Monday, 26 December 2011

• My Christmas Cake Story

  

  If you like White Russians, you'll love this cake. If you hate White Russians, you'll probably still love this cake.

  I'm home from college for three weeks, leaving good old West Virginia behind for a little while. Truth is, between the constant rain and the bitter cold, we needed a break. So now that I'm nestled back in my parent's quaint little home, I'm taking full advantage of the kitchen, and my first plan of action was to make White Russian Cupcakes for Christmas.  I had had them awhile back at a friend's birthday party and they were absolutely DELICIOUS! So I messaged her in hopes that she would still have the recipe.
  

  Turns out her husband was the one who made them, and they were currently going through a nasty separation. Oops. But I was a determined little chef and so I turned to the one place I know would always have a recipe for me; google!

  The first recipe came from the Food Network. As I read down the list of ingredients to my mother, I'll admit I was quite frightened. 5 whole eggs, sugar, milk, butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, chocolate pearls, gold dust... not only did I have no idea what chocolate pearls were or where I would possibly find them in my grocery store, but the calories were rapidly adding up in my head. I came up with a somewhat exaggerated number of like 10,652 calories per cupcake. We decided to nix that one.
  

  I went for this instead, mainly because the picture looked really tasty and the ingredients were relatively simple. The cake batter itself contained Kahlua and vodka, about an eighth of a cup each. We went for Svedka vodka because it's cheap and, unlike Burnett's, does not leave you with a nasty taste in your mouth. Ahh, college budget alcohol... it never ends well. But my mother was buying today so we played it safe. We went for the tiniest bottle of Kahlua that we could, which worked out great.

  And so began the baking! I whipped up the batter in no time and it tasted absolutely delicious. But as I went to line the cupcake pans with cupcake liners, I realized I had forgotten them. Not willing to be deterred (and after a lot of cursing), I opted for a layer cake but that fell through when my mom told me she had tossed them while I was away. Thoughts of pretty cupcakes and layer cakes fading, I was stuck with a plain square pan. But I shrugged it off and popped the cake in the oven.

  When the timer went off, I met more disappointment. The recipe called for 12 cupcakes, which meant I ended up with a very thin cake. It was a flop, a flimsy little monstrosity. And then it hit me- why not a square layer cake? All I would have to do is find a decorative plate to put the first layer on and bake another one. So I set to work and found a very pretty Christmas plate. Once again, I was determined to make this work!

  Now the frosting is where I changed things up, so I'll give you my modified recipe since you can find the recipe on the link I provided. I had to make a lot of frosting so I did this twice, but I have to say the frosting was the most amazing part.
  

  It ended up light, fluffy and very creamy. I took half a stick of real butter and half a stick of Promise butter and blended them together with the powdered sugar and salt. The mixture lightened right up with the promise, giving it a whipped texture. As far as the Kahlua went, I didn't want it overly strong in the frosting so I added milk as well. I added about a tablespoon of each, blended it in and added another tablespoon of each. I frosted the first layer and then lined the middle with Pirouette cookies, covering them with frosting so they would soften slightly. Then I frosted the rest and added more cookies and... voila!

  I got my wish; it was definitely the hit of the party! I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. You won't regret it!

  • 12:40 PM
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