I took this cake, along with my Designer Chocolate Baby Grands, to a lunch meeting - not a single slice was left behind.
I don't have a 10 inch cake pan, so I used my 10 Revere frying pan. The cake begins with a caramel, in my case, made right in the pan. Next, I artfully arranged plums and blueberries in the bottom of the pan, on top of the caramel. Finally, a simple cake batter tops off the pan before baking 40 - 50 minutes.
I tested the cake after 40 minutes. The top was firm to the touch, almost crusty. A toothpick inserted int the center came out clean. So I let it cool for 5 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan. That's when my trouble began. Once the pan was removed, I could see that the top (which had been the bottom) was still uncooked, and my partially baked fruit slid all over the still runny batter.
Fortunately, I make tortilla española, which involves flipping a potato - egg mixture until it's cooked through, so I wasn't too intimidated about getting the cake back in the pan to bake a little longer. After 50 minutes, it really was done, but not so pretty.
Several people who were going to be at this meeting knew that I've recently begun writing a cooking column for our weekly newspaper. If I were them, I would comment on that fact, looking at the sloppy cake, shrugging my shoulders and ask, "Why???"
Just as I talked myself out of serving the torte, my friend Sandy had the perfect solution - just cover it with whipped cream. That did the trick. As a matter of fact, some people thought the torte must have come from a bakery because of the piped cream.
Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don't post recipes from this book on the Internet. One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook. That strategy worked on me! After follow the group's baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon because I wanted join in.
11 comments:
Ooo... you dressed up your Torte nicely. The whipped cream looks fancy!
I like the whip cream top too!
I like the whip cream top too!! What a clever idea!
YUM!!! It's beautiful. I could see how the whipping cream would go really well with it.
Okay, the tortilla española sounds amazing!
the whipped cream is genius!
also, thanks for the tip with the egg white on the sweet potato fries, haven't heard of that one!
ב''ה
Looks terrific. Love the whipped cream.
Fast thinking! I can see how your friends would love the combination. I served stabilized whipped cream on the side and it was a hit. I think because it cut some of the super sweet of the fruit and caramel. Yours looks super.
Thanks, everyone!
Vicki - not only is tortilla espanola vegetarian, it's something you can make when the cupboard is bare, just olive oil, eggs, potato, and onion.
Congratulations on being Featured Baker of the Week, Lois. Your torte looks wonderful. I love the whipped cream shells on top. No wonder they thought it was from a bakery :o) I baked my cake last night and will be serving it tonight, with whipped cream on the side. Your Spanish Tortilla looks great. I make it quite often myself. Growing up, my mom made it for us kids a lot, and like her, I like to put parsley in mine for both flavor and color.
PS: I like the new look of your blog :o)
looks so delicious!
have a nice time!
Paula
Post a Comment