I am a skilled savory chef who can fix any manner of savory food mistakes, create elaborate food, and identify when a recipe will and will not work. But I am not a skilled baker. Nonetheless, over the last few years I have volunteered to bake all sorts of cakes to improve my skills and challenge my stated ability to “fix” recipes and cooking errors. Baking is a science. It is widely known in professional cooking that savory chef skills and pastry chef skills are possessed by culinary unicorns. That is why many restaurants hire pastry chefs even when the most talented chefs lead in the kitchen.
As my quest to improve my baking skills evolves, I have had many hilarious conversations and debriefs about my baking endeavors. Not long ago, I volunteered to make a Charlotte au Chocolat for a Frenchman’s birthday. Big mistake. Bigger mistake to replicate a cake made by the Frenchman’s mother. Even bigger mistake to make the required ladyfingers because the grocery story variety was not right. Baking madness followed. Our single oven kitchen over heated resulting from rotating sheet pans of ladyfingers, deflating the batter so I could not uniformly pipe rectangles. Ever resourceful, I managed to produce enough presentable ladyfingers to use on the exterior of the cake and buried the odd-shaped rejects in the center. Brilliantly, I made a stabilized mousse recipe (from a much-loved triple chocolate mousse cake I used to make professionally) which was a bit too stiff for the charlotte application. The cake would sit at room temperature for some time so I thought a stabilized mousse would work better. It probably would have worked if I had made the mousse a bit softer. I am lucky to have a tactful, joyful, and appreciative group of friends who skewered the cake enough for a lot of laughs but not enough to deter me from cake failures. I am tough and resilient.
The next cake failure came in the form of the beloved, simplest cake in the United Kingdom. Consistently ranked in the top four favorites, Victoria Sandwich and Lemon Drizzle cakes could not be easier to make. Victoria Sandwich seemed perfect. I am a professional, I can do this! Except this time, it all went sideways due to self-rising flour. Baking with self-rising flour is very common in the UK, not as much in the U.S. Brilliantly, I decided to make self-rising flour (all-purpose, baking powder, and salt) rather than making another trip to the grocery store. Following a well-known recipe, I made it and then neglected to consider leavening distribution when I apportioned out enough for my recipe. The cake did not rise as expected. Frantic online searching revealed the mixture should be processed or sifted at least five times to evenly distribute the baking power. If you are not using all the recipe quantity, I recommend purchasing self-rising flour which will work in any measurement. Lesson learned. Since that cake wasn’t perfect, I chose a different recipe for the next Victoria Sandwich cake. This time, I used cake flour with baking powder and that cake did not rise as expected. Never wasteful, I now had four approximately 1.5″ high cakes that had to miraculously transform into a layer cake. Pivoting, I whipped cream, added berries to two layers and arrived at the party with a version of Victoria Sandwich no self-respecting English person would present to anyone. The birthday crowd howled with laughter, I presented the birthday girl with the forth cake for freezing, and brave souls ate the masterpiece. My favorite comment was “it could use a bit of air” with an honorable for “is this fry bread?” More howling followed by more drinking. I am tough and resilient. Please share your baking failures in the comments. Let’s learn and laugh together!
