If you need to be thanked in the acknowledgments for Emerald Blaze, please email me. I’ve got the Chinese and Hong Kong readers, the Italian reader, the legal reader, and I can’t remember who I am missing.
If you beta read this book, please email me, because I can’t be trusted. We are trying to finish the copy edit, get the web designer all the stuff, answer some professional questions, all at the same time, and I don’t know which way is up.
Yesterday, I made my husband a chocolate cake. I can do many things. Decorating cakes is not one of them. My cakes taste good. They do not look good. This particular cake took 4 hours. It has three layers of chocolate cake, strawberry filling, and Swiss meringue chocolate buttercream. It looks like so. It barely fit under the cake hood and needed dowels for structural integrity, just in case.
Yeah. So I presented this cake to my husband. Later on I see him returning from the kitchen with a little bowl of cake and ice cream.
Me: Decided to try the cake?
He: Not exactly. There was some cake pieces on the side, so I took that.
Me: …
He: Why let it go to waste?
He found the bits I cut off the cake to level it and ate that instead. O_o
He did have some this morning and profanity was used in describing the deliciousness of the cake, so I consider this to be a home run. 🙂
Got to go. Email me.
Awesome cake!
I did that this weekend, only it was sauce and lasagna. I got my grandmothers sauce recipe, and my mom’s lasagna recipe and made it for the first time. My husband hovered all over the kitchen, “Why are you putting that in it? Are you sure it needs to cook for this long? Is that going to all fit in there?” etc. Until, when it was done, and he tried the sauce and ate a meatball. He also used profanity to describe its deliciousness. He couldn’t believe how good the homemade sauce was compared to canned from the store.
Now I want cake. Damnit.
Me too!
RIGHT? It looks absolutely scrumptious to me. I caught sight of the cake photo and the new Ryder snippet at the same time and had a hard time dragging myself away from the cake photo. I started drooling darn it and I HAVE NO CAKE IN THE HOUSE! Chocolate and strawberry are so perfect together.
OMG thats CAKE not just cake! I’ve never iced anything but that looked pretty darn good. I can only imagine what Swiss meringue chocolate buttercream is but wooohooo, sounds amazing. Is strawberry filling a common combination with chocolate cake in the US? Here in the UK I’d guess we’d use strawberry with vanilla sponge and chocolate or plain buttercream icing or cream with chocolate sponge- not sure if thats too boring or not!?
I don’t usually bake but as we’re in lockdown I used the last of my self-raising flour to make a rhubard and custard cake for the hubby’s birthday as a friend had dropped off a kg of homegrown forced rhubard. I added 100 g of extra fruit and used the juices to glaze it but next time I’ll blob or add an extra layer of custard as well as adding it to the cake mix. Both tart and sweetly custardy and squidgy, it was delicious, but didn’t last long! Its basicially the on-line BBC good food receipe if anyone wants to try it.
Enjoy your cake and thanks too for the Julie updates and future serial- thats like having my cake and eating it too 🙂
Usually it’s cherry, but I had 4 lbs of frozen strawberries. 😀 I like the sour note of it, because everything else was sweet.
Cake is beautiful!
Dowels are smart: I must try that.
Rhubarb & custard: ahh, childhood memories … another favourite in Atlantic Canada is strawberry & rhubarb in a pie.
I have Devon custard in a tin as “strategic reserve”.
Oooh, it is taking such self-control to not go & eat it right now …
I wish I had time to make custard from scratch … but we also don’t have good old Bird’s custard powder.
That’s the problem with being all virtuous at the store: you get home and … 🙂
Strawberry rhubarb pie is also popular in the US Midwest. ????
I like using raspberries with chocolate.
Love the word “squidgy”!!
That cake looks amazing! The description indicates that it’s doubly delicious too which is even more important :). The crumb thing is what my husband would do too, I don’t know why but he seems to feel hesitant to hemp himself to any dessert that I spend a lot of time on, especially if it’s delicious. Like he’s saving it for me even if I made it mostly for him :).
Not hemp, help, sorry ????
Help not hemp, sorry ????
