DB Time: Perfect Party Cake

This has been a long month. It seems ages ago that all the Daring Bakers received their March challenge, but, at last, the post day is here. Thanks go to Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts for selecting Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake. As a “Tuesdays with Dorie” baker, anything of Dorie’s is wonderful.

I decided to make the cake in stages, since I had a lot of other baking projects going on. The cake was first. Some of the other bakers had issues with having the cake rise properly, but I didn’t run in to that problem. My layers rose beautifully and were easy to split. I have to say, that for a white cake, this one is delicious. I will make it my ‘white cake of choice’ for future projects. The layers also freeze and thaw nicely .

The buttercream was straightforward. The only concern I had was assembling the cake. At first, I was using a pastry cream filling, since I’m not fond of jam between layers. But, the layers kept sliding out of place, so I knew that version was doomed. So, I just scraped off all the pastry cream, spread on some raspberry jam (lemon curd would have been my preference), then added the buttercream between the layers and on the sides and top. There was just enough left to pipe around the edges.

I’d give this cake an A- but only because of the jam. Experimenting with different flavor combinations is the way to go, but even so, it is a winning cake that holds up well. For the recipe, please go to Morven’s blog (or better yet, buy Dorie's book, Baking: From My House to Yours), and be sure to check out the efforts of all the other Daring Bakers. What are we now – close to 1000? It will take the next month to see them all!