplicate of the scones served at the Dorchester Hotel in London. As such, they are more light and cakey than American scones and inherently more classy. Most scones from our side of the pond use all-purpose flour, while these call for cake flour. Cake flour is made from soft wheat, which has more starch and less gluten than hard wheat, resulting in a finer crumb [1]. British scones also have more butter, which acts as a shortening agent. This means that the butter interacts with the hydrophobic domains of the gluten protein and prevents them from forming long chains, further contributing to the tender texture [2]. Finally, an increased amount of baking powder causes these scones to be airy and delicate compared to the ones you may be used to.

The Recipe.
(Makes 8 scones)
2 cups cake flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons salted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
6 tablespoons lowfat milk
Zest from one lemon

    Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then drop in the pieces of butter. If you have a mixer with a pastry attachment, you can blend the butter in on low speed. Alternatively, you can crumble it in with your fingertips or a pastry blender. Continue blending until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat together the egg and the milk. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the dry mixture on low speed. Once combined, fold in lemon zest.

    Drop the dough onto a lightly floured baking sheet, approximately 1/3 cup for each scone, at least 3 inches apart. Bake on center rack for 17-20 minutes, or until tops are light golden. Scones are best served warm, but can also be kept at room temperature for two to three days.

1. Pasha, I et al. "Grain hardness: a major determinant of wheat quality." Food Science and Technology International, 2010. Vol. 16(6): pp. 511-22.
2. American Baking Essentials Course 201. "Butter, Shortening, and Oils: The Fats We Bake With." The Prepared Pantry, 2005.

Raspberry Lemon Cake

The Art.

    Once again, it was Labmate George's birthday. And once again, he had an awesome baking idea. His birthday cake request this year was to combine raspberry and lemon flavors, which probably has something to do with this "Eating Seasonally" thing he does. As for myself, I always know when raspberries are in season because I have an unyielding bond with nature (and because they are $1 a carton at the store). I wanted to highlight the fruit flavors in the cake, so I made a lemon zest glaze and piled the raw raspberries on top. To save time, I used raspberry jam for the filling, but cut it with some salted butter to prevent it from being too sweet. Leaving the cake un-iced allows the pretty yellow cake layers and pink filling to show.

The Science.

    To add lemon flavor to desserts, lemon zest and lemon juice can both be used. But, how do you know when to use zest and when to use juice? My rule of thumb is to use lemon zest in the baked component (i.e. the cake), and lemon juice in the glazes, icings, etc. This is for two reasons. First, the acidity of the lemon juice significantly affects the texture of baked goods. It increases the activity of baking soda and baking powder, as well as interfering with the formation of gluten. This can be beneficial up to a point, making the cake have a finer crumb and delicate texture. However, too much lemon juice can make the structure too flimsy [1]. The second reason to use lemon zest in cake batter is because it has a much higher concentration of limonene, the essential oil that we associate with lemon flavor. While limonene makes up only 8% of the aromatic compounds in lemon juice, the lemon peel can have up to 70% limonene in its essential oils [2,3]. Adding lemon juice to cake batter does not contribute significantly to the flavor, but lemon zest can give the bright punch of citrusy flavor you are looking for, without affecting the texture of the cake.

The Recipe.

Lemon Cake:

2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup salted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Zest from two large lemons

    Preheat oven to 350^oF.  Coat a 9x13 metal pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, comine flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in large bowl on medium-high until fluffy, then gradually beat in sugar. Beat eggs in, one at a time. Stir vanilla into buttermilk. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter/sugar/egg mixture while beating on low speed. Fold in lemon zest. Pour into prepared pan and bake on center rack for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. If the cake is crowned in the center, press it flat as shown in this post. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake board to cool completely.

Raspberry filling:

3/4 cup raspberry jam

3 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature

    Combine jam and butter in a small bowl, set aside until cake is cooled. Note: I prefer Full Circle Select Raspberry Jam. It has seeds, which some people don't like, however I think is made from better quality fruit and thus doesn't have as much added sugar. The flavor and texture of this jam is definitely superior to Smucker's, for example.

