Tuesday, February 17, 2009

TWD: Devil's Food White Out Cake

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have the cover cake.  Here it is.  
This is a three layer cake slathered with marshmallow frosting and coated with more cake crumbs.  Truthfully, what could be bad.
The cake is baked in two layers.  I would say for a Dorie recipe, it was medium fussy.  Funny story, I searched quite a few places trying to find the 8" cake pans that this recipe calls for. Other than slightly expensive options at Williams-Sonoma or the internet with resulting shipping charges, I was not having much luck.  And then I looked in one of my lesser-used cabinets.  And what do I find there, but a checkerboard cake set with, yup, 8" cake pans.  Woo hoo!
Anyway, back to the cake.  The cakes came out lovely and moist.  I didn't put them on a baking sheet.  I find that it doesn't bake as well on the bottom when I do that.  The layers are sliced in half.  I don't have a hard time doing this, though I know it can be daunting.  I just hold it in my hand and go at it with my long serrated knife.  Three of the four layers are used for the cake base. The fourth is crumbled and meant to be squished in the frosting.  That was actually nice because if you screwed up, it was still meant to be crumbled!
The frosting was new to me.  I wasn't part of the group when they made marshmallows, and I've never made marshmallow frosting.  The directions, I thought, were a little vague.  I know that you whip egg whites.  I know that you make a sugar syrup.  I know that you add them together.  When you add them together, however, was not very clear to me.  Regardless, my guessing seems to have worked.  I will say that I think I screwed up by adding the vanilla a little late to the frosting.  It ended up having a slightly alcohol taste to it.  Though, there was much wine drinking the night it was eating, so I'm not sure anyone noticed.  It ended up being easy to frost.  Again, the crumbs were a bonus.  If the frosting was a little crumby on the side, it didn't matter!
Here it is from the top.  It almost looks like Dorie's cake!


Here we are looking at it from the side.



And this is the inside.  Mmmmm.  This is where it stops looking like Dorie's cake.  I have to wonder if she had extra frosting somewhere to make it so thick in the middle.  Ah well.  I also discovered that it was definitely a little squishy when it was sliced.



I enjoyed this cake.  I'm not sure that I'll be rushing to make it again.  Mostly because I don't have a lot of occasions that call for cake, but also because I make a similar one that I like a little better.  I think the cakes are pretty close, but the other one is frosted with whipped cream and coated with toffee.  Winner.
Thank you Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for choosing this lovely cake.  Up next:  Caramel Crunch Bars.

36 comments:

Marthe said...

Tasty!!! (I think....) Didn't make this one and did a rewind, but would love to make it in the near future

Jamie said...

Yum...and the other cake you mentioned sounds divine!

Katrina said...

I think what matters with this cake is more taste than anything and it tasted pretty darn good. Haven't seen anyone who really had problems, even though the frosting was kind of a pain and such. Glad we finally made the book's cover cake!
I think yours looks great. It's fun that so many really do look just like the picture on the cover.
Great job!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Wow, your cake is perfect! Thanks for linking to your other perfect cake, too. I think whipped cream would be great with this and eliminate all those headaches with the icing. I read those directions a million times and never totally figured it out either.
Nancy

AmyRuth said...

Your cake looks delicious and I'm glad you liked the frosting and it came together well. You're a natural. Way to Go.
Thank you for visiting
AmyRuth

Cathy said...

Yeah -- I agree that this was at least medium fussy. Actually, the cake was probably low fussy, but the frosting was definitely high fussy, so they average out to medium. How great that you were able to go shopping in your own cabinets! Your cake looks beautiful!

Flourchild said...

I love the layers. Your cake turned out so good..it looks way better then mine!

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

Purty! :) I love your layers.

Maria said...

Nice job on the cake!! I want to try the other cake as well!

threesidesofcrazy said...

This was a fun one - I used mine for Valentines Day.

Megan said...

Wow - I was bracing myself in case it didn't work for you but sheesh, you really made it look spectacular!

farah said...

Your cake looks delicious :)

farah said...

Your cake looks delicious :)

Nancy said...

Your cake looks marvelous! And I would love to have the recipe for your other cake too. It really looks so elegant.

LyB said...

Mmmmm, squishy frosting... My favorite part! Your cake looks lovely! :)

Anonymous said...

I love that you left the crumbs off the top like the cover. It looks gorgeous that way.

Tammy said...

I loved this cake and will make it again. Yours looks pretty perfect to me!

Amy of Sing For Your Supper said...

Oh wow, this really looks good! I think next time I'll use a buttercream or something else for frosting...I wasn't a big fan of the marshmallow. Oh well - yours looks divine!

-Amy
www.singforyoursupperblog.com

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

Yours does look like Dorie's cake! What a great discovery to find 8" pans right in your own kitchen!

Unknown said...

I think your cake looks fantastic. I really do. Your layers look good too. I am hesitant to cut mine and see how badly I torted it!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks gorgeous! I agree with you...I am not putting these things on the cookie sheets either as I am finding they don't bake right in my oven that way...they never get done in the right places. Totally with you on that one. I loved the icing...fun to make, and way too fun to eat, so I made sure that my chocolate cake crumbles covered the whole top so I wouldn't be dipping my finger in that frosting all afternoon...not touching anything with chocolate you know...LOL. Wait until you see Matt's hair this week...swimming sectionals Thursday and Saturday, keep your fingers crossed for a state time, okay??? Your cake is very very pretty. Great job!

Anonymous said...

i think it looks good without the crumbs on top. that other cake you mentioned looks awesome too.

The Food Librarian said...

So wonderful! Yours looks just like the cover!

dharmagirl said...

your cake is beautiful! good job! i'm glad you found you had all the supplies--i'm always amazed at what's hidden in the back of my cupboard:)

Peggy said...

Your cake does look just like Dorie's! It is a beautiful cake. I'm glad we made it because I have wondered about it for so long. YOu did a great job on yours.

Anonymous said...

It does look just like Dorie's cake! Very impressive!!!

TeaLady said...

Di - your cake looks just right. I like that you left the top empty. Yummy marshmallow cream. I had not made it before either, but it turned out okay. Great job.

margot said...

What a beautiful cake! My icing seemed to disappear in the center layers, too.

Anonymous said...

Glad to have found your blog!
Your White Out Cake looks divine :)
-Erin @ glutenfreewithapurpose

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks gorgeous!

Liliana said...

Your cakes looks lovely! I also liked the idea of the cake crumbles used to decorate the cake.

NKP said...

It looks great! I did notice that the vanilla extract taste was really apparent too.

Sweet as Coco said...

Your cake is very pretty! I wasn't paying attention and put the crumbs everywhere...OOPS!

Pamela said...

Your cake looks fantastic! The way your crumbs on the side look remind me of the crumbles/crunchies inside a Carvel ice cream cake. Delicious!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks great! (I made 50 percent more frosting, which helped with the thick bits between the layers.)

Jaime said...

i thought maybe i hadn't whipped the egg whites long enough and that's why i didn't have as much icing between my layers...but after reading your post i am convinced dorie just added more to make the picture look good!