It was edible. That’s leaps and bounds ahead of what I can do. Cookies, cookies I can make but cakes…..well, if you’ve ever seen the Sleeping Beauty scene where the witches are trying to make the surprise for Rose……about sums it up. For cooking, sewing, and cleaning lol
+ 1 one of my favourite scenes in a childhood movie …
And when the candles are sliding down the broom,
and she keeps moving them back … comedic!
They are good fairies, BTW.
Flora, Fauna & Merryweather. 🙂
Right you are and that’s my favorite of the Disney movies too. I have been re-reading Anne Bishop’s Black Jewel series so magic=jewels; women who do magic=witches; and my cursing usually involves the words ‘mother night’. For some reason every time I read or watch things I start to use stuff from the stories. It’s totally weird but apparently how I roll.
Honestly, you can tell it’s delicious by how it’s askew. Like, my mouth is watering just looking at it.
The cake look deligous,
Ever since I learned to make it in school, Swiss buttercream has been my favorite to make!! (None of this American buttercream nonsense ????????♀️)
If decorating the side of a cake is a challenge, you can cheat and pack on chopped nuts, jazzed up cereal, or sprinkles. Sure, we eat with our eyes, but at the end of the day, taste is all that matters. I wish I could try the cake! Gordon is a lucky man!
OMG…I googled Swiss buttercream because, you know, I’d only ever assumed there was one type of buttercream (and usually Betty Crocker makes it and puts it in a tub for me!). However, I’ve found out about the Swiss (fiddly) and what appears to be the even fiddlier Italian. It’s a whole new world!
I give you a 10 out of 10.
Looks delicious, sounds amazing. Don’t fall down the trap of comparing yourself to others who have all the stuff.
The cake looks yummy. I made triple chocolate banana bread. Hubby just grins and waffles his eyebrows. Its nice when our efforts are appreciated.
+1
I miss having the energy for serious baking. That cake looks delicious — and decorated to show the contents, no less — a beautiful glazed strawberry, chocolate chips, and something else that looks interesting. I had no idea real people did glazed strawberries, that’s something for me to aspire to — and Swiss meringue frosting instead of plain buttercream? Gordon must feel very loved.
In the photo it looks like the frosting was just a tad too soft to hold the shape when you piped it on, so I checked CooksIllustrated.com, which addressed the issue, suggesting to me it’s a common problem:
“Cool the chocolate to between 85 and 100 degrees before adding it to the frosting. If the frosting seems too soft after adding the chocolate, chill it briefly in the refrigerator and then rewhip it until creamy.”
Chilling it did not occur to me as a fix — my instinct would have been just to whip it more, like whipped cream or meringue at the soft peak stage, which shows how useless my instincts are in this case.
Ahhh that looks stunning. Who cares if it’s not professional or YouTuber-professional in appearance? I still think it’s gorgeous and if it tasted great, home-freakin’-run. Next up, recipe? You know so us complete amateurs can butcher it… 🙂
Hot diggity! That cake belongs out there for all to see it! It is awesome!
Thank you so much for sharing!
So long as the cake is edible, who cares what it looks like on the outside? I gave up on layer cakes a long time ago. I just make the 13×9 version from a box mix. 🙂 One thing I do to make the box mix taste like homemade is to put in either pure vanilla extract or orange extract. Yum!
Looks yummy!
I speak as someone who describes incredible food with swears. It is beyond a home run. That’s something I’d request as my last meal option.
It’s the bad looking cakes that taste the best. Ppl who worry what it looks like sacrifice on flavor. As my mom always says “never trust a skinny chef” ????
Hey taste is all that matters and if the flavor was that good he swore, goal achieved.
Ι need to be thanked in the acknowledgments for Emerald Blaze like this:
-A big thanks to Katerina for suppressing the urge to spam-mail us confessing her eternal love for us and our work.
No joke.
Chocolate cakes are both my greatest love and failure. They’re my fave cake, especially with ganache, but every time I’ve tried to make them myself they end up tasting either metallic or acidic or just not chocolatey at all ????????♀️
Yours might not be pintrest perfect, but it looks yummy and the description alone is ????
