I received a call early last week to do an Italian Cream Cake, without decorations, for a coworker of my husband's. I'd never heard of Italian Cream Cake prior to moving to Kentucky, but they are quite popular here. For those of you not familiar with this cake, it reminds me of a rich butter cake with walnuts and coconut, it is quite delicious.
I know two people who make them, and wasn't able to get the recipe from either in time, so I used one I found on Pioneer Woman Cooks.
This recipe, although simple, made me question my ability to bake at all. I am not sure if it is my cheap 9" pans (Wal-mart cheapies instead of Fat Daddios like the rest of my pans), or my inability to properly fold in beaten egg whites that caused me problems.
I made the first batch and out of three cakes, only one cake came out of the pan in one piece, two cakes were usable, but even stacked there wasn't enough cake to send to the customer. The third cake crumbled, was cooked in the middle but the edges were a gooey mess. Usually the opposite is a problem.
I woke up early the next morning (an hour before my alarm was set) to start a second batch, only to realize I was one egg short. I sent my sleepy husband to Wal-mart for eggs at 5:30 in the morning. This time instead of using cooking spray, I actually greased and floured 3 pans and sprayed the fourth. I also used 4 pans instead of three.
These cakes looked better while cooking, but when I turned them out later, the cakes in the floured pans fell apart and the 4th cake turned out mostly usable. I wanted the cake to be tall, and was hoping I could use one of the cakes that fell apart.
I made the cream cheese icing, and was about to start stacking. About that time my husband was checking our son's oatmeal to see if it was too hot for him to eat. The bowl shattered, turning back into sand sized crystals all over the cakes I was hoping to piece together. Luckily I happened to have a towel covering the "good" cakes, so I ended up with three thin layers instead of four or five like I had hoped.
When I finished the cake, it actually looked pretty good but I'm not sure if I will ever attempt another Italian Cream Cake.
4 comments:
Ooh I love italian cream cake- even better chocolate italian cream cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting- yum!
Don't give up on cream cakes, juist try a different recipe. I don't usually have problems removing cake from my pans so I'm not sure if it was the ans or the egg whites, but if you've used those pans without problem before I'm not sure what it is.
Next time butter (not flour) the pans and a piece of parchment to line the bottom of the pan. That usually works.
Or try a new recipe. I'm going to be on a search for you :-)
BTW, your cake looks incredible to me. I'd definitely eat it without complaint!
The recipe says to seperate the eggs. You're supposed to incorporate the egg yolks first then fold in the egg whites, which you did.
BUT, you used beaten egg whites and it doesn't say to beat them (I don't think). If I were making this according to the directions I would interpret that differently. I would whisk them (like for scrambled eggs) then incorporate them. Did you whip yours like meringue?
That's the only thing I can think of- maybe they got too dry and that's why they stuck or broke. That's just my 2 cents.
Actually there was some debate in the comments about the egg whites, but it does say to beat them until stiff, before the rest of the directions.
The pans are a problem, every time I use them the cake tears at least a little. They are my 9" pans so I usually try to convince people to go with an 8" or 10" cake instead. Next time I see them on sale, I'll be upgrading for sure.
I have an EXCELLENT Italian Cream Cake recipe. I will dig it up for you if you would like to give it another shot. I made it last year for my (turning)10 year old niece. My 5 (at the time)year old daughter announced she wanted that cake for her next birthday after taking one bite!
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