Where did the good cakes go?

[Stone]

I've noticed that it's become harder and harder to get a good piece of cake. I recall in my youth eating and enjoying moist, light and delicious cakes, with creamy smooth icing. Most of the cake I eat nowadays is heavy and dry, and the icings are often heavier and too damn sweet. I'm talking about decent restaurant cakes, not Safeway/Costco stuff. Am I the only that noticed this? Anyone know the cause?

(I'm talking about things like regular chocolate/angel's food/etc. cake -- not the warm, flourless, etc. stuff.)

[stellabella]

i think i posted about this place in the southern board a while back

www.ceciliavillavecescakes.com

i have had her lemon cream and her coconut cake....incredible. last february i visited my friend in selma, AL, and her mother-in-law bought me a yellow b-day cake with boiled caramel icing from a local woman whose caramel cakes are famous in town--NO ONE makes boiled icing any more. i agree with you that the good old-fashioned layer cake seems to be a rarity. i love to make them but they are tricky--dry out easily, etc. maybe people would be willing to share some recipes for really good no-fail layer cakes? i haven't found one. i'm not talking about carrot or hummingbird cakes, which are pretty easy, but honest-to-god yellow or devil's food cakes.

[Stone]

Hummingbird Cake? Is that made out of Ortolans?

[snowangel]

NO ONE makes boiled icing any more.  i agree with you that the good old-fashioned layer cake seems to be a rarity.

Ahem. I do make layer cakes regularly, and do still make boiled icing (is there any other kind for a layer cake?). Our two favorites are a buttermilk chocolate and a burnt sugar (I've posted recipe for latter on the cupcake thread). If you want the chocolate cake, PM me. I use the recipes hand-written by my greatgrandmother many, many decades ago.

People feel so special when you serve a layer cake. They are impressive.

[maggiethecat]

Get Rose Levy Berenbaum's "The Cake Bible" and start baking through it. We are.

I agree..the Awesome Layer Cake with filling and frosting has disappeared, engulfed by the truffle torte and the sorbet.

And get some Queen Guenevere Cake Flour from King Arthurs. It makes a difference.

Butter has been on sale here for 99 cents a pound. I have seven pounds in the freezer. Cakes are about to happen!

[maggiethecat]

Mentioned this thread to His Handsomeness, and he pointed out that this subject has been around for awhile. Went to the curling pile of clippings fron the Wednesday Times and pulled out one dated March 17, 1999. Something like "what happened to the layer cake?" And I think Martha had a feature in her mag on this subject within the last year.

Remember the cake case at a restaurant? Towering three layer jobbies under their own domes? Lots of caramel and Baker's coconut (which I love.) Seven-minute frosting and chocolate buttercream.

Making a light, moist layer cake isn't easy. A boiled frosting requires more cooking skill than opening a tub of premade frosting from the baking aisle. (Yuck. Gag. Horrible.) Making a cake means knowing how to bake, really bake. Even if not at a Pastry Chef level.

But there are only two of us. Making a layer cake on a regular basis implies that we will buying a complete new wardrobe in a larger size in the near future. So I don't.

Hmm. On the other hand, our neighbours have skinny kids.

[elyse]

I've noticed nothing tastes the same as when I was a kid. Trends have changed too, but I'm attributing it to my own tastebuds.

Maggie, are you a Martha fan? Do you have a collection?

[Stone]

I have a recollection that making a Dunkin Hines cake in the 70's involved pouring about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in the mix. Am I nuts?

[maggiethecat]

I have a recollection that making a Dunkin Hines cake in the 70's involved pouring about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in the mix.  Am I nuts?

Well, I might have reservations about some areas of your possible nuttiness, but you are right about the oil and Duncan Hines. Veg oil, and , maybe, an egg? My brother would come home from Middle School and whip up about six layers.

Elyse: Yes I stand proud as a Martha Fan, which makes me somewhat a pariah here at eGullet, somewhere between a Mrs. Paul's fish stick and Chudge. Jealous bastards.

Actually, my husband is the Big Fan. And yes, we have about eight years of back issues.

[elyse]

Maggie, may I PM or e-mail you?

[maggiethecat]

Maggie, may I PM or e-mail you?

But of course!

[awbrig]

Maggie, may I PM or e-mail you? 

But of course!

im jealous...

[elyse]

Maggie, may I PM or e-mail you? 

But of course!

im jealous...

Errr... well... who do you collect?

I have no idea if I'm doing this quote thing right.

[maggiethecat]

Maggie, may I PM or e-mail you? 

But of course!

im jealous...

You goofball!

On topic: made the cupcakes from the recent "Cook's" The author made a big deal about how cake flour made a too light, "Twinkielike" crumb.

Wrong. Should have used cake flour. But hey, I took a half-dozen to my neighbours and they fell on them like ravening beasts!

[stellabella]

Ahem.  I do make layer cakes regularly, and do still make boiled icing (is there any other kind for a layer cake?).  Our two favorites are a buttermilk chocolate and a burnt sugar (I've posted recipe for latter on the cupcake thread

People feel so special when you serve a layer cake.  They are impressive.

snowangel--i have your burnt sugar icing and cupcake recipe stored in my files--haven't made it yet but will--it's rare to find someone out there still baking and boiling the icing. you're right, there's no other way.

bring on the layer cakes.

[snowangel]

it's rare to find someone out there still baking and boiling the icing.  .

Even Peter (7) knows how to make boiled icing -- without a candy thermometer. I was raised thinking that this was basic knowledge -- like sewing on a button.

[stellabella]

the snowangel family must be extraordinarily popular!

my mom and grandmother always made boiled icing. these days everyone seems to be into the buttercreams. i've posted elsewhere that i learned very little about cooking from my matriarchs. i really blew it.