Back, with a cake

The first thing I did when I got up after having returned from New York the previous night was to make a cake! It was a birthday cake request for a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. I have a recipe that everyone seems to really love, so I made the same Bumblebee cake, which I have previously posted. My favorite thing about baking, especially cakes, is the amount of design and creativity that goes into the appearance. I assure you, there are a lot of sketches for this cake. I ended up going with some chocolate flowers on little buttercream "bubbles."



While we were in New York, visited a lot of bakeries. I had excellent cookies at City Bakery and little assortments from Dean & Deluca, which was fun. I wish I'd taken more photos of all the little treats we got, but for the most part, everything disappeared within seconds.

I used exactly the same recipe for this cake, as I did in my previous post, here. Also, we got flowers from a friend and I thought they were too pretty not to take a picture of:


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Orange Buttercakes with Lime Mousse

This weekend we had such warm weather, I thought some more fruity flavors were in order. I went with a citrus theme: orange and lime. I love the tang of limes, so I made sure the mousse was really limey. I got some new molds this weekend using a gift card I got as a compensation for a box of broken cookies. I had a great time and spent way too long in the store deciding what to get, but I ended up buying some ring molds, some savarin molds, and a new candy thermometer. All will be put to good use shortly. I am a fan of both covered and uncovered cakes. By this, I mean I like seeing the inside of the cake, without anything covering the sides. Seeing the stripes of the layers is really beautiful, I think. The orange buttercake has been a hit with many people, and has some big fans. It's nice that it's so easy to make and super moist.

Orange buttercake

2 sticks butter
6 oz cream cheese
1 1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange
4 eggs
1 cup AP flour
2/3 cup self-rising flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment. Cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add in orange zest and eggs. Sift the flours together and add them to batter until just combined. Pour into sheet pan, using an offset spatula to spread. Make for 11 minutes (depending on oven). Remove from pan and let cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.



Lime Mousse

1 cup Lime curd
1 cup heavy cream

Beat cream to stiff peaks. Incorporate lime curd (use attached recipe using only lime juice and zest). Transfer to a piping bag with a plain tip 1/4-1/2" in diameter.

Assembly
Using ring mold as a cutter, cut circles of cake out from sheet cake. For the first layer in the mold, use cake. Pipe an even layer of lime mousse on top. Add another layer of cake and mousse. Repeat until you reach the top of the mold, making sure to end with a mousse layer; smooth the top. Place molds on a sheet pan in freezer for 1 hour. Apply pressure from bottom to remove from mold.
I put candied orange and lime on the top, as well.
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