Last session, the kids were insistent on baking German Chocolate Cake at the next meeting.
I thought it might be too complicated, but decided to give it a try, including a Black Forest cake for variety!
Megan was in charge this time of researching and finding the recipes. She took on the challenge - but didn't copy the URLs. And, as we were doing final ingredient shopping, realized two things:
- She had copy/pasted the steps for the German Chocolate topping to a Black Forest recipe
- We had not ran the recipes through the cost calculator
I spent some time finding a German Chocolate cake that sounded good ... but if you look at the recipe, you will see I failed to take the numerous steps into consideration.
When the kids arrived, we did a quick pre-brief - much to Megan's horror .... (I apparently sound like her math teacher).
This time, we broke into groups of two - but Sophia and I were to be "floaters" helping .... only Sophia quickly got bored because the initial steps were difficult to include her and I had to bounce back and forth, helping the two cakes.
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| Black Forest Cake - cupcake & 1/2 mini-cake versions |
Megan and Mikalea tackled the Black Forest Cake.... one small cake and 12 cupcakes. Only error was they used heavy cream instead of buttermilk - but the cake still rose and held it's shape. The cupcakes were a little crumbly - but... kids managed to ice them, add cherries, whipped cream topping (which had to be remade 2x since the cherry juice curdled it the first time) and DEVOUR them (one shot has them all face-first into their cake)!
Landon and Kimia tackled the German Chocoate cake ... but it required a lot of help... I had them first make the pecan/coconut frosting ... which requies cooking + toasting the coconut and pecans. We were smart to make that part first; just overlooked that we should also have made the chocolate icing at the same time (both have to cool to room temp).
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| German Chocolate Cake - cupcakes + mini-cake |
Jump forward - we now have the cake ready, buttermilk added and "ah!" have to get egg whites to stiff peaks ... quick wash of dishes + beaters and we're off again... then to teach them how to "fold" the two together vs. stirring or beating ---
Clock was counting down and the German Chocolate cake was still baking. Kids were bored, as with one cake done, one set of kids were playing and the other set of kids were more interested in socializing than in finishing a labor-intensive project. The trampoline saved my sanity again! Meanwhile, I made the chocolate icing... which also needed to cool...a step I had neglected to notice in the preview. Fridge was my only hope of having it all assembled in time to go home with the kids.
Despite best efforts, the German chocolate cake fell in the middle. Kinda worked well though - the coconut/pecan filling went in the "dip" of each cupcake and I was drizzling with mostly room-temperature chocolate icing just as the first parents arrived.
Each kid went home with 2 German Chocolate cupcakes and 1/2 a mini-cake. So happy to see those calories walk out the door.
Feedback from the kids -
- Most didn't care for the Black Forest cake - the mixture of the powdered sugar frosting with whipped cream, cherries and chocolate cake was too much all at once (note -they happily mostly devoured their two cupcakes, however)
- Didn't have time to taste test the German Chocolate Cake .... I did though, and YUM!
At the end of the day, I hope they are having fun and learning a little respect for process + ingredients when it comes to food.
Next month: Pie!
This month's recipes:
- German Chocolate Cake - www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/09/german-chocolat-1
- (note: we did not make the syrup for the layers):
- Black Forest Cake - (apologies, Megan found it & didn't record the URL):
- Cake
- 1-2/3 cups flour
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1-1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups buttermilk
- Frosting for layers
- 1/2 cup "kirschwasser" (cherry water)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp strong brewed coffee
- 2 (14-oz) cans pitted Bing cherries (drained)...reserve the juice for the "kirschwasser"
- Frosting for outside
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp kirschwasser (I think this is optional... I think it broke the whipped cream)
- For decoration (we didn't use)
- 1 (1-oz) semisweet chocolate
- Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees
- Line the bottoms of 2 - 8" round pans with parchment paper circles
- Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and tsp salt - set aside
- Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until combined. Pour into 2 round 8" pans.
- Bake at 350-degrees for 35-40 min, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Cool completely. Remove paper from the cakes. Cut each layer in half, horizontally, making 4 layers total
- Sprinkle layers with 1/2 cup kirschwasser (we didn't do this step)
- In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar, pinch of salt, and coffee; beat until smooth. If the consistency is too thich, add a couple tsp of kirschwasser or milk.
- Spread first layer of cake with 1/3 of the filling, top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with remaining layers
- In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp kirschwasser. Frost top and sides of cake
- Sprinkle with chocolate curls, made by using a potatoe peeler on semisweet baking chocolate (we skipped this step)
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