Backpost: In December a close friend of mine (let’s call her D) was celebrating her 23rd birthday. Naturally, baking a cake was in order. My first thought was to make a red velvet cake, as it was on my culinary to-do list of things to try out. A glance at a few recipes had me coughing and running away… have you seen the amount of sugar and butter required for that icing/ Goodness, it was frightening. An alternative had to be found. Luckily, I decided upon something simpler: a vanilla cake- fragrant and moist (slightly tres-leches-esque, once the icing sunk in) with a cream cheese frosting, strawberry slivers, and pieces of Hershey’s Hugs around the side. A much healthier alternative (using olive oil in the cake in stead of butter, and greatly reducing the sugar for the icing- and no butter there, either) and much tastier one as well, it turned out a success. Sadly I was running late and thus didn’t get a chance to photograph the cake too extensively, but I did get some close-ups of the cupcakes I made with the extra batter and icing.
- I tried piping this icing on (I was hoping for some decorative edging and a chance to try out my piping set) and it was a great mess- far too liquidy! Lesson learned, make sure the consistency is thick enough at time of piping to bother with it, and if not, just spread.
- Room-temperature icing (prior to cooling) will hold fruit in place on top of a rounded surface far more effectively than I would have thought.