Sometimes it is the cocoa you are using that’s causing the cake to taste acidic and/or metallic. My recommendation is to taste a tiny bit of cocoa on your finger before using. If it tastes acidic or metallic, then don’t use. Dutch processed cocoa is the best for making cakes.
Picture perfect cake usually doesn’t get eaten because people don’t want to ruin the picture. I’ll take lovingly decorated scrumptiousness anyday! And I’m with you both, I’d eat the actual cake and the leftover bits, because no cake should be wasted!
Dowels! tears of laughter……yes yes yes, because many of us aced food deliciousness and floundered in the presentation quiz,
Him eating the pieces you cut off: must not be a guy who wastes anything. His twin from another mother and father lives in California. Who saved the plastic bags from veggies you get at the grocery store? Magically I know where a drawer of them are hiding. I’m case anyone is wondering.
Reaction to the actual cake: I think I have a glimpse of why you two are married. Good guy
My Latest show addiction The Great British Bake Off.
Ok, confession time. For the last 6-8 weeks I’ve been binging on Lemon cake with crushed strawberry filling with lemon cream cheese icing. The cakes have all looked Gastly, but they taste sooooo good. It’s like I hv a citrus deficiency. I just can’t get enough of the lemon/strawberry combo. Three layers, three cake dowels for stabilization. It’s the best.
Poops, that’s Ghastly, with a “gh”.
(Hate autocorrect). That’s Oops, not the other. Le Sigh.
Umm, recipe?
I want ice cream. I keep opening my freezer, hoping it will magically appear. So far, it hasn’t . I am sad.
Anything made with love and a giving heart is beautiful. Other aesthetic are unimportant. Although, I think it looked quite delicious. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Honestly, cake decorating is black magic. I tried…on my Mom’s birthday cake several years ago. We both began having a bunch of food allergies, and so I decided to make a special “this won’t trigger any problems” cake. It was supremely ugly. But it tasted good!
Your cake looked delicious. I’m envious of people who make cakes. I have a daughter-in-law who makes awesome cakes and decorations. Which is why I stick to cupcakes. And pies. Love the thought of strawberry and chocolate. Your husband is blessed in many ways.
What is zip lock bag frosting? It looks very creamy. I am enjoying the Ryder snippets very much. Thank you both.
Instead of using a piping bag with a structured tip, you put the icing in a ziplock bag, twist the bag into a cone shape, snip off one corner and apply the icing…
See, I think the Great British Bakeoff created so many unrealistic expectations. I think any cake that doesn’t slide sideways is a win.
Exactly Gilly! How it tastes is the truest measure! Have had exquisite looking cakes that were very dry or squiggie-bland which ruins the whole thing IMO.
Roger that!! I can’t bake any cake wo using cake dowels.
Yum! I wish I could do a dessert exchange with you – we just make dog cookies that can be eaten by humans (banana, peanut butter, oats). No comparison.
Love the side frosting look, so fluffy and you could sneak a finger taste and not get caught!
That is a bloody good looking cake.
I’m sorry, but I have to say this is a terrible, terrible post. There’s no recipe T_T ;p I wanna go make a cake now, it would go nice with the strawberries I just grabbed from the yard.
I stole a tip from my friend who does cake decorating professionally and use a credit card blank (the kind they send to try and get you to sign up for their account) that I sanitized to make a nice smooth look. Ziploc bagging it totally works, too. I had to stop using them as piping bags once I squeezed a little too much and then it exploded on me. XD
I love cake! Yours looks very pretty.
Kim and Keera mentioned it already; if you would like some nonsense to distract you, “Nailed It” is perfect. They have international versions, too. Some episodes have made my mom and I cry laughing.
Now to figure out if getting a Kievsky cake from Karina’s Cakehouse is an essential need…
I would totally eat that cake. Now I feel like cake. Mmmm cake
I was a part-time cake decorator at a busy grocery store a LONG time ago. It is very much different to decorate cakes at home versus a bakery-like setup.
My favorite cake is Buttermilk Chocolate Sheet Cake, which my family has been making since the 60s.
