Week 20, January 3, 2011: Gingerbread Cake/ Angel Food Cake

Happy New Year!

So, I couldn't quite shake Christmas yet, hence the gingerbread cake and, I firmly believe in trying to cut back after the excesses of the holidays, so I thought that Angel Food Cake would be a good change... hence the two cakes in one week, just like last week.

With these two cakes, the grand total of types of cake made is now: 23 (this isn't including the week I parlayed into cookie making). The total of actual cakes made is over fifty.  I was looking over two of my presents: a gingerbread cookbook from my aunt and Krystina Castella's A World of Cake and remembered a few important things.  First, a cake is an offering.  Cakes have been entombed with pharoah's and used as parts of rituals for thousands of years.  My personal favorite: in medieval times, unmarried women were made to eat gingerbread men at fairs with the hope that they'd meet a suitor (maybe I shouldn't have said that with Ang reading on- I'm going to find fifty gingerbread men on my front porch tomorrow).

Killer gingerbread cake- Recipe joyofbaking.com

The second thing I remembered (and to me the most important), cake is an integral part of celebrations.  They sweetly say, "congratulations" or "good job".

This one smells like a job well done!

  Lastly, a cake is traditional.  Each family or speaking in meta terms, each culture has it's own ingredients- based on the land in which they lived.  You have a multiplicity of sweeteners and leaven'ers' and shapes.  Each culture has it's own concept/ interpretation of what a cake is.  For me, cake is a part of who we are as a people and how we celebrate, and therefore needs to be shared.

Sure, we'd love some cake!

Again, I had company while I made the gingerbread cake, so I don't have many of pics.  I'm not making this stuff up- I usually have no one over the house on my Sat/Sun baking days, but I became super popular my two baking days this week... I think everyone wants a guest spot.

The gingerbread cake was so simple to make-- I used the pastry cutter because I felt that it'd be rude to break out the hand mixer in the middle of conversation.  After cutting the butter and sugar, I added the eggs one at a time and then the molasses.  I sifted the dry ingredients together and then mixed in the dry to the wet, adding milk at two junctures.  It really seemed like too much milk, but the cake came out perfectly, exactly 40 mins in the oven.  The above pictures are of the cake in the oven and cut- my parents had company for dinner and cards, so I brought the cake.  Dad said it came a week late, but put back a couple of pieces.  The frosting was a lemon icing- lemon juice and powdered sugar.

Ang and I found it a bit too tart, as did Nan, but Cup took a drizzle with his for tomorrow breakfast.

All in all, most excellent.

Also excellent, my two new aprons, care of my bro, sis-in-law & Emers and my buddy, Char....

I feel so domestic!

Ahh! no make-up

 and Char also managed to procure matryoshka measuring cups (as pictured above, asking for cake)-- I know, pretty much the most rad thing on earth for a baker and these gloves:

Eat your heart out, Donna Reed!

I didn't think I did badly buying for my friend, but the thoughtful perfection of these gifts left me feeling very spoiled.

And what better way to remedy spoilage and overindulgence than some Angel Food Cake.... see the next post to get the scoop on the very difficult task of not effing up an Angel Food Cake... and making my favorite filling-- LEMON CURD (YUM)!!!