Pin Reaper: Jessi
Original Inspiration: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/227994799859120054/
What I Did: I have baked many cakes, and I followed this recipe exactly. I even invested in an expensive vanilla bean paste. I was going to impress my family for the holidays. The cake cooled and turned into a hard, dense brick. It wasn’t pound cake. It was ton cake. Now that I look closer at the pictures, the cake there looked really dense, too. The flavor was not great, either.
The Swiss meringue buttercream clotted and separated. I followed the advice on every site I could find to recover it, and it went right back to runny with lumps. I pulled the caramel sauce a bit too soon, so it was light, but it had great flavor. When I poured it on, I t just pulled the runny icing off the cake and took the cashews with it.
My Result:
Next Time I Will: I think this could be pulled off with a lighter cake recipe, and I guess I just need to master the Swiss meringue icing. I know it can be done, I just didn’t do it right.
With Swiss Meringue, you need to make sure it’s properly cooled down first and you only use a hand whisk; some people I know tried it in a food processor or a cheap stand mixer and this doesn’t work because it gets too hot and just melts the butter.
When it goes lumpy, that’s just a step before it goes creamy and fluffy! You need to persevere and it take foreeeever to go nice, but it’s so worth it. You just need to keep whisking it for a really long time and there’s a magic moment where it just all comes together and you’re like “WHAT?! HOW?!”
Did you use a 6in cake pan like the recipe called for?
To follow up on what Shannon said, yes give it time. I used my kitchen aid stand mixer and actually place cold packs underneath to help it cool down which speeds up the process.
I agree, the cake in the original photo actually looks kind of gross — all dense and gummy, if you know what I mean. I’d try it again with a better cake recipe.
lol! failed cakes taste the best :v
I think it’s a combination of errors here. This was not the type of cake you make and assemble within a few hours of the same day. If everything (except for the caramel) was sufficient cooled (chilled even), it would have made the assembly far easier.
This sounds lovely, but I do think there are issues with the recipe as even the original doesn’t look fully baked; that bottom tier is severely under-done. I’ve never tried Swiss meringue, so personally I’m delighted with the tips given by the other readers.
I agree, did you use the 6 inch cake pans? I noticed that first, much like the above comment.