After the decorating job, it’s hard for me to eat cake and I never eat cake mix cake. Hazard of the job, I guess. I did pay for a trip to Disney for my kiddo tho ????
It looks great to me.
Thanks for clearing up the zip lock question folks. I have never piped frosting onto a cake. I just glob it on and spread it all over the cake.
That looks amazing! Any chance you would be willing to share the cake and frosting recipes? Also thank you so much for the sanity-snippets!
That cake looks delicious! I make a triple chocolate torte that my family raves about and insists on for every birthday. It never looks quite right either, as it has a whipped cream finish that never seems to pipe right. But like your family, they don’t care, its all about the taste. I envy you the swiss buttercream, but I’m allergic to eggs so if I want to be able to eat it, I have to make do with American buttercream or other types of eggless frostings. It’s all good though, gives me a reason to get creative.
Oh my. This cake looks deleeshus… mainly because it’s covered in chocolate and has a strawberry on top. I almost drooled at your description.
Cake admiration aside, I wanted to let you know your books are awesome! Many hours have been spent literally squeeing while I read your books. Thank you for being the source of so much enjoyment.
Dang! That cake looks and, from Gordon’s reaction, is decadent.
I like chocolate and strawberries, though the best cake I ever had was a Black Forest cake. It was just tart cherries, fudge icing and dark chocolate cake – no whipped cream or anything. I’m still wishing I had the recipe, though I’d probably never make it. It’s bad for me and I’d be throwing cake away because I couldn’t finish it before it died of old age.
I never tried dowels, but I’ve used a lot of toothpicks over the years. I usually make the plainest of cakes when I bake now. I make a 9 X 13 chocolate cake and ice it while it’s still hot. The icing is smooth when it cools – absolutely plain. It is also quite tasty and I can easily send pieces home with friends and family.
Now I want cake.
I have chocolate mousse cake in the freezer…
The cakes looks yummy! I will vicariously through the picture and use my imagination about eating it. I already feel the weight go on. I really should have shared.
My mother told me when I was very young, as her mother had told her, to be prepared because the women in our family can make cakes that look good or taste good, possibly neither, but never both. Then she told me that, although she’d know my dad since grade school, the first time she realized he was special, was when they were dating in college. She made one of the best tasting cakes of her life to take to a party, and apologized to him for how bad it looked. He said, “It’s a college party. Nobody will care.” She had put it in a cake box to hold it together, and on his way through the door my dad “tripped” over the threshold and dropped the box, proclaiming loudly, “Oh no Mary! I’ve ruined your beautiful cake!” Everybody loved the cake and blamed my dad for how it looked.
oh my! He sounds like a keeper, for sure
I decorate cakes as part of my job and I think you did an awesome job. Whenever I decorate a cake if any mistake is made or the icing doesn’t cooperate and stay the way I want it to, I think what I did looks hideous but when others look at it, they think it looks beautiful. Your design is cool and turned out great.
Eating the cut off hump is an excellent idea. I actually purchased two humps from a fancy bakery in Houston as an early Mother’s Day present. They are selling them as a survival kit 🙂 They just need a better name to catch up. Hump is not appealing but then again cake balls took off .
Gotta say yours with strawberries and the buttercream sound amazing!!
“Profanitily Good” should be the new catchphrase. Lol! Now I’ve got to go bake some %*#@(! brownies!
The outside doesn’t matter in most things… cake is one of these for me… if the inside is delicious the decoration doesn’t matter.. kind of like Kate’s Apple pies 🙂
And I LOL with the eating of the pieces you cut off… 🙂
As i always say “Cake is a vehicle for icing” and Yours looks delicious!
Rest up and stay safe x
Lovely idea to bake him a cake . Can we see a picture of the inside when Gordon has succumbed to taking a slice of it please.
