Comments on: sweet and salty cake http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/ Cooking unfussy and spruced up comfort food, breaking down kitchen-phobia barriers with seasonal fare Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:18:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Annaliese http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-223384 Annaliese Sun, 06 Nov 2011 02:22:31 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-223384 This was the first cake I have ever baked. Don't be scared away by the lengthy directions and fancy tools! I used a 70's sunbeam handmixer for most of this stuff and it turned out great. Best chocolate cake I have ever had. I took other's suggestions and stopped the caramel at 330 degrees (be careful not to eat it all before putting it on the cake!). I kept the caramel in the fridge, made the icing the next day and put that in the fridge as well, and baked the cake on the third day. Definitely put the cake in the freezer for an hour after cooling. This helps SO MUCH with icing. Also, I found that the ganache had to be at room temperature for it to spread well. This takes a long time to warm up even after being in the refrigerator so give yourself at least a half day to leave it on the counter before icing the cake. I'm a busy college student so making this cake in steps helped made this much easier. I didn't want to go out searching for fleur de sel so I used plain sea salt and I still thought it was delicious. Next time I make this I may double the salted caramel and drizzle some on top of the finished cake. I had a lot of icing left over so it would be nice to use up the rest and some salted caramel to put on a small batch of chocolate cupcakes.... mmm. This was the first cake I have ever baked. Don’t be scared away by the lengthy directions and fancy tools! I used a 70′s sunbeam handmixer for most of this stuff and it turned out great. Best chocolate cake I have ever had. I took other’s suggestions and stopped the caramel at 330 degrees (be careful not to eat it all before putting it on the cake!). I kept the caramel in the fridge, made the icing the next day and put that in the fridge as well, and baked the cake on the third day. Definitely put the cake in the freezer for an hour after cooling. This helps SO MUCH with icing. Also, I found that the ganache had to be at room temperature for it to spread well. This takes a long time to warm up even after being in the refrigerator so give yourself at least a half day to leave it on the counter before icing the cake. I’m a busy college student so making this cake in steps helped made this much easier. I didn’t want to go out searching for fleur de sel so I used plain sea salt and I still thought it was delicious. Next time I make this I may double the salted caramel and drizzle some on top of the finished cake. I had a lot of icing left over so it would be nice to use up the rest and some salted caramel to put on a small batch of chocolate cupcakes…. mmm.

]]> By: Betty Weiss http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-206656 Betty Weiss Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:12:26 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-206656 I made the cake last weekend and it was delicious. I found the recipe in a book called "Best of the Best" which collects 2 or 3 recipes each from newly released cookbooks. My first batch of caramel burned (even though I took it off the heat early at 340˚ instead of 350˚), but the next time, I made both batches of caramel in the same pot which made it easier not to overcook it. I took it off at 320˚ and it was fine. I only made two layers of cake for this first attempt, so I had a lot of frosting and some caramel left over. I'm going to decorate around it with white chocolate molded seashells and turn it in as my final project for the chocolate culinary class I'm in. I made the cake last weekend and it was delicious. I found the recipe in a book called “Best of the Best” which collects 2 or 3 recipes each from newly released cookbooks. My first batch of caramel burned (even though I took it off the heat early at 340˚ instead of 350˚), but the next time, I made both batches of caramel in the same pot which made it easier not to overcook it. I took it off at 320˚ and it was fine. I only made two layers of cake for this first attempt, so I had a lot of frosting and some caramel left over. I’m going to decorate around it with white chocolate molded seashells and turn it in as my final project for the chocolate culinary class I’m in.

]]> By: Radish http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-145748 Radish Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:17:51 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-145748 Cristal - I am a huge fan of the cake, but it's a PAIN to make!! Congrats on giving it a go. You totally should get a tshirt. Also, thank you for your compliments! Cristal – I am a huge fan of the cake, but it’s a PAIN to make!! Congrats on giving it a go. You totally should get a tshirt. Also, thank you for your compliments!

