Strawberry Birthday Cake

This past weekend, I went home to Alabama to celebrate my mother's birthday, and every year, as usual, I make her birthday cake. Being avid fans of old-school Southern cookery, we generally opt for a typical white cake with buttercream frosting for our birthdays, but this year, my mom wanted to deviate from the norm. She found a recipe for a strawberry mousse cake in Southern Living that looked appealing, and selected it as her birthday cake of choice for this year.

Now, not to throw shade at Southern Living, as I've been a huge fan of their magazine for a number of years, but this recipe was "jank" (as the kids call it). My first attempt at baking the cake was an unmitigated disaster, so much so that I ended up scrapping it altogether. For my second attempt, I opted for the traditional 1-2-3-4 Cake which is virtually fail-proof and always a winner. It's a bit more dense than a traditional white cake, but a little lighter than a pound cake, with a delicate almond flavor, making it the perfect vessel for the fresh strawberry frosting.

While the original Southern Living recipe included a strawberry mousse filling, my mom requested that I disregard it and just use the fresh strawberry frosting in between the layers. So I returned to recipe, and once again, the measurements were off. However, this mishap was far easier to remedy -- the frosting was far too runny to spread on the cake once I finished, so I kept adding powdered sugar until it reached the right consistency. Also, if you choose to make this recipe yourself, chilling the frosting for 30 minutes to an hour will also help to stiffen it into spreadability. 

The final product was delicious. With the dense cake and strawberry frosting, you'd think that it would be extremely rich and perhaps cloyingly sweet. However, the fresh strawberries make the frosting incredibly light and refreshing, and the almond flavor of the cake compliments the strawberry flavor incredibly well. This is a fantastic summer cake and ideal for any sort of get-together.

Strawberry Birthday Cake

Ingredients:

1-2-3-4 Cake:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 cups cake flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Fresh Strawberry Frosting:

3/4 cup butter (softened)

6-7 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup fresh strawberries (chopped)

To prepare the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate vessel, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then, add eggs to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until incorporated. Gradually add the sifted flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings, and beat until smooth. Pour the batter into two greased and/or non-stick 9-inch cake pans* and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, and then remove them, allowing them to cool to room temperature.

*NOTE: The original recipe insists that the preparer pour the batter into 3 9-inch cake pans, but when I made this cake, 2 pans sufficed.

To prepare the frosting: Beat the butter until it's reached a fluffy consistency. Gradually add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and beat the mixture until it's thoroughly incorporated. Once you have added 5 cups of powdered sugar, add the strawberries and beat the mixture until smooth. Then gradually add more powdered sugar, beating well each time, until it reaches your desired consistency.* Spread an even layer between the cake layers and on the outside of the cakes.

*NOTE: When I made this frosting, I ended up using 7 cups of powdered sugar, but just use your own judgment.

Allow the finished cake to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the final slice of the beloved Strawberry Birthday Cake:

(Please excuse my lackluster food photography skills...)

If you do make this cake, please let me know how it turns out for you!

Cookbook Review: Hall of Fame of Southern Recipes

I'm an avid cookbook collector. I've been one for years. I can't explain it, but I possess a certain affinity for them. When I purchased my copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I found myself poring over it for hours as if it were a novel. But I digress.

I decided that I would begin posting reviews of some of my favorite cookbooks, since so many of my friends are always looking for new ideas for culinary concoctions. I plan on featuring an assortment of titles, but I would also like to feature a few publications from Quail Ridge Press. They're a smaller local publisher (based in Brandon, MS), but they've churned out a massive number of titles, and I've become a devoted fan.

The first book I'd like to review is one of their more recent releases, Hall of Fame of Southern Recipes, compiled and edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. What I like most about this cookbook is that at its core, it's very similar to the typical Southern "church lady" cookbooks I perused in my youth -- except kicked up a notch. ("BAM!") All of the classic Southern staples are featured, as well as a few traditional favorites with a twist.

One aspect I appreciate the most about this cookbook is the variety of recipes. The Achilles heel of the aforementioned "church lady" cookbook is an excessive number of casserole recipes. Don't get me wrong -- I love a casserole as much as the next guy, but I also don't need twenty recipes for a conglomeration of canned goods and enough Velveeta to hold everything together. That's where Southern Recipes has "stepped up the game" of Southern cooking. You've got appetizers, beverages, breakfast creations, salads, seafood... I really could go on and on. Oh, and did I mention my favorite part? THREE chapters of desserts. Freakin' sweet (literally)! <-- That's satire, by the way.

Just to give you a general idea of the territory covered in this book, here are some of the recipes that can be found within: Going along the lines of tradition, you've got Pimento Cheese, Chicken Fried Steak, Kentucky Bourbon Balls, Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce, Buttermilk Cornbread, Fried Chicken, Red Velvet Cake, Seafood Gumbo (with okra -- AS IT SHOULD BE), Shrimp Etouffée, Peach Ice Cream, Buttermilk Pie, Barbecue Pulled Pork... and on and on and on... 