Men will be men. My ex-boyfriend often took me to his parents’ house, his mom was always there and she always fed us. Then one day just before Easter, nobody was home and he took it upon himself to be a good host. He served me an uncooked soup (Polish Zurek which takes several hours to be make) and for desert he cut me pieces of ‘each cake -vanilla and chocolate’. When i saw it I cracked up. It wasn’t cake. It was the two layers. His mom run out of ingredients so she left to get them and mean time he spoiled her unfinished cake :’). Poor woman. I told him to put them back there, so she could decorate and stick them together with some filling but the damage was done – he already had some. It tasted weird but he didn’t care. Bonus – the cat run away when I offered her a bit of sausage from the soup before I ate it. It didn’t look right to me and I was right :D. I loved that cat.
Love your posts Ilona, they brighten my day every single time 🙂
As an avid baker (who is quite good at cakes), the only thing that really matters is how good it tastes. Appearances are for magazines.
totally agree!
Cakes are good — especially when it calls for stout and chocolate
My husband since I’m not allowed to bake for a few weeks since I made a few dozen corona cookies (chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip) and corona cake (Kentucky butter cake with a bourbon glaze. Gotta work out hard for a week then I can make corona breads and cinnamon rolls
Oh man butter and bourbon, sign me up, that sounds amazing. Working that off would definitely be worth it
Marry me? Can I have cake then?
Cakeeeee. Yeah I suck at decorating them too. But as Long as they taste good. If you wish to comment on how it looks, stay away from my yummy cake.
Oh. I miss cake. Time to start baking…
Glad your efforts are (were?) profanity-worthy. My decorating skills suck to the point that I almost never make a layer cake, so good on ya for that. The best I can do is a flat 9”x13”. Whatev. It’s the taste that counts. ????????♀️????
I hear you, I can bake as many layers you want me, but it’s like I get suddenly tired and out of patience when I need to decorate it. I love Swiss meringue chocolate buttercream.
???? Good job on the cake. I am the same. I spent a, year cooking ať a Youth center and my, rule was just that – my cooking tastes good, but Not looks good. Even if I try it has this ‘Child-like quality’ to it… ????????♀️
I’m a carb-free, low-fat, sugar free person (I had gastric bypass in 2017), and I’m 36 weeks pregnant and craving sweets. Your cake looks like heaven, and I hate you for it. Just a little. Not really. But please, tell him to eat some for me and the one in my belly who has been trying to kill me this whole pregnancy (carbs, sweets, everything I can’t have is what I’m craving…).
I’m with you as far as low carbs and sugar free foods but my diet change was caused by diabetes. Sometimes it just stinks but that’s why there’s sugar free chocolate pudding, heh. Occasionally when I crave sweets I’ll eat a favorite salty or savory treat and the change of taste helps lessen the craving. I always have a can of black olives on hand just for that reason. Take care and best of luck. It sounds like you’ve taken charge of things.
Laurie,
I have found some creative ways to get my sweet fix too. Fruit, and I have a brownie recipe I make using Powdered Peanut Butter (PB2/PB Fit), Splenda, Cocoa Powder, water, and some SF Chocolate chips, or a few Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate chips. You just pop it in the microwave, and it comes out fantastic. 🙂
Swiss buttercream is HARD! But absolutely delightful! I think it looks fabulous! I would love it!!! You are AWESOME!
Looks amazing better than any of mine anyway take care and stay safe ❤️????????
That looks delicious; thanks for posting it. It cheered me up a lot yesterday; thank you!
Looks great to me!
It’s a cake made with love. There is no better cake than that. And frankly, it looks delicious. I’m not a baker, and I’m sure a cake I made would be leaning and groaning as it tried to stay together. You more than accomplished that.
Thank you for the Ryder novella/book. I really love seeing Julie’s transformation to a very competent and powerful adult. House Andrews stories are the best!
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Peace and blessings to both of you and kid1 and 2.
Looks pretty amazing to me..in be very happy if someone made me a cake like that.
Books also are awesome and the Ryder series is a fabulous treat..thank you.
You’re looking at this wrong. It’s an artistic hand made and decorated cake. Chocolate sprinkles everywhere and you’re set. Trust me, I bake cake and sell them at the farmers market. I’m crap for decorating but boy do they taste good. I use Swiss buttercream or glaze.
