Mission Wedding Cake: Almond Cake Trial 1

Here it is, the inaugural cake trial! In our “consultation,” Austin felt partial to the almond cake and the Bavarian cream fillings, so that is what I attempted for this first trial. It’s white, it’s triple-layered, it’s sweet, and it’s completely bridal. But I grade it a C at 75%, and I’ll tell you why!

I used a modified double batch recipe from allrecipes.com to make a six-inch and eight-inch cake. Additionally, I used information from marthastewartweddings.com to judge how long to bake each cake, how much filling was needed for each tier, and how much frosting was needed to ice the outside of the cakes. It was very accurate, except that I needed double the amount of frosting!

I must say, the cake itself turned out better than I expected! I used almond flour instead of all-purpose, and I baked it in the 3-inch deep round pans whereas the recipe called for a sheet pan. With information from good old Martha, the cakes turned out perfectly well baked–it was rich, moist, and the perfect density to be really tasty but still have enough structure to hold up two more tiers. The consistency was perfect for torting (cutting the cake horizontally into layers), and the crumb was still cake-y enough for me as well. I think I am definitely going to stick with this modified recipe for the big day! We have a winner!

Double batch of Joe’s Bavarian Cream

On the other hand, the Bavarian cream needed some additional tuning, more or less. As you can observe from the photo, the cream was very firm, and not at all like custardy smooth cake filling to me. While this recipe would be perfect for custard molds and a spoon, it doesn’t quite serve the purpose of a cake filling very well. In my second run-through of Joe’s amazing recipe, I will definitely use less gelatin. Additionally, I also might have added more of this Amaretto deliciousness (featured below) for increased flavor. It was a little bland. When I taste-tested it in the middle of the process, it seemed like its light flavor would go well with the sweetness of the cake, but I was wrong. I know that it should have packed more punch, and a few people who ate the cake agreed.

BRING ON THE AMARETTO!

Additionally, my taste-testers and I thought that the cake needed some acid for contrast of flavor. Raspberry filling sounded awesome to me, and I think I will add that in my next trial. :) Should be pretty simple, right?

The icing, the doweling, and the stacking of the tiers went alright. I couldn’t get the buttercream frosting super smooth like the pro’s do, but I did my best, and Austin was still impressed with my sharp 90 degree edges. :) Unfortunately, I don’t have pics of the finished, uncut cake. Austin’s dad took some pictures, so perhaps I will be able to get those to you later… although I am not too proud of my icing job, so maybe I will keep those to myself, haha! My awesome future sister-in-law Emily (who you’ve read about in this post) has lent me her rotating cake stand for frosting purposes, and I am way excited to see what I can do with it!

There ya go! Lots of room for improvement, but also not a complete fail like I was half-expecting! Completion of the cake took around 6 hours. If I break up the stages, I just might be able to pull this off for the wedding! Wish me luck!

Next up: a ten-inch chocolate cake with mocha mousse filling, for the bottom-most layer of our 3-tiered cake. I am super thrilled to get started on this!

Thanks for following along with Mission Wedding Cake… Over and out!

-ATP