Lemon glaze:

Juice from one large lemon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 cups powdered sugar

    Combine lemon juice and zest in medium bowl. Gradually stir in powdered sugar. 

Assembly:

    Trim the edges of the cooled cake with a sharp, serrated knife. (This produced a cake that was 11.5 inches long and 8 inches wide for me). Cut the cake into equal thirds, making three pieces that are approximately 8 inches wide and 3.75 inches long. I actually used my tape measure and scored the cuts into the top of the cake before I cut all the way through. Measuring accurately and making clean cuts will ensure that your cake layers are even and level when you stack them.

    Spread half of the raspberry filling over one of the cake layers, then place the second cake layer (brown side up) on top. Cover with the remaining raspberry filling, then place the third cake layer (brown side down) on it. Drizzle glaze on top of the cake, then cover with raspberries. 

Cake can be stored in the refrigerator for one week. 

1. Galvin, Lori et al. Test Kitchen Favorites. Brookline, MA: America's Test Kitchen, 2006.

2. Tounsi, Moufida et al. "Juice components and antioxidant capacity of four Tunisian Citrus varieties." Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2011. Vol. 91(1): pp142-51.
3. Bourgou, Soumaya et al. "Changes of Peel Essential Oil Composition of Four Tunisian Citrus during Fruit Maturation." Scientific World Journal, 2012: 528593.

Sunflower Cupcakes

The Art.

    I've always loved crafts and baking, even when I was a little kid. Fortunately, my mom was really good at coming up with easy projects for me to work on. One year for my birthday, she helped me make these cute sunflower cupcakes to give to my classmates, along with little sunflower seedlings we had started in dixie cups. This made me the most popular 4th grader in school for at least a few days and life was good. I had forgotten all about my elementary school fame until this summer, when I started some sunflower seeds on my back porch. I thought I would share the recipe with you, since we all can use something quick and easy in the summertime. 

    I also want to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to plant sunflowers, not only because they're pretty, but also because I've discovered that wild canaries love to eat the seeds! I had no idea we had such brightly colored birds here, and now I get to watch them while I eat my breakfast.

 

 The Science.

    One of the difficulties of cake decorating in the summer is that the heat can make icing decorations melt. In the past I've solved this by putting my cakes in the freezer before I took them anywhere, but it can be difficult to time things just right so you're not stuck trying to cut a frozen cake. More recently, I decided to alter my buttercream icing recipe so that it would tolerate higher temperatures. My standard buttercream recipe has equal parts of butter and shortening. While butter has a wonderful flavor, it has a very small working temperature range. At cool temperatures it is too hard to pipe, and it becomes drippy and greasy when it's warm. Shortening, on the other hand, has a much broader temperature range in which is it workable, and has a much higher melting point than butter [1,2]. To make my summertime buttercream, I simply increased the shortening:butter ratio in my icing from 1:1 to 3:1. This way, my icing will still have a buttery flavor, but it will withstand the summer heat.

The Recipe.

Make one batch of chocolate cupcakes, recipe here.

Summertime Buttercream Icing:

1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 1/2  cups vegetable shortening
5-7 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

    In large bowl, beat together butter and shortening on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Add sugar until icing makes stiff, jagged peaks. Beat in vanilla. If icing tastes too sugary or grainy, add a couple tablespoons of milk. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Makes enough icing for one 9" round cake or 24 cupcakes.

                                                                                                          Decorating:

    Dye one third of the icing green, and the remaining icing yellow. I used Wilton Icing Colors golden yellow and a little bit of orange to make my icing a sunflower yellow. Place each batch of icing in its own zippered sandwich bag, and seal the top. Snip one of the bottom corners off of the bags to create a piping bag. (Be careful not to snip off too much! A hole approximately 1/2in. is about right.) Cover each cupcake with a thin smear of green icing. Then, use your piping bag to pipe leaves onto the cupcakes. You can vary the size and number of the leaves to make it interesting.