Tag yourself…I’m Gordon, lmao. I do the same thing when my roommate makes a cake. So good….????????????
Marriage goals.
Your cake looks better than anything I could do, go girl!
OMG that looks amazing!
It sounds delicious so I would be happy to comsume any leftovers. ????
I think your cake looks amazing and delicious!
I love baking and my cakes usually taste delicious but I also struggle with the decorating. I can never manage to make them look pretty but I figure as long as they taste good that’s the important thing. Your cake looks and sounds delicious though. I wish it was possible to pull a slice through my phone screen!
Gordon sounds like my Dad, he can never let any food go to waste. I remember when we were kids he’d finish off every plate round the table when my brother and I didn’t eat our whole meals. I’ll happily let someone else eat the leftover healthy foods but no way I can leave cake uneaten ????
I’m just impressed when anyone actually bakes anymore. I usually take a lazy route (buying one). That said, looks good to me. 🙂
Your cake looks absolutely delicious. It is homemade with love and looks it. I would eat it just based on the looks potential. (Luscious)
The description nailed it.
Your cake looks fabulous! I am not a great baker and really appreciate those who can. My friend who lives up the street has been a lifesaver- she has dropped off various baked treats during the lock down so we are not deprived of sweets! Your husband is a lucky guy. Thanks for everything you do!
That sounds so delicious! Who cares what it looks like.
Ok. I tried attaching a pic of my Christmas cake that I dropped in the container (thank goodness) walking into my girls night out party. Let’s note, I work a lot of big hours for my job, I have 2 teenage active sons. I don’t have time to bake a cake, but I love Ian Garten’s chocolate cake so I made time. I decorated (sorta). And I dropped it – so it looked like steps to chocolate cake. But it was still a great cake. Even spring baking championship will pass a good tasting cake over a not so perfect design.
I made your pork carnitas recipe last night from a blog or 12 back. Thank you, family loved it.
If that cake were in my house I’d dive face first into it and slash anyone that got in my way. Looks divine to me and love all those flavors! ????
Swiss meringue buttercream is bomb. I just made a similar cake for my nephews’ birthday but it was marble cake instead of chocolate.
OMG, that cake looks and sounds so delicious. I want some so badly.
I don’t eat cake very often – but I have a carrot cake recipe that I make occasionally.
It doesn’t require pineapple (which doesn’t go with carrot for my taste) or nuts, and it is so delicious it doesn’t even need frosting. Although the cream cheese frosting usually used for carrot cake is one of the few I can stand, and the frosting recipe that was included is quite good.
Recipes or it didn’t happen! ????
Ugly cake tops are the best. I save them for myself when I bake. There was a bakery in Houston that used to sell them. They would sandwich with some icing. It was the perfect snack sized piece of cake, imo.
You must really be feeling better. You have energy! Yummy looking cake. Too bad we can’t taste as well as see it!
That looks like a cake worthy of dropping your head in the middle and eating your way out to the sides. Enjoy!
taste is everything – and I say death by chocolate it looks awesome wish I could taste
Your taste buds can’t see the cake. The only thing that counts is the taste.
Um, might I have the recipe?
When I was a child with older siblings still single and living at home, the sister born just before me used to bake cakes. They all looked like a child had slapped them together, and I used to laugh about how odd they looked. When I got a little older and was permitted to try my hand at it, my cakes looked gorgeous. All layers even, frosting evenly distributed, smooth and picture perfect. Trouble was, my cakes tasted like the dog had licked them while hers were gobbled up so fast that they never had time to go under a cover to stay fresh! The only thing that slowed down the eating of her cakes was making sure you were not stuck with one of the many toothpicks holding them together. I have switched to cupcakes only, because you don’t need to decorate them at all. I have the tips, I have the bag, but what I don’t have is steady hands to squeeze evenly and I have blobbed up frosting on every cake I tried to make “pretty”. Sheet cakes are also good for me. I was told that when making a layer cake, you put what was the tops of the layers together and kind of smash them flat to make the top and bottom even so it won’t tip. Yeah, it only kind of works. Then I was told to gently bump the bottoms of the pans to make the air bubbles come to the top and pop before baking. That works, also only “kind of”. It does at least make the tops flatter. Just like any other skill, it all takes practice, and I never got it completely right. But cake is cake, and there’s no doubt that those of us who know what and how to eat manage to make them all disappear. When profanity is involved in expressing how good it takes, you can be assured that you have done it right.
