First off thanks to all of my friends for yesterday’s birthday wishes. Yep, I’m now 35 – not a particularly momentous age except that, as Steviemaxwell mentioned, I am now eligible to run for president. I’m thinking of announcing my candidacy on the “Peace, Love, and Taffeta” ticket…

We commemorated the day yesterday by going to dinner with Donald (me_not_you), Janelle, Thomas, and Sherry at Spartacus Grille, a fabulous Greek restaurant. The flaming (of course) saganaki with shrimp was delicious, and my flame-grilled rack of lamb was quite tasty. The ouzo provided a fitting end to the meal.

My latest obsession is a fabulous book that I’ve mentioned before: Cookwise, by Shirley Corriher, who has appeared several times on Good Eats as their food scientist in residence. I’m only through the first 60 pages (the science of making bread) and I already have at least four or five different recipes I want to try, including Sausage in Brioche and Great Whole Grain Bread. Yeah, the bread machine is easy, but there is a visceral pleasure in making bread by hand. And really, the quality of the handmade bread is much better, in the end.

One more Good Eats tip: the other day I made Alton Brown’s Gold Cake (his version of the classic yellow cake), and the cake itself was fabulous. Since FoodTV’s recipe archives aren’t the most reliable, here’s the recipe:

Gold Cake
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
3/4 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening, 140 grams
1 1/4 cup sugar, 300 grams
2 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted, 300 grams
3 teaspoons baking powder, 14 grams
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 egg yolks, beaten, 130 grams
3/4 cup milk, 180 grams
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) cake pans with shortening and set aside.

Cream together the shortening and the sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly alternate adding the egg yolks and milk with the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Pour into the prepared pans, about 550 grams of batter for each cake. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Yield: 2 layers
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

This was by far the most amazing yellow cake I’ve ever tasted – definitely worth making and far better than anything you’ll ever get out of a mix! The key is to cream the shortening and the sugar together for a solid five minutes – no less!

The came the frosting. Oh dear.

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon gelatin
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup Good Eats Cocoa Mix, recipe follows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place your mixing bowl and whisk into the refrigerator to chill.

In a metal measuring cup or a very small saucepan combine the water and the gelatin. Let this sit for 5 minutes then place over low heat for 2 minutes to melt.

With your mixer on low combine the cream and the cocoa in the chilled bowl. Drizzle in the melted gelatin. Add the vanilla and turn mixer to high and whip to medium peaks.

Good Eats Cocoa Mix:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more as desired

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. Seal in an airtight container. Keeps indefinitely in the pantry.

Yield: 5 1/2 cups dry mix
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Yield: enough icing for a 2 layer, 9-inch cake
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

See, look at the last line of the cocoa mix recipe – “1 teaspoon cayenne pepper”. I made a half-batch of the mix (1/2 teaspoon cayenne), then only used a half-cup of the mix in the frosting. That works out that the frosting had less than an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne in it. You wouldn’t think that would make much difference, right?

Wrong. Chocolate cake should never be able to be described as having “a slow burn”. As Thomas described the finished product: “The cake from heaven, but the frosting from hell.” The plates came back to the kitchen full of the frosting that had been scraped off the cake, and we wound up throwing the other half of the cake away. Bummer.

I’ll make the cake again, but next time I’ll use a nice, rich, chocolaty butter cream frosting – not too cloying, though, because the flavor of the cake is fabulous. We’ll see how the finished product works out.