]]> By: Christal http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-145711 Christal Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:55:38 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-145711 I made this cake. I feel like I should get a t-shirt saying "I Survived". Let's just say I now have a pot for caramel... that's what happens when caramel burns... and I had a candy thermometer in it.... I had mixed reviews on the cake, some people really liked it, some people hated it. I am glad I attempted it though!! P.S. Love this blog!!! I made this cake. I feel like I should get a t-shirt saying “I Survived”. Let’s just say I now have a pot for caramel… that’s what happens when caramel burns… and I had a candy thermometer in it…. I had mixed reviews on the cake, some people really liked it, some people hated it. I am glad I attempted it though!!

P.S. Love this blog!!!

]]> By: Radish http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-142329 Radish Sat, 06 Nov 2010 12:20:10 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-142329 Joy - the email is on the About page. :) Joy – the email is on the About page. :)

]]> By: Joy http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-142242 Joy Sat, 06 Nov 2010 04:49:39 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-142242 I couldn't find where to email you.. Sorry about the long line of posts. The fleur de sel problem has been solved as I just borrowed some from a friend who works at William Sonoma :) I actually made the caramel tonight (I am going to do the cake and frosting tomorrow).. It turned out somewhat well.. It didn't burn and I didn't have to redo it; so that is good. I did lose a little bit of caramel because some of it got super hard.. It was kind of strange. I kept the hard caramel and put it between some wax paper and tried to think that I hadn't messed up the caramel recipe, I had just made homemade caramels. Thanks for the help! We will see how the rest of it goes. I couldn’t find where to email you.. Sorry about the long line of posts. The fleur de sel problem has been solved as I just borrowed some from a friend who works at William Sonoma :) I actually made the caramel tonight (I am going to do the cake and frosting tomorrow).. It turned out somewhat well.. It didn’t burn and I didn’t have to redo it; so that is good. I did lose a little bit of caramel because some of it got super hard.. It was kind of strange. I kept the hard caramel and put it between some wax paper and tried to think that I hadn’t messed up the caramel recipe, I had just made homemade caramels. Thanks for the help! We will see how the rest of it goes.

]]> By: Radish http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141944 Radish Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:00:24 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141944 Joy - I guess it depends on where you live? Is there a Whole Foods near you? You can also email me questions. Joy – I guess it depends on where you live? Is there a Whole Foods near you? You can also email me questions.

]]> By: Joy http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141803 Joy Fri, 05 Nov 2010 02:18:41 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141803 Thanks for the help! I went to the store today and couldn't find that salt. Is it in the regular seasoning aisle? Sorry so many questions! Thanks for the help! I went to the store today and couldn’t find that salt. Is it in the regular seasoning aisle? Sorry so many questions!

]]> By: Radish http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141706 Radish Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:18:32 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141706 Joy - fleur de sel isn't just sea salt. It literally means flower of salt. Maldon sells a great product - these are salt flakes, not granules, and texturally, make a lot of difference. As far as fat goes, this is a large cake to frost, and so I would recommend making the suggested amount and trying to frost sparingly. The worst thing that could happen is that you wind up with a partially frosted cake, which doesn't look pretty. I find that when I serve myself a slice, I just scrape off whatever frosting I don't want (I'm a cake person anyway), and push it to the side of the plate. Hope this helps! Joy – fleur de sel isn’t just sea salt. It literally means flower of salt. Maldon sells a great product – these are salt flakes, not granules, and texturally, make a lot of difference. As far as fat goes, this is a large cake to frost, and so I would recommend making the suggested amount and trying to frost sparingly. The worst thing that could happen is that you wind up with a partially frosted cake, which doesn’t look pretty. I find that when I serve myself a slice, I just scrape off whatever frosting I don’t want (I’m a cake person anyway), and push it to the side of the plate. Hope this helps!

]]> By: Joy http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141693 Joy Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:12:23 +0000 http://www.sassyradish.com/2009/03/sweet-and-salty-cake/#comment-141693 Now I feel stupid.. Fleur de sel = sea salt. But still would like to know about trimming the fat from the recipe! Now I feel stupid.. Fleur de sel = sea salt. But still would like to know about trimming the fat from the recipe!

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