Tag Archives: swiss meringue buttercream

Cake Challenge: August

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Remembering what a hit January’s cake was, I decided to try it again but this time with a simple chocolate cake accompanied by smooth vanilla buttercream filling.

This particular cake was a surprise Birthday dessert for our good friends, the Gohs. A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Goh emailed my Mom about joining their family for Thai food at an eclectic restaurant in downtown Tianjin to celebrate Mrs. Goh’s Birthday. Of course Mom (the courteous mother she is) felt compelled to bring something along to the dinner. So she replied asking if we could provide the B-day cake for Mrs. Goh.  Mrs. Goh has always been a very encouraging supporter of my baking passion and she herself is a queen of creative scrapbooking so I definitely wanted to bake something special for her. This cake was the result…

our family met them at the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely dinner and (an even lovelier) cake. ~Unfortunately the Gohs arrived at the restaurant before we did and seeing 11 seats at their reserved table, Mrs. Goh soon guessed who would be joining them for dinner.

In the end, I have to say my favorite part of baking cakes are the memories I hold with those I share them with.

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January 
February
March 
April
May
June

 MAKE YOURSELF:

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Filling: find a thorough set of instructions here.

Espresso Drizzle: find recipe in the Cake Challenge: January post.

Click on this post to see recipe for Chocolate Cake (scroll to the bottom).

Cake Challenge: June

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I’m still trying to catch up on all of these “terribly late” cake challenge posts. Today we’re revisiting the fresh start of summer, June. I made this cake at my grandparents house in South Dakota while enjoying cool whether and great company 🙂

You can find this cake recipe here!

If you recall, in my January edition I vented about some of the mistakes I made while baking my first 3-layer cake. Well, to tell you the truth the rest of this year hasn’t gone much better. Once I feel confident that I’ve mastered a certain skill, another mishap awaits me around the corner. I never expected baking to be quite so… difficult. For example…

If I heat egg whites and sugar together with no mistakes (for meringue per say), the butter I add to make a buttercream is mysteriously the wrong kind (salted instead of unsalted.) If I do a wonderful job of melting my dark chocolate (brought all the way from America)- making sure it doesn’t scorch- the Korean corn starch I add to the mixture causes the whole shebang to seize immediately.  Getting the picture?! If my skills are good, my ingredients don’t work; if my ingredients are perfect (-ly expensive!), my skills ruin them. Each new cake brings new frustrations, and sometimes disappointment. However, the more mistakes I make, the more knowledge I gain, I have to admit, its been a completely enlightening experience! And the more I learn, the more I crave to be in the kitchen watching mousses and meringues fluff up to form mountainous peaks in my little mixing bowls, smelling moistly baked cakes ready to be cooled, and arranging the end products for photographs! I am so blessed to have the time and resources to bake with, and more than that, to have such an incredible family who will graciously eat whatever I make (no matter how it tastes!).

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January 
February
March 
April
May