The main thing about you having made this cake is that you are actually feeling alive again and doing things that make joy. Welcome back.
I can decorate cakes, but I can’t knit. No one is good at everything. The cake tasting great is a win.
If you don’t want to decorate the cake, make it into a trifle! Layers of cake, filling and/or fruit, and frosting in a glass dish and you have a beautiful “fancy” dessert. ????
It looks delicious to me! How does one get to be one of your Beta readers? That would be an awesome job!
Since I don’t bake beyond a batch of cookies once a decade or so, it looks great to me. I do make bread on occasion, does that count ? And sometimes they’re pretty and sometimes they aren’t. LOL.
I’m the same way with decorating – my baked goods are generally delicious, but I lack the time/skill for fancy, pretty decorating. That sounds fabulous, though!
I just want a slice.
When profanity is needed to emphasize the deliciousness of something, you are a definite winner! Now I’m totally craving cake. Thanks alot! 🙂
This is so much better than anything I could do. My Southern grandmother was renowned far and wide for her cakes. I can barely make a pound cake come out even. Layers? Forget about it.
Oohh, yum. Please tell me you have the recipe posted on the blog? Some day when we are allowed out of the house again I want to be able to make that cake. And beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and delicious cakes are ALWAYS beautiful.
I think it looks great! I just rediscovered my love of baking and nothing I make looks appetizing, but they taste good so I consider that a win! Taste always outweighs looks!
OMG that cake looks luscious!!! I think you did a fabulous job of baking and decorating it!! I am sure it was yummy, and with the curse words it sounds like it was! You are way too hard on yourself Ilona! You are so good at so many different things.
I have tried to bake things, and it is only by pure luck that occassionally one thing I bake at least tastes fairly good. Usually my baked goods taste as bad as they look. I wanted to do something a little extra special for my sister for her 55th birthday, so decided to bake her a birthday cake. She is a good baker, and always makes the birthday cakes for our family. Usually we buy her cake, but this one time I wanted to have it be home made. I decided to make her a Lemon layer cake, with raspberry filing, and a Lemon Chiffon icing. The cake layers came out looking and smelling wonderful! I let the layers cool for as long as my patience would allow (I’m not that patient!), then I filled the top of each layer (except the top layer) with raspberry filing and Lemon Chiffon icing on top of that. The top layer and sides of the cake were just Lemon Chiffon. I had to use the ziplock bag method too, and was pleasantly surprised at the final result. I thought for once I had pulled it off! A beautiful cake that was going to be delicious as well!! The next day I went to get my cake container with the cake in it to bring to the birthday celebration. It seemed like something was wrong, so I lifted the lid to check it out. The cake had separated in the middle, and the four resulting parts had just sort of deflated away from the center and smooshed outwards. What a frightful looking mess!! I just sat down and cried. My sister came to see what was taking so long, and in her usual kind way, made a big fuss about how thrilled she was that I had even attempted a cake for her. She said she knew I struggled with baking, and the fact that I had tried to make her a cake which had her favorite flavors was the best gift of all. She insisted that we eat the cake, which we did with each person getting a big gloppy blob put on their plate, and it surprisingly had a really good flavor. YES!!! Success, limited though it was. So, if I had made a cake that looked like yours did Ilona, I would be taking multiple pictures of it, and showing those off to everyone I know!!
I am sure the cake meant a lot to Gordon, and tasted as good or better than it looked!! To me, your cake looked delicious!!!
Oh my, you had me at chocolate but the Swiss meringue chocolate buttercream, oh my…it looks so good. I’ve got sugar free chocolate pudding in my fridge and there’s not enough imagination in the world to pretend that’s as good as your cake. I’m off to google sugar free Swiss meringue chocolate buttercream. Perhaps the recipe for that exists. Yum, yum