Week 31, March 21, 2011: Black Forest Cake

This is it friends!

Do you ever wonder where the time goes?
I'm sitting in my parents' living room tonight, less than a week shy of 30 and I can't even imagine where the last 30 weeks have gone let alone the last few decades.


This was February 25th.... Yes, that snow bank is as tall as I am.... and the seeds, well, that's what I did yesterday afternoon, after a preliminary backyard clean up.  In eight weeks-ish, these guys will be in the ground.


And look at this doll:

October 2nd:

 March 15th:

It's amazing how so many things diverge and converge to make our worlds so incredibly rich.  I never thought I'd be a baby person.  Now I look forward to pictures of that little smile every day and can't wait to see her.

I never thought I'd bake well... and well... I've had a few edible weeks.

I think that people are capable of change. I've said it before, but it bears repeating.  It's about opening up to the new, accepting that failure happens, but not accepting defeat (I've killed several plants and made some downright gross cake) and letting go of our preconceived notions of who we are (when death cake comes out of the oven, laugh, feed the garbage and start over).  Life is good stuff... if you haven't taken anything else out of this blog, know that I believe that and that I'm grateful for it all (though I forget sometimes):

"All the doors that I had to close

All the things I knew but I didn't know

Thank God for all I missed

Cause it led me here to this" 

-Darius Rucker, "This"

So, here's our last cake together.

Week 31: Black Forest Cake

recipe from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Forest-Cake-I/Detail.aspx

The ingredients are all assembled.  This took quite a few, but it was three separate processes.... so, let's begin...

I loved the cake recipe on this one: dries, add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla.  I don't know if it was the simplicity of the recipe or the weeks of practice, but I was completely present and for a lack of a better term, "in the zone" while making this one.  It just seemed surprise free and almost buoyant.

Mixing up the additions, I didn't need the mixer, a fork did fine...

Buttered and flour the pans...

 Panned and baked!

For those of you who like counting (I do, I do!): I made 79 cakes, plus about 14 dozen cuccidate and 6 dozen pusties.  There were 37 types of cake, including several chocolates, several cheesecakes and lots of tastiness.

And onto the cherry deliciousness!!!

 Mixing up about 40 oz of unsweetened cherries with a half cup of their juice, a cup of sugar and some cornstarch, and heat and stir until thickened... the recipe called for low heat-- but that took like forever, so I turned up the heat and kept up with the mixing and it was super quick.  Delightful.  I may have overcooked the second batch, it was a little congealed, but it was tasty.  Cup gave up chocolate for lent, so I did a separate bowl of cherries and whipped cream for him and he gave it a thumps up.

 Whipped cream was the last step.  Chilled 3 cups of whipped cream with some powdered sugar in a metal bowl with the beaters and beat the heck out of it.  I laughed hysterically when the cream splattered the walls and coffeepot.

 Assembly was amazing.  Cut the layers.

 Whipped cream and cherry layers.

 Here was the first attempt:

 And here was the second...

And ta da:

 I was a fan... The chocolate cake sort of needed to be more chocolate-y, and it could have used some kirsch (I mean, what's really the point of black forest without the sauce), but the crumb was good and the whipped cream and cherry had the nicest texture.  I broke my own rule (had my first slice at work today and then ate some more at mom's tonight).  It wasn't my favorite, but it was felt so nice in my mouth!

 Finding room for it in the fridge was a little tricky... but I managed.

The fam said it was "tasty".  The faculty had two comments: 1, I out did myself and 2, the cake tasted so good that they couldn't wait for what I did next....

As far as what's next:

 I have a few ideas... and I'll be keeping up on cake30 with everything since I will still be baking, just not always cake.  This leads us to idea 1, I want to branch into other desserts.  I'm a fan of pudding, custard (as you know) and creme brulee... not to mention pie.  Part of the faculty is supporting the pie idea.  2, home brewing... we were joking about it in the faculty room today.  3, organic gardening. 4, running. 5, not failing out of grad school... I think we're going to go for them all.

The basic idea of this blog was to do something I'd always wanted to do, but needed a space and some accountability for.

So, thank you!  Thanks for reading so far.  Thanks for trying the cake (if you'd been fortunate enough to be assaulted by it in the fac room, class, family event, etc).

Thank you to the amazing and interesting websites I've been able to borrow recipes from.

Thanks for the advice- Mom, Lisa, Maria, Nan, Aunt Ro

Lisa, thanks for the impromptu lessons- caramel and I will forever be friends... I still have to get some of those turtles.

Mom, thanks for letting me borrow half of your bakeware: most of it made it out unscathed :P

Thanks for the laughs.  Nan especially, walking into your house bearing dessert and hearing, "What did you do?" is definitely a confidence builder.  And thanks for the two pasta sessions and all of the family recipes, it's nice to be able to make the food that's part of who we are.

And thanks for the presents!  The aprons, bundt pan, kitchen towels, recipe box, measuring cups, espresso pot and the hand-me down anchor hocking from Nan... The kitchen made a lot of new friends these past 31 weeks.

I was offered a kitchen-aid mixer as a b-day present, but I turned it down, there's something so much more personal about using a hand mixer.  I liken it to kneading the dough for pasta: you can feel when it's done.  So, a shout out to three unsung heroes: the oven, the hand mixer and of course, my blackberry, which took nearly all of the cake mixing and making pics.  (and to Miss, Ker and Laura for getting me all of the Emers pics!)

See you next week with party pics and a run down of the plan for the next month(ish)!

Be well and happy baking!