I was a bit disappointed with my assigned cake - pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting (maple cream cheese frosting in reality - because confectioners' sugar is highly processed, we use ground maple crystals instead. Though much more health-supportive, the maple crystals also impart a slightly maple/toffee flavor.) I embraced the day, though, knowing that I love to bake and eager to master the art of cake baking. Baking is a very particular science; every little turn of the pan or fold of the paddle can make the difference between a perfect cake and a pitiful cake. One of the most important things in cake baking is the gluten content of the cake - how much gluten the flour contains and how far you develop the gluten during the mixing process. The less gluten content and the less you mix the batter, the lighter and fluffier the cake will be (but if you don't have or develop enough gluten, the cake will not stick together); the more gluten content and the more you develop the gluten, the tougher and chewier the cake will turn out - like bread.
My pineapple cake followed a mixing method called "straight-mix" meaning add wet ingredients to dry. Normally, when making a cake, I naturally add dry to wet because most recipes call to "gradually add the flour to the liquid (usually eggs, sugar, vanilla)" This technique, however, is prone to overdeveloped gluten, and so it is more technically correct to add the wet ingredients into the dry and hand mix until just combined.
Another very important part of a successful cake is the oven. Once the cake goes into the oven, it is extremely important that one does not open the oven door for at least 15 minutes (if baking at 350). This allows for undisturbed, evenly distributed heat to at least "set" the cake - set the rising quality. After enough time is allowed for the cake to set, one can open the oven to check for "hot spots" (areas that are cooking faster than other areas) and rotate if necessary.
Enough of the technical stuff, pretty much all turned out wonderfully. After cooling for a bit, we wrapped them well and chilled them in the refrigerator until Tuesday for decorating! (we also all made different icings and fillings during our spare time on Monday - all to be used on Tuesday).
Tuesday came and we were able to be really creative with what we wanted for our cakes! I decided on a fresh raspberry filling and the maple cream cheese frosting. I first torted my cake (split in half) and then spread a thick layer of filling into the middle.
After reassembling, I began to frost the top and outsides. My experience from working as a decorator at Emileigh's REALLY helped me during this class. I realized Tuesday that after 2 years of decorating cakes and cookies, I was pretty good at it - definitely not a novice anymore! Today the roles were reversed, I was helping alot of people in class, which was really fun because usually it is the opposite!
I decided to try a simple ribbon decoration on my cake, using the a medium leaf tip. It turned out really well, I think, but the icing was rather soft. Cream cheese icing is difficult to work with because at room temperature, it does not hold shape very well. I had to work quickly and efficiently! I was happy with the end result, and the cake tasted delicious!
As skeptical as I was about the pineapple, I ended up loving it!
Everyone in the class did a really good job and we had a cake FEAST! Our class room looked like a gourmet bakery by the end of the day...
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