Comments on: sweet and salty cake

By: Radish

Radish — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:53:51 +0000

Patricia – thanks so much! And I hope the tips come in handy when you embark on the project. The cake is a stunner and is definitely worth the effort! :) Glad to have another reader in you!!

By: Patricia Scarpin

Patricia Scarpin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:49:40 +0000

I intend to make this cake for my 17 year old sister next weekend and decided to google it up just in case (I own the book, have made a couple of recipes from it with great results). I’m so glad I did – not only your tips for making the cake are quite precious – I’ll keep them in mind! – but also I could discover your blog! I’ll become a regular, you bet!

Tks for sharing such great info! Your cake looks stunning.

By: Baking is my Zen

Baking is my Zen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:52:05 +0000

Hi! I’ve linked your post to my Sweet and Salty Cake post. You’re welcome to join my cookbook giveaway.

By: Radish

Radish — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:36:03 +0000

Brittany – haha, thank you for sharing – i am SOOOO sympathetic to your pain. This cake is as PAINFUL as can be, but I felt like that taste sort of made me even want to do it again. Now, have I done it in over a year? No. But one of these days… Oh! I will get to it. And since even your French guests gave it a thumbs-up, I say your efforts were well spent!

By: Brittany

Brittany — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:47:12 +0000

My god. I just made this cake yesterday and feel the need to share the agony of what I went through with someone who shares my pain. It was my first time working with caramel ( I even went out and bought a candy thermometer specifically for this feat) so when the directions in my copy of the book said to let it boil until it reached 350 degreed I listened. Boy was that a mistake. I realize now that I shouldn’t have been so hard on myself considering it was my first attempt at caramel but I couldn’t help it. There’s just something about the lingering smell of burnt caramel that doesn’t leave your kitchen (and that’s only half way through the process!) and casually reminds you of your failure.

All of the incredibly hard work aside. This was one of the most delicious cakes I have ever made in my life. I had guests in from France and even they said the caramel could rival Normandy’s’. I think the quality of the fleur de sel that you use is critical. Especially for the garnish.

PS I’ve made a few things out of the Baked cookbook and found their cookies to be a disappointment but I took their brownie recipe and put some of the salted caramel in the middle before baking. To. Die. For.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:40:52 +0000

I actually made this cake a couple of weeks ago, and it was hands down the best cake I have ever made (and I have made a lot of them over the years). My husband was trying to think what it reminded him of, and my only answer was “heaven.” I had about a cup of frosting leftover, and put it in a little container to dip my finger in whenever I was feeling like I needed a reminder of what heaven was like for the next few days. Everyone of course asked for the recipe, and I gave it with the dire warning to approach with great caution… this is one of those cakes that could send you over the edge if the cake gods are not with you; or, if you are forced to give it away.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:27:33 +0000

Thanks for your amusing and helpful post about this cake, I can absolutely relate! I made this cake a couple of months ago and decided I must have done something wrong when my towering cake took to leaning waaaay over. That’s why I’m web surfing about it now. My experience: the caramel hadn’t soaked in (I will trim the cake from now on) and the frosting was room temperature and falling off the cake (I will now refrigerate it first). We had extra frosting too. The only thing that held the cake upright was a bamboo skewer I stuck in while I sang “Slip Sliding Away.” I called it Disaster Cake, laughed with my family about it and thoroughly enjoyed eating it up. Good thing, it’s not a cheap cake in time, energy or money!

I like the “Baked” brownie recipe and the maple-walnut scones were tasty too.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:22:17 +0000

Well, I’ve been pondering this cake for like two weeks now. I’m on the verge of attempting it for my boyfriend’s birthday this weekend. The issue I’m having is trying to surprise him, a difficult feat since we live together. I’m thinking about making the components each separately and then assembling on Sunday – his bday. I see the caramel can sit three days, but what about the ganache -do you think it will get too hard? And really, what about the cakes – do you think they’ll will still taste amazing if I make them on saturday and use them on Sunday?

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:21:49 +0000

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:08:13 +0000

WOW…this sounds fabulous. I may not [don't] have the patience to make it…but I have a REALLY,REALLY good friend who lives on chocolate, so i’m sending the recipe to her and hoping she makes it AND has me over to try it…..GOD SPEED…