This time last year I was entrenched in the minutia of editing and consumed by word count, so how exactly I managed to make one of my most artistic cakes to date, I couldn't say. Well, that's not entirely true; I think it was twisting fondant snakes into torques and playing with edible spray paint (maybe especially playing with the edible spray paint - take that lustre dust) that helped me keep what was left of my sanity.
As it turns out, those little aerosol cans can spray quite far and a fair number of inedibles came out looking like they'd been touched by Midas, but the end result was worth it. The cake was for our departmental cocktail party, and was decorated accordingly. I mentioned twisting torques, and while this type of ancient jewellry may not be fashionable today, believe me, for the nerdy they were pretty cool to see on a cake.
And that was how I solved the cocktail cake quandary last year: decorating for theme. Sadly, despite delusions of marzipan manuscripts, there just wasn't time for elaborate decorating this year. So what to do? Well, what do all cocktail parties have in common? Booze. And what tastes good in cake? You know the answer.
Brandy was my booze of choice, and it inspired a pairing with vanilla. Vanilla cake is simple enough, and this time I went with Martha's Versitle Vanilla. I still needed a vehicle for the brandy, however, and though whipped cream seemed like a likely choice, I was afraid that if I added too much extra liquid (and I wanted to be able to taste that brandy) the whipped cream might break down or weep. That's when it struck me: pastry cream. A traditional princess cake with layers of pastry cream and whipped cream, made non-traditional by the infusion (ha!) of brandy. The fact that the brandy bottle advertized a 'velvety taste with hints of almonds' was, ahem, marzipan on the cake.
This was my first attempt at making pastry cream from scratch, and my sister warned 'it's a bitch'. I used a Real Simple recipe and didn't actually find it too troublesome, although the advice to whisk constantly 'until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of a creamy salad dressing' was fairly unhelpful; if there was a 'creamy salad dressing' consistency between 'liquidy' and 'Ah! Get it off the burner before it turns to scrambled eggs!' I sure missed it. Constant whisking, a constant eye on the pan and constant readiness for rapid (I mean rapid) thickening is enough though. I was pleased with the end result! The leftovers were delicious in a bowl with whipped cream...
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| the finished pastry cream |
Whipped cream is simple enough to not normally merit discussion (unless we want to talk about how tasty it is), but a bit of experimentation came into play this time when, predictably, my loathsome local grocery store was out of whipping cream. I'm fairly ignorant about the various types of creams, but a quick google search suggested that heavy cream could be substituted, and I'm happy to say that it was a great accident in the end. The heavy cream turned out a thick, lush cream that supported the weight of my four layer princess cake with ease. Importantly, it also took in the brandy with no problems. I did add some of the finished pastry cream to the whipped cream to stabilize it, but I'm not convinced that was necessary.
I had intended to dam the layers of pastry cream with whipped cream to prevent the pastry cream from seeping out, but after mixing the brandy into the pastry cream this proved a necessity because adding enough brandy (for my taste) made the pastry cream a bit loose. Even so, it held up just fine from stacking the layers and covering through to being cut into at the party.
That is, until the end...
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| and that, children, is your cake on cocktails |
As shown, the cake was unceremoniously demolished. Given that, and the fact that a senior member of the department was heard complimenting the cake a week later (I'd point out here that maybe procrastibaking is productive, if it gets your name out there, but the key is compliments to the cake), I feel safe in proposing that the appropriate cake for a cocktail party is an alcoholic one.
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