     Using the yellow icing, begin piping petals in a ring around the edge of the cupcake. For these cupcakes, I piped a second ring of smaller petals inside the first set of petals to add dimension. Another fun idea you may want to try is striping your piping bag with orange dye, so your petals have pretty orange streaks.

    Finally, fill the center of the cupcake with mini chocolate chips to look like sunflower seeds. To display these cupcakes, I took an idea from one of my favorite decorating books, What's New, Cupcake?, and used green Twizzlers Rainbow liquorice to make stems for the sunflowers.

    Cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for a couple days, or placed in the fridge or freezer for longer storage.

1. American Baking Essentials Course 201. "Butter, Shortening, and Oils: The Fats We Bake With." The Prepared Pantry, 2005.
2. O Chef, "Turning the Heat up on Crisco (and Lard)." http://www.ochef.com/1157.htm

Elderflower Cupcakes

The Art.

    I love baking in the springtime, because I get to try out all my ideas for making light, flowery desserts. I recently discovered Fleur Elderflower Liqueur, and I immediately knew I had to put it in some cupcakes. It has a beautiful floral flavor that is slightly sweet, with a hint of citrus. Further inspiration came to me when I saw this pattern for doily cupcake wrappers. So, I topped light-as-air angelfood cupcakes with elderflower meringue icing and candied violets, then adorned them with the wrappers. We enjoyed these on Easter with champagne and they were heavenly!

The Science.

    The cake and the icing in these cupcakes are impossibly airy because of one thing: beaten egg whites. Angelfood cake has no leavening agents, and depends solely upon the air bubbles trapped inside the beaten egg whites to provide volume. The meringue icing produces a large volume of fluffy white peaks using only a single egg white. So, what is so special about beating egg whites that makes our dessert so fluffy? The answer is, the hydrophobic domains in the egg albumin protein. When egg whites are beaten at high speed, the "water-fearing" parts of the protein are exposed, and begin to aggregate together because they don't like touching the water. This creates a film that traps the air bubbles as they're beaten in. Angelfood and meringue are fat-free, because any fat in the mixture would bind the hydrophobic domains of the egg albumin and prevent the protein aggregation. This is why it is very important to make sure that your bowls and beater blades are immaculately clean. Furthermore, the meringue is heated over a double boiler to help "fix" the proteins in their aggregated conformation, and cream of tartar also helps stabilize the peaks.

The Recipe.

Angelfood cupcakes:

1/3 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

    Preheat oven to 300^oF. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners. Sift flour twice, then sift together with 1/4 cup sugar. Sifting several times aerates the flour so the cake will be lighter. In a large bowl, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until frothy. Add salt and cream of tartar and beat until peaks barely form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, mixing until soft peaks form. Gently fold in a third of the flour/sugar at a time, stirring until incorporated after each addition. Fill cupcake tin to the top with batter. Lift and drop the pans onto the counter a couple times to release air bubbles. Bake on center rack until tops are springy and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25  minutes. Cool 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack until room temperature. Can be stored in an air-tight container in the freezer for two weeks. Yields 12 cupcakes.

 

Elderflower Icing:

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 large egg white
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons Fleur liqueur

    Bring one inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan.  Combine all ingredients in a large metal bowl, then set over saucepan to create a makeshift double-boiler.  Blend on high speed until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Wear an oven mitt on your hand that is stabilizing the bowl, to protect it from the steam. Remove from heat, and beat until icing is cool and billowy with stiff peaks, about 2 minutes.

Assembly:

Place a #1A tip in a piping bag and fill with icing. Pipe a swirl onto each cupcake, starting from the outside and working toward the center. Top with candied violet petals, or your favorite decorations. Place cupcakes in doily wrappers and enjoy!

