This week, the Tuesday's with Dorie bakers are celebrating with Perfect Party Cake, chosen by Carol of mix, mix… stir, stir. I get a little sentimental over this cake, as it was my first Daring Bakers challenge, and my first blog event ever. (Awwwww.)
The first time around, I made it exactly as directed, with the berry filling and Swiss meringue buttercream. My thoughts at the time were that the cake was a tad dry. But on the up side, it was the first meringue buttercream I actually liked. I found it to be less buttery than those I had tried before. You can read about it here if you like.
Here's my first party cake.
This time around, I knew the berry filling and meringue buttercream wouldn't fly with my brother-in-law, a.k.a. the birthday boy. So I switched it up and used cream cheese icing with a filling of dulce de leche (store bought) layered with more cream cheese icing.
I followed the Perfect Party Cake Tips from Dorie on the TWD forum in hopes of getting a moister cake. They seemed to help, although I have to admit that I wrapped and froze my cakes while still warm. I used to do that back in my cake-decorating days and it helped a lot with making the cake more moist. (I have heard concerns from some over whether that's good from a food safety standpoint. But hey, my family members are still all kicking, so who knows.)
And how was it? with the cream cheese icing and dulce de leche.. Incredible! The cake was more moist this time and the filling was out of this world, although perhaps not for the faint of heart.
The one drawback, though, was that the dulce de leche layered with icing was not stable and after short car ride, the top three layers of cake slid slightly off the bottom layer (I was able to fix it OK, and it was for family, so no big deal). If I were to use this filling again, I would pound some skewers or pointed dowels into the cake and down into the cake board for stability after filling and before icing. (I wouldn't use the layered filling for a stacked cake, I don't think... too scary.)
OK, that's it for this week! Please stop by Carol's site above for the recipe, or check out Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking, From my Home to Yours".
29 comments:
Dulce de leche and cream cheese filling? Holy moly, sign me up.
I love the decorations you did for your DB challenge - fantastic!
All your cakes look really good. I tried the wrapping the cake warm before, but I ended up getting soggy cakes! Mmmm.. dulce de leche!
Wow I LOVE how you decorated your cake - makes me think of action heros fighting in comic books. Fantastic.
So pretty!! I bet it was delicious, too!
dulce de leche and cream cheese...you are playing my song....wow..I love the Daisy decoration one...really beautiful.
I'm with Megan about the filling...sign me up!! Sounds fantastic. I love the Shazam cake!!
I made no embellishments on top of my cake.
The boy didn't want any.
I also used cream cheese icing.
Your cake looks fantastic! I love how you decorated it. And, who wouldn't love dulce de leche with cream cheese? A winning combination!
WOW! Jacque... I'm floored! How neat is that! ...the writting on the first one is exceptional... and the idea on the second, super creative and very appropriate for the season! ...can I submit an order too, for my b-day??? LOL
Amazing, Jacque!
it hardly seems fair to have a filling made of both cream cheese and dulce de leche. i'm not sure my tastebuds could take it. :)
Gorgeous cake! I love the way you decorated it. Love the dulce de leche filling idea. YUM!
Both cakes look great! And dulce de leche and cream cheese sound wonderful.
Freezing a warm cake doesn't seem like a food safety issue to me, but I'm not an expert.
OMG dulce de leche??? YUMMMM!!! That looks so good, great idea! I used sweet orange marmalade and lemon curd in mine :)
Love dulce de leche...yummie! Nice looking cake. Love the way you decorate them.
Love your cakes!
I love both of the cakes -- they're both so original and seriously perfect looking. I can never get my cakes not to tilt to one side or the other.
The dulce de leche filling sounds delicious, too. I'm glad that there weren't any serious mishaps, and that everyone got to enjoy this cake!
Your cake is beautiful and I'm sure it tastes phenomenal too. Just one comment about the sliding layers. Please don't use skewers to hold down layers. If the filling is indeed making layers slide, the layers will just rip right through the skewers. Instead, try making a dam for the filling. For meringue-based frosting, just stir a little powdered sugar or better yet, cake crumbs into about a cup of frosting until it's about as stiff as peanut butter Put this in a piping bag or ziplock bag with a 3/4" or 1" opening at the tip (use an open coupler or just cut out an opening). Pipe a ring of stiffened frosting about 1/4" from the edges of the layers and spread your filling or fillings inside the dam, right up to the edge and to the height of the frosting dam. This will make your cake firm and stable, regardless of how runny your filling is. HTH!
Angels are singing! I did DDL the first time around, but next time I have to remember to layer it like that. Your cakes both look amazing!
Your cake looks and sounds great! Great job on the fillings! And I lovee how you decorated your DB cake!! Airbrushing?
Wow, I love both versions of your Perfect Party Cake! Daisies are my favorite flower so I might be more partial to your first cake...
But the birthday cake is soo much fun! And who can resist cream cheese icing and dulce de leche? This cake is so versatile and I love your versions of it!
The decoration of your cake is amazing! Congrats!
Wow! Quels magnifiques gâteaux! Fromage à la crème et Dulce de Leche quelle magnifique combinaison. Félicitations, vraiment très beaux tes gâteaux!
awesome!! great decoration on both!
Your cakes are so beautiful. Dulce de leche - yum!
Glad everyone enjoyed!
Very cute. This is my 'go to' cake if I'm using buttercream or I'm doing cupcakes. I recently tried adding cherry puree mixed with jam and it was lovely. Its not sturdy enough for fondant...
I love your adaptions!! You always make the best darn cakes!
You decorated the cake so beutifully - and I do love dulce de leche.
Cream cheese frosting and dulce de leche?! Brilliant! Now I really want to make this one again!
I love seeing all the Daring Bakers posting their "then" and "now" versions of this cake. The Dulche de leche and cream cheese filling sounds so outstanding! I too learned that this is a slippery cake to travel with. Skewers, we must remember skewers next time.
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