Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Perfect Party Cake (TWD)

It's been a busy month with work and to top it off, I've been super busy planning for my hub's birthday celebration. This was no ordinary b-day, as my eternally youthful hubs was celebrating his 50th! Just yesterday, we returned from that birthday celebration weekend up in Paso Robles, CA. With a weekend of fantastic wine, delious meals, and in the company of some wonderful friends, I think the birthday boy was quite content. The folks at Justin and Tablas Creek really made our wine tasting afternoon fun and interesting (and we tasted some really amazing wines), and our dinner at Artisan was exceptional.

After being such a flake this past month, I'm determined to regain my baking and blogging mojo and kick things into gear.

This week's TWD selection for Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake is the perfect remedy to get me out of my funk, so THANK U Carol of mix, mix...stir, stir for making this excellent selection! Besides, I couldn't miss out on an opportunity to bake along with Carol, who is a totally talented baker & cook who has a great knack for spices. I was a little ambitious with this cake, and had to seriously hustle to get the cake baked, frosted and photographed yesterday afternoon. The effort was definitely worth it, as I thought this cake was truly exceptional.

The beautiful white cake layers were moist and tender, yet was able to hold it's own stacked in a layer cake. The lemon scented buttercream was delicious (you just need to block out in your mind the 3 sticks of butter that go into the frosting). I went along with the recipe using raspberry jam between the layers.
Next time, I would omit the raspberry jam in the layers, as it got a bit messy to frost and slice. I hope that I wasn't the only one having layers slipping and sliding all over the place.

Without the jam, I would definitely recommend doubling the buttercream recipe (I personally like a thick slathering of frosting on my cakes).
If you'd like to make this cake (which I highly recommend), you can find the complete recipe at Carol's blog. To see the beautiful cake creations of my fellow bakers, please make sure to check out the TWD blogroll.

37 comments:

betty geek said...

Beautiful, beautiful cake!!!!! I love your layers and the glorious contrasting raspberries are beyond yummy!

I made cupcakes instead! ;)

Fab job!

chocolatechic said...

I used strawberry jam and cream cheese icing.

I made it for the boy's birthday, and he asked that there be no fru-fru on top, so mine is very plain.

Fabulous cake

Isabelle Lambert said...

ton gâteau est magnifique Linda, j'aime cette simplicité qui fait tout le raffinement ! superbe :)

The Food Librarian said...

Happy Birthday to your hubs!!

This is a beautiful cake. And the photos belong in Gourmet magazine or Dorie's book!! ;)

I, as usual, haven't started yet. :)

vibi said...

Very fresh, elegant and classy looking. Everything everyone wants in a summer perfect cake! Nicely done, Linda... Bravo.

Susan @ SGCC said...

You did a beautiful job with your cake! It looks so elegant! I had the "slippery slides" too, so I stuck some wooden skewers in it to keep it in place. And yes, you can never have too much buttercream! ;)

sara said...

Beautiful cake! The jam sounds like it was annoying to deal with, but it makes for fantastic looking cake layers.

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

I think your baking mojo is back! What a beautiful cake and a great way to just keep on celebrating your husband’s birthday! Thanks for joining in on this week's recipe with me.

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Your cake is absolutely beautiful - I love the raspberries on top!! Glad your hubby's 50th was so fun! :)

Steph said...

Your cake is absolutely beautiful! The layers are so nice and thick!!

Mary Jo said...

sounds like you planned a fab bday celebration, happy bday to your hubby!

And what a cake it looks delicious!!!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

WOW, if that's not a fine example of Dorie's cake then I don't know what is!

My mom adores raspberries. I make her this cake and I'm sure to secure the "favorite" spot! :)
~ingrid

Anonymous said...

That cake is gorgeous.

Amanda said...

So gorgeous!! Love the fresh berries on the top :) This is my favorite white cake recipe since making it in May. I've been saving the pictures for today's post LOL

oneordinaryday said...

Your cake is simply beautiful. The raspberries on top just take it to a whole new level.

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks perfect! I love the pile of fresh berries on top. Next time I'm doing that.

TeaLady said...

OH!! That looks fantastic, Linda. Fabulous looking cake.

m said...

You did a beautiful job with that cake! I almost made the very same recipe a few weeks back - Dorie Greenspan is one of my favorite cookbook authors.

Rebecca said...

Beautiful cake! I love the berries on top. The red and white combo is really striking.

Caroline said...

WOW, that cake looks perfect for a party or anytime. Gorgeous!

Unknown said...

Your cake is, without a doubt, the most beautiful I've seen today. Really, really awesome job. I love all of the raspberries on top - it's so colorful and festive!

Leslie said...

This is gorgeous with the fresh berries on top! I also like more frosting so I had a tough time getting the cake covered!

Monica H said...

that cake slice looks incredible! It may have been slip and slidey, but it's so pretty.

great job!

grace said...

well, that's just astoundingly gorgeous, and of course there's no doubt in my mind that it'd be delicious. exquisite work!

nick said...

I would totally pay actual money to buy a cake like this from your theoretical pastry shop.

Well done!

Pamela said...

Look at that cake!! You've definitely got your mojo going on with this one. Beautiful!

Snooky doodle said...

I just discovered your blog and all I can say is WOW this cake is marvellous. I m drooling like mad .

Anonymous said...

Your Perfect Party Cake is Gorgeous!! I love all the raspberries on top! And I wish my cake layers were as thick as yours! It looks soo delicious!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

wow, is that pretty! those raspberries on top are so red and gorgeous! happy 50th to your hubby!!

Melissa said...

Wow, you really hit a home run with this cake! Mine looks horrible, but it tasted great. Well done!

Hindy said...

You definitely got your baking mojo back. This cake is so beautiful! Well done.

Soy*Baby said...

Your cake is beautiful. I love all the pretty raspberries on top. This was delicious. Love your photos. Sounds like you had some fun wine tasting too. I think everything is a bit more fun if there is wine tasting involved.

Liz said...

Don't worry, you were NOT alone in your slippery slidey-ness. My cake was shimmying all over the place. I love, love, love the perfectly placed raspberries on top, too--the perfect touch.

Kim said...

Stunning cake! Your version is very elegant, and I am so going to have to make this cake....and soon. Personally, I might have to keep the preserves and just let the cake slip and slide.

Shari said...

An elegantly beautiful cake -- and you present it so beautifully too! Great photos!!

PheMom said...

Your cake looks 100% perfectly perfect! I really love how elegant it turned out.

AmyRuth said...

Absolutely Perfecto! Your cake slices are beautiful and I love the raspberries on top. They are perfect. I love raspberries whey they are all uniform and you did a great job with the fruit. Beautiful!!
AmyRuth

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