Art Deco Cake

 The Art.
    Each year, one of my classiest friends hosts a Repeal of Prohibition Party. We all dress in 30's-inspired garb, make some Sidecars, and get slightly "swacked," as they would say. I'm not what you would call a master mixologist, so I mixed something up in my kitchen instead. I was inspired by the art deco architecture of the 1930's, and came up with this tiered Art Deco Cake. I discovered that tiered cakes can be fun, as long as you put a little planning into it. Taking extra time to ensure that all your edges are squared away really pays off here. Covering the cake with purchased fondant gives it smooth, clean lines, and I attached a feather half hackle on top for extra fancy.

The Science.
    This was my first tiered cake, and I wanted to make sure that I had nice, flat cake layers to stack up. As I've discussed before, some cakes tend to "crown" in the center, giving them a domed shape that is difficult to layer with. Crowning happens when the edges of the cake heat up faster than the center, so the water evaporates before the steam can help the edges rise. This can be alleviated by using light-colored cake pans, which absorb less heat in the oven. Some bakers swear by wrapping the sides of the cake pan with strips of cloth to insulate it, but that's a little too intense for me. I decided to try another tool at my disposal: the convection setting on my oven. This setting activates a fan within the oven that circulates the hot air, so the surface of the cake is exposed to more even temperatures. I tried convection baking this cake, and I was very pleased with the results. My cakes were nice and flat, and I didn't have uneven baking on the side of the cake that was near the oven wall. I guess you could say I'm a Convection Convert. (Ah! I'm hilarious!) Remember, if you find your cake layers have crowned despite your best efforts, you can always press them down as I show in the Fall Spice Cake post.

The Recipe.

Chocolate Cake:
    Preheat oven to 350°F. For the chocolate cake, make a double batch of the cake recipe from the Chocolate Turtle Cake post. Coat two 9x13 pans with baking spray and line with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake on center rack for 30 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cakes on wire racks.
      To cut out the tiers, make three square stencils with cardstock. I made mine 6.5in, 4.5in, and 3in square. Use the stencils to cut three squares out of the cake layers with a sharp, serrated knife.

    Make a batch of vanilla buttercream icing, and use it to layer your cake tiers, as shown below. Place the largest tier on a cake board and cover it with icing. Following the instuctions from the Valentine Cake post, cover the bottom tier with rolled fondant. Repeat with the other two tiers, and carefully lay them on top, smoothing the fondant afterward.

     To make the black accents, I tinted the remaining fondant with Wilton Icing Colors Black by kneading it into the fondant. (I highly recommend wearing gloves for this, black fingernails are never becoming.) Then, roll the fondant out and cut strips for the cake, affixing them with buttercream. This is a good time for careful measuring, as well as artfully disguising any unsightly wrinkles or tears in the white fondant. You can get creative with any other accents you want to add. I chose to add a geometric fan shape to the bottom tier. Finally, I attached the feather accent (from Hobby Lobby) by cutting slits into the fondant on the top tier and inserting the half hackle into it.

    The cake was a great success at the party, and I was pleased with the way it turned out. Getting all of the edges straight proved to be more challenging here than with the rounded Valentine Cake I made previously, but nobody seemed to notice the uneven parts. Remember, you are your harshest critic and even if you don't think it looks perfect, everyone else will be impressed.

Mardi Gras Cupcakes

The Art.

    Happy Mardi Gras, everyone! I have a special treat for you today, in the spirit of fun and extravagance. When I was shopping for gold sprinkles for these cupcakes, I came across these amazing Wilton Colorburst Batter Bits. So, in keeping with the revelry of the Mardi Gras parade, I decided to put confetti in my cupcakes. I bought green, orange, and purple, then baked them into my yellow cake batter, to show off the colors. I really love how it turned out, especially after adorning my cake stand with coordinating beads.

The Science.

