Last Cake, Next Cake

This is an amazing FREE CHOICE week. We have a lot of participation and among 8 cakes that were made (9 including mine), there were no repetition. Each and every one of you made something different. The geek in me thinks that is COOL :).

Lola made the Chocolate Tomato Cake with Mystery Ganache for her grandson's graduation from middle school. "Those teenage kids gobbled this down without a moment of wondering what the mystery ingredient was." It sounds like Lola had a lot of fun baking this cake, "it is an easy cake to prepare and bakes up beautifully." She didn't have quite enough Pirouettes sticks to place around the cake the way it is in the book, but no problem, as she made up by artistically left out gaps around the cake. Completing the look, she topped the sticks with piping gel.

Based on her husband's vote, Melissa made the Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake. Citing that even after 18 years of being together, his choice of which cake he wanted from the book might be a surprise. It was not a surprise in the end as he chose an apple dessert, which Melissa made, and which they both loved. You should all check out her post. It is very sweet and cute, where she detailed all the other cakes that her husband chose from the book, giving her impressions on each of his choices. Here is my favorite part: "That he chose a cake that was romantic and dramatic was also NO surprise. After all, the cake is shaped like a heart - Rose Red Velvet Cake. After the priest blessed us and told us we were married, he held my hand walking down the aisle and I'm sure this man will be calmly holding my hand and telling me he loves me when I'm on my death bed."

ECL made the Peach Upside Down Cake, ignoring the fact that she hasn't even made the original recipe which used Apples. But ECL said "some may ask if I haven't yet done the original recipe why I am doing the variation? PEACHES, people. PEACHES. I am counting this recipe as completed." Looking at the beautiful pictures, I could be fooled into thinking they are the apple version, it looked so similar. And by that I mean, mouth-watering similar! This cake is relatively easy to do, said ECL, who recommends topping it with toasted sliced almonds, skipping the bourbon whipped cream, and just use a fork. It is that good.

Lois made the favorite dessert in her household: Tiramisu. She made her own ladyfingers, describing them as "basically very fluffy egg yolks, fluffy egg whites, and a little flour and sugar.  The batter is piped and baked.  The little cakes are light and tender - a great on their own or as a base for other ingredients." Instead of using a 9x3 pan, Lois split the cakes into 3 cute Polish pottery pan, so she could share them with friends. "It was a wonderful combination of flavors and textures - a recipe that we'll definitely make again."
Alice chose to make the German Chocolate Cake as a catch up. The cake is easy to make and has a different way of mixing the batter. She made the cake in cupcake form and they came out nice and moist. "They were chocolaty, without being too chocolaty (which can also be delicious!) and the crumb was light and spongy." Alice thought that she cooked the coconut filling too long so they were too thick to spread onto the cupcake. The result is still delicious though, with the chocolate cupcake itself being the hit. "My husband had a plain cupcake with vanilla ice cream on top and declared it delicious!"

Jane has made 3 cakes in the last week: Chocolate Butter Cupcakes, Lemon Meringue Cake,and Gateau Breton. The Chocolate Butter Cupcakes were a hit. She topped it with peppermint icing for a perfect combination. The chocolate cupcakes were "deeply chocolaty" and it is now her new go-to chocolate cupcake recipe.The Lemon Meringue Cake stressed Jane out a bit. It was mostly because of Hector's awesome take. After a couple of mishaps, she finished the cake and brought it to a football gathering, where it was quite a hit. Mostly the meringue, Jane said, as someone with bad cake etiquette had scraped off half the meringue off the cake. All is well again though as she later on received an email from one of the ladies, who called the cake "fantabulous." And finally, the Gateau Breton is an easy cake to put together. Jane drizzled honey on top of them. "They were good without the honey but the honey was the special touch. My room mates and I all liked them.  You can't really eat a ton of them in one setting because the inside is pretty dense but they are definitely good afternoon snacks."

Next week we have the Deep Chocolate Rosebuds. As I mentioned last week, this is an easy cake to put together. It's pretty dense and chocolaty so those of you who loves and need chocolate fix should not miss it (ECL, I'm looking at you *grin*). The recipe calls for making it the Nordicware Sweetheart Rose pan but would work in a cupcake pan.

The week after we have the Ginger Cheesecake with Gingerbread Crust. Rose gives recipe to make your own crust but also gives alternative to use store-bought ones. If you are not making your own crust, this cheesecake is really fast to make. The hardest part is grating the ginger for the juice. Note that you don't even have to peel the skin off the ginger for grating, which makes it a little easier.