Christmas 2024 Cake

 Usually I make a Yule Log for Christmas dessert. But this year we were visiting Sis, and she wanted something different. I'd come prepared to make the Yule Log, with several of my favorite recipes from over the years, bakers chocolate bars for the ganache, and piping bags and tips for the meringue mushrooms. However, what Sis really wanted was a simple vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Why not? It would be a challenge to figure out what to do.

I've made cakes in Sis' kitchen before, and I've left some equipment there including 6" cake pans, cake strips, cooling racks, and bakers sheets. Small offset spatulas, cake rounds, measuring cups and spoons and a beautiful lime green Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a glass bowl are there too.

As it turns out, what would have been really useful is an oven thermometer. Boy does Sis' oven run hot! I used Butternut Bakery's recipe for a 2 layer cake. I decided on a 2-layer cake to avoid making 2 batches of frosting. However, since the recipe is designed to yield 2 thick layers there is a lot of batter in each pan. When it came time to check the cake, it was easy to see that the top was too dark and the edges too cooked while the center was way underdone. I lowered the oven temperature and covered each cake pan in foil but this didn't keep the cakes from collapsing in the center once they cooled. I was so upset  that I considered throwing out the cakes and starting over. But even though I was making the cakes the day before, Christmas is a busy time and that was just not going to work out. I would have to figure out something else. After all, bakers are problem solvers!

After sleeping on it, I decided to moisten the cakes with simple syrup before frosting them.  I've never felt the need to do this before, but making simple syrup is very easy. Most recipes suggest spraying it in your cake layers, but i didn't have a food-safe spray bottle. I did, however, have a pastry brush. I ended up poking holes in one if the cake layers with a toothpick but not in the other one, to see what happened. The one thing I wasn't sure of was how much simple syrup to apply. I ended up applying several passes with the brush, but still a pretty conservative amount.

I used my regular Sallys baking addiction recipe for chocolate buttercream. It came oit so good, I had to swat away Sis' hand. She just wanted to eat it right out of the bowl! Since I was afraid the cakes would be dry I applied a larger amount than usual in between the two cake layers.  I evened up the concave collapsed top with frosting as best I could.

For the decor, I decided to make an upright "log" with a forest scene on the caketop. I ran a fork up the sides of the cake, swirling the fork here and there, to show the "grain" of the wood. After the cake was fully frosted I had just over a cup's worth of frosting. That would have been enough to fill the center of a third layer, but I would indeed have needed a second batch for the sides of the cake. So I was pleased with that aspect of the recipe, and surprised to see that this cake turned out as tall as a filled and frosted 3-layer cake from a regular recipe. I used Christmas tree marshmallow peeps on toothpicks, chocolate wafer rolls for "logs", and foil-wrapped Lindt chocolate bears to round out the woodsy Christmas scene. Initially I was sorry I hadn't brought a 1M tip to pipe a border, but at the end of the day there really isn't that much room on top of a 6" round.  I thought the cake turned out pretty cute and I finished it just in time to collect R at the airport. He was arriving just in time for the celebration!

While we celebrate Christmas Day, Sis celebrates Christmas Eve with Spanish style food. So we had roast pork, blood sausage, rice with pigeon peas, salt cold salad and dwarf green plantain salad. There were 6 of us at the table including our family of three, Sis and her husband, and her mother-in-law. I'm not sure if everyone recognized that the cake represented a log, but I do know everyone enjoyed their piece.  When I cut the cake I could see that on one of the cake layers the sugar syrup hadn't penetrated very much inside the cake. So if using this technique in the future, it's good to remember to poke holes in the cake before brushing on the syrup in order to help it absorb.

Our Christmas was merry and bright with a nice dinner, singing  Christmas songs with R accompanying us on the guitar, and even some dancing to salsa and merengue music from YouTube videos. We hadva great time aand and were up til midnight!