    Today, many people will be indulging themselves in all the foods they're giving up for Lent tomorrow (unless you're Greek Orthodox, in which case your fast started on Monday). Thus, the goal of these cupcakes is to be the last hurrah for all those pious souls who want to binge on their favorite sweets before Ash Wednesday. My decorating technique is exactly what is needed, apparently, as people are more likely to consume a higher number of sweets if there is a visual variety [1]. I guess they just have to taste them all to make sure they're equally good. Furthermore, making your foods look prettier makes them more appetizing to consumers, who clearly favor sensory appeal over other considerations, like price and nutrition [2]. Certainly, the entire experience of eating delicious foods--sight, smell, texture, taste--is alluring to everyone. Some research groups go as far to say that there is such a thing as "food addiction," saying that overindulging in naughty foods causes a brain response similar to drug addiction [3]. Of course, this is difficult to prove since we all need to eat. But, there is no denying that the experience of indulging in foods has a hold on all of us, which is why the greatest sacrifice we make for Lent is denying ourselves tasty cupcakes.

The Recipe.

    To make these cupcakes, click these links for the yellow cake cupcakes and vanilla buttercream icing recipes. Remember to fold the batter bits into your cake batter before pouring it into your cupcake pans. 

       To decorate these cupcakes, I took a similar approach as I did for the Quick Birthday Cupcakes, dying my icing three different colors and using different tips and patterns to create unique designs. I used Wilton Icing Colors Violet, Kelley Green, and Golden Yellow to tint my icing. 

I then piped the purple and green with 1M star tips, and the yellow with an 18 star tip. You can experiment with different colors and tips as you choose, to give your cupcakes your own flair. Of course, what Mardi Gras cupcakes would be complete without gold sugar sprinkles!

    These cupcakes are fancy inside and out, with festive frosting on top and colorful confetti on the inside. In case you're not giving up sweets for Lent, you can store these cupcakes at room temperature for a few days, or put them in the freezer until Lent is over. 

1.  Rolls, Barbara et al. "How sensory properties of foods affect feeding behavior." Physiology and Behavior, 1982. Vol. 29(3): pp 409-417.
2.   Jauregui-Lobera, I and Bolano Rios, P. "What motivates consumer's food choice?" Nutrición Hospitalaria, 2011. Vol. 26(6): pp 1313-1321.
3. Pandit, R et al. "Dietary Factors Affect Food Reward and Motivation to Eat." Obesity Facts, 2012. Vol. 20(2): pp 221-242.

Valentine Cake

The Art.

    As you may recall from my posts last year, Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I apparently had a lot of time on my hands around then, which I used to make truffles, petite fours, corset cookies, and the stunning Roses are Red Cake. This year I've been busier than usual, so I'll try to make up for lack of quantity with quality. This particular cake is simple and cute, with fondant decorations covering a rich chocolate cake with strawberry icing. This is the first time I've used fondant to cover a cake, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Since I was in a time crunch, I opted to purchase rolled fondant, made by Wilton. I was impressed by how easy it was to work with, and it tasted much better than I had expected. Using Valentine cookie cutters to make pink fondant decorations was fast and easy, and made this cake look very sweet.

The Science.

    One of the things we have come to expect from Valentine's day treats is that they should have a deep chocolate flavor. I love this cake recipe because it gives you a wonderfully moist, chocolatey flavor, but doesn't require you to shell out $30 on Ghirardelli chocolate and spend and entire afternoon smashing it to bits and blending it with milk. Rather, I use Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, which is more affordable. Instead of just mixing it in with the dry ingredients, I "bloom" the cocoa in hot water before stirring it into the cake batter, reconstituting the cocoa solids and enhancing their chocolate flavor in the final product. For those of you considering splurging on Ghirardelli brand cocoa powder, I refer you to America's Test Kitchen's taste test results, which found that it was not worth the extra cash.

 

 The Recipe.

Chocolate cake:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup dark cocoa
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

       Preheat oven to 350^oF and adjust rack to center position. Coat two heart-shaped pans (or two 8" round pans) with baking spray, and line with parchment paper (see the Almond Nutella Cake for step-by-step instructions). Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, dissolve cocoa in boiling water to allow it to "bloom." In a large bowl, beat together egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in bloomed cocoa. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake 30 minutes, or until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire racks and peel off parchment paper to cool completely.