In regards to modern adaptations of Southern classics and newer Southern favorites, you have Chocolate Pecan Pie, "Make and Wait" Coconut Cake (which my mother has made for years and is AMAZING), Jalapeño Hush Puppies, Garlic Cheese Biscuits, Crawfish Fettuccine, Fried Green Tomato Casserole, Deep-Fried Turkey, Savannah Shrimp and Grits (I realize everyone on the Food Network reveres this as a "Southern classic," but having grown up in the South, I know that in most areas, the acceptance of this decadent concoction is a more of a recent development), Fried Pickles, and Baked Vidalia Onion Dip... and again, so on and so on...

A few weeks ago, I prepared one of these classic-with-a-twist recipes: Cajun Crawfish Cornbread. And yes, I can assure you, it is as delightful as it sounds. 

It's almost like more of a casserole than a bread, really. It contains crawfish, peppers, corn, eggs, and cheese, so if you serve this with a fresh green salad, you truly have a complete meal. The recipe is also very easy to adapt. If you'd rather have a more creamy consistency, substitute cooked grits for the cornmeal, and it becomes an actual casserole. If you can't get your hands on crawfish, shrimp can be just as easily substituted. Regardless, this recipe is a definite crowd-pleaser. 

So if you've been searching far and wide for that essential, comprehensive Southern cookbook, Hall of Fame of Southern Recipes is one of your best bets. If you decide to give it a try, I'd love to hear (or read, rather) your thoughts! 

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

I just spent the weekend in beautiful Cleveland, Mississippi with Garrett, my buddy of several years, enjoying some mighty fine Mississippi Delta cuisine. However, the subject of this post doesn't exactly have its roots in the Delta...

I knew Garrett is a huge fan of dulce de leche, and I decided to pull out one of my (new) favorite recipes: Dulce de Leche Cheesecake. I discovered this recipe a while back, and I decided to try it for an English department Cinco de Mayo party a few weeks ago. Much to my excitement, it was a huge hit, and I couldn't wait to make it again.

You might think that the combination of cheesecake with the caramel-y goodness that is dulce de leche would be cloyingly sweet, but believe me, this recipe has a perfect balance of sweetness while maintaining a rich luxuriance.

If you want to experience this decadence for yourself, here is my version of the recipe. I did some tweaking with the original recipe I found, and well, I'll just say it -- I like my version better.

Part 1: Making the Dulce de Leche

There are many methods to making dulce de leche, but this one is my particular favorite. Take two cans of condensed milk, and peel away the labels. Place the cans (unopened) in a crock pot half-filled with water. Set the crock pot on "low" and let the condensed milk simmer for 8 hours.

Then, carefully remove the cans from the water and let them cool for at least an hour. I urge you, DO NOT skip this step, lest you want scalding hot dulce de leche to explode all over you. Don't ask me how I know this...

Once the cans are cooled, open them and pour the contents into a storage container and reserve for later use. The condensed milk should be caramelized at this point, having a medium-brown color and a thick, rich consistency.

Part 2: Making the Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups crushed ginger snaps
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Filling:
3 packages of cream cheese
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
Reserved dulce de leche

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take a 9-inch springform pan and wrap the bottom and sides tightly with aluminum foil. Then, in a mixing bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour the mixture into the pan and press it along the bottom until it has formed a crust.

Before preparing the filling, make sure the cream cheese has softened a bit and is close to room temperature. Combine the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Then mix in the flour, milk, vanilla, and eggs. Next, add around 2/3 of the reserved dulce de leche (just eyeball it -- it doesn't have to be precise), and beat the mixture until smooth. If you need to soften the dulce de leche a little, just place it in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir before adding to the batter. Once you have finished mixing the filling, pour into the prepared crust.

Place the springform pan in a larger oven-safe pan, and add water to the larger pan until it's about 1 inch deep. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until the filling has set. Then, remove the springform pan from the larger pan, and allow it to cool for an hour or longer.

Once the cheesecake has cooled, spread the remaining dulce de leche on top of the cake in an even layer. I recommend letting the finished product chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before cutting and serving.

And there you have it! Admittedly, it's pretty time-intensive, but so very definitely worth it. I wish I had pictures to share with you, but photography didn't cross my mind at the time... Hindsight and whatnot. However, for future recipes, I will be sure to provide photographs!

Inaugural Post

Hello All,

My name is Tyler, and welcome to All in Good Taste, my food blog. My ultimate goal with this blog is to trace my culinary adventures and share them with food lovers. In the grand scheme of the culinary world, I may be somewhat of an amateur, but I am passionate about food, so I hope this blog with serve as a source of enjoyment and information for others who share this passion!