Monday, January 26, 2015

BAKED OCCASIONS Gonzo Cake


Those BAKED boys. They're pretty much mad geniuses. This cake is all the evidence you need. It's made with purple yam powder. Ube. Yeah, I had never heard of it either. And when I think of a delicious cake, it's not usually one that involves yams. Let alone purple yams. 

Powdered Ube

Rehydrated


What do purple yams even taste like? I still have no idea. Here's the thing: maybe it's just spending a lot of time with recipes written by these guys, or maybe it's something different in their writing/creating for their newest book, but this felt easy. Like, almost boxed cake mix easy. And it turned out perfect. Perfectly rounded layers. Lovely, velvety texture. The taste? So delicious and hard to describe. Sweet and a little earthy and tangy from the frosting (I think it could use half again the amount of frosting, but that might just be me). Rich without being heavy. Also--beautiful to look at (although the line between purple and gray in food is *very* thin). 


Go here if you want to see the recipe itself as well as photos by someone who *actually* knows how to bake and make things look pretty and then take gorgeous pictures of them.

Tried but I'm no Sweetapolita


TGIP Rating--Purple Velvet (Gonzo) Cake--KEEPER.

Next up: I had a request over the holidays for a mincemeat pie. Which. I've never made. So I didn't feel like I could make one to order. About to fix that and figure out this mincemeat business. It's my Dad's favorite but I've never been much of a fan. I'm going to call that "I tried it once when I was a kid and it was yucky so I never gave it a second chance". I want to make it from scratch, of course, not use jarred stuff, but I'm still in search of a recipe. If you have one, toss it my way.