Strawberry Buttercream:

1 cup salted butter, room temperature

1 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup strawberry jam

5-7 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

    In large bowl, beat together butter and shortening on medium speed until fluffy. Add strawberry icing, and beat until combined. Beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Add sugar until icing makes stiff, jagged peaks. Beat in vanilla. If icing tastes too sugary or grainy, add a couple tablespoons of milk.

Assembly:

     Lay first cake layer on a cardboard cake round, and cover with icing. Place second cake layer on top of the first, and ice the entire cake. Set cake aside while you prepare the rolled fondant.

    Dust a large work surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar. Remove fondant from package and work in your hands until it is pliable. Form half of the fondant into a ball and place on work surface. Cover the remaining fondant to prevent it from drying out. Roll fondant out with rolling pin, lifting and rotating often to prevent sticking to the surface, until 1/4-inch thick. To transfer it to your cake, fold the rolled fondant over your rolling pin, center it over the cake, then lay it over the top. Smooth first with your hands, then with a fondant smoother. Press into the bottom edge of the cake, then cut off the excess with a pizza cutter.

    For the decorations, I dyed the remaining fondant pink with Wilton icing colors by kneading the dye into the icing, then rolling out as before. Cut a 1/2-inch strip for the bottom of the cake, and affix it to the cake with buttercream. Use either cookie cutters or a sharp knife to cut out any other decorations you wish. You can personalize these decorations for your very special Valentine.

    This cake should be kept covered at room temperature for a couple days, or in the freezer for up to one month.

Mouse Cake

The Art.

    A few weeks ago, I made these cute Chocolate Mice. I had 50 of them to work with, so after using them to reenact "Desperate Mousewives" in my gingerbread houses and pranking people in the lab, I decided to put them on my sister's birthday cake. This was simple enough, except for the fact that my sister lives 900 miles away in Colorado. So, I baked up some cake layers and took them to the airport, planning to assemble them with rosy pink icing once I got there. Everyone at airport security lost it when they saw the chocolate mice, but they all assumed that the undecorated cake was wheels of cheese. I concluded that this was a much more ingenious decorating idea, and so I decorated it as you see it now. This cake probably has the highest cute:difficulty ratio of anything I've ever made, and I have the unusually friendly TSA agents to thank for it.

The Science.

    Some of you may be asking, "Why didn't you just bake the cake when you got to Colorado, and avoid the hassle?" That is a very good question, and the answer is one that I give quite bitterly, as a baker who lived in Colorado for two decades. While this climate is great for generating breathtaking landscapes, skiing, and rock climbing, the high altitude of my home state made it nearly impossible for me to bake cakes. This is due to the fact that the atmosphere is thinner, which lowers the boiling point of the water within cake batter. As Susan Purdy explains in her book, Pie in the Sky, water vapor leaving cake batter at low temperatures can cause cakes to have a coarse texture, "fall," and inhibit browning [1]. There are adjustments you can make to recipes to compensate for high altitudes, but each cake is different and can require its own tweaking. I have spent so much of my time perfecting my cake recipes at sea level the past few years, I was not about to go and try my luck on the Mount Doom of cakes. The simplest way for me to bring my sister a cake that had a moist, fine texture was for me to bake it in my own kitchen.

The Recipe.

    For this cake, you can follow the directions for my fluffy white cake recipe and vanilla buttercream. I used 6"x3" round pans, so I had batter left over to make some cupcakes. Before icing the cake, I cut a small sliver out of one of the layers, to make it look like a cheese wheel that had been cut. I used Wilton icing colors Yellow and Orange to tint the icing a cheesy yellow. You may tint your icing differently, depending on what type of cheese you want your cake to look like.  Finally, I arranged the chocolate mice around the cake, and finished it off with chocolate sprinkle "droppings." The cake can be stored at room temperature for a few days, or frozen in an airtight container for up to one month.

1. Purdy, Susan. Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes. New York, NY: William Morrow Cookbooks, 2005.