May 2015 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Lamingtons

I'd just like to start out this blog post with an apology to all Australians everywhere ... of all time. When I set forth on this baking challenge, I promise that it was not my goal to completely destroy what is a fan favorite for you Down Under. It was just one of those days... :)

This month, we were challenged to make Lamingtons, which are basically single-servings of sponge cake that are dipped in chocolate and then rolled in dried coconut. One problem... I don't like dried coconut. To me, eating it provides the same experience as chewing on styrofoam offers. It just give me a bad chill down my spine. Fortunately, the challenge's host said we could be creative and weren't required to use the traditional coconut. Woo hoo!!

Without any issues, I whipped up my beautiful sponge batter. It was airy. It was frothy. It was the perfect color. I carefully poured it into my prepared baking pan and ushered it into the hot oven. So far, so good!

The recipe said to immediately invert the cake (once completely baked, of course) onto a wire rack, remove the pan, and then re-invert the cake so it is right-side-up on a cooling rack. "NO PROBLEM," said I. "HAHAHA! That's what YOU think," said the baking gods. As I inverted the cake (using pot holders because the pan just came out of a 350 degree oven), all hell broke lose. Actually, hell didn't break lose, but the pan sure did. The entire thing went flying out of my hand and landed on the stove ... the cast iron pan ... and the Dutch oven. Lovely. Ruined. I risked my fingers and plunged in to upright the cake and find out how much damage had been done. How much? This much:

Knowing the cake was going to be cut into bite-size pieces, I decided to carry on and make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. After the cake cooled, I whipped up the chocolate dipping sauce (yum) and then opted to roll my ugly cake pieces in brightly colored sprinkles for two reasons: (1) they aren't coconut and (2) the bright colors will (hopefully) keep people from noticing the fact that the cake went on a bit of a joy ride and got mangled in the process.

All in all, it could have been worse, but could have been MUCH better. Fortunately, the cake's taste wasn't impacted by its flight and is quite yummy!


For the May challenge Marcellina from Marcellina in Cucina dared us to make Lamingtons. An Australian delicacy that is as tasty as it is elegant

January 2014 Daring Bakers Challenge: Baumkuchen

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was to make a baumkuchen (aka "tree cake"). The basic premise is the cake is comprised of teeny-tiny layers that are quickly made on top of each other. Traditionally, a baumkuchen is made (for lack of better terms) on a pole over a spit. The pole is dipped in a trough of batter and then slowly spun over the spit. The pole is re-dipped in the batter and then returned to the spit. (Repeat until lots of layers make up the finished cake)

Unfortunately, most people don't have spits in their kitchen (Conor spits in the kitchen from time to time, but that isn't quite the same, and often results in him sitting in time out for a little bit.... but I digress...)

I found a non-spit baumkuchen recipe that called for a springform pan and a broiler instead of a pole and a spit, so I gave it a try. I should have seen the writing on the wall when I realized how convoluted the recipe was and how poorly it was written. BIG RED FLAGS there.

The key to this month's challenge was the baking method, which I quickly discovered was not one to do while the kids were in the bath and nearing bedtime. The layered baking method required me to stand by the oven constantly, because I had to watch the cake to make sure each layer didn't burn under the broiler. Mind you, each layer only cooked about 1 1/2 minutes. It definitely wasn't a "mix the batter, put it in the oven, come back in 30 minutes after getting the kids' bathed and put into PJs" kind of experience.

After finishing the cake, I let it cook, drenched it in melted apricot preserves (side note: YUM), and then poured melted chocolate over the whole kit and caboodle.

The next day, we went to my brother's house to watch the Seahawks game (GO HAWKS) and I thought the cake would be a nice addition to the day. I was wrong. It was horrible. I mean "Eric took a bite and spit it into the sink" horrible. I choked down my bite, as did my brother, but I think that was it. The cake and all of the time put into it was a huge waste. Glad I tried a new baking method, not so glad on the recipe I used.

Public service announcement: NEVER USE THIS RECIPE!! http://www.food.com/recipe/baumkuchen-the-king-of-cakes-214171

At least I got my many, many layers!! They were just not exactly tasty layers... oh well. Live and learn!

The January 2014 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Francijn of "Koken in de Brouwerij". She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).