Anything WITHOUT fondant, since it seems to be all the rage now for any kind of decorated cake.

Actually, I'd rather have a nice slice of lemon icebox pie with real whipped cream on top.

"---Anything WITHOUT fondant, since it seems to be all the rage now for any kind of decorated cake. --"

And no candles please! Brings back bad memories.

A birthday party I went to, the birthday girl sneezed while she was blowing out the candles.

dcarch

Funny, Dcarch, although I was expecting something like a tragic fire caused by the candles. Sneezing - eeuw.

Tricia, your story is so romantic. But why not just tell him you want something different next time, like a lemon pie? Or, make him a lemon pie for his birthday.

Jerry's birthday is in October, and it just so happens that apple pie is his favorite, so that's what he gets for his birthday. Me, I love pie, and I love apples, but I'm not that wild about apple pie.

Since I'm one of the few in my family that likes cake, we don't have it much, but I do love a good devil's food cake. So old fashioned, but so good. What I don't like is frosting.

There's a good cinnamon bar recipe in Dorie Greenspan's book that make really more of a small cake than what I think of as bars. I don't have time right now to post the recipe, but I'll do it either tonight or tomorrow if you wish. It's a nice, small cake and really good. Lpink, it might be one for you and BF since it's small. It's good to see you posting again, too. I've missed you.

Sally

I never thought about it before, but blowing out the candles on a cake, then serving it to others, is disgusting. I'm sure the tradition will live on, nonetheless.

I may be drummed out of this forum, but my favorite cake is the Buttercream Cake from the Melrose Diner in South Philadelphia. I don't know how they make that icing, but I could eat a bucketful. Usually I don't like icing very much and have been known to scrape it off. This buttercream icing tastes like it has whipped cream in it. That's the closest I can come to describing it. Yum, yum. I may have to go get one even though my birthday is several months away.

Sally,

I have told them - for years, even decades. Guess I'm just not forceful enough in how I phrase it for fear of hurting their feelings. They are so proud that THEY give me a BD cake. It's something our two daughters have nothing to do with - just from the guys. So, come July you know what I'll be eating. :o)

/tricia

Lovin' this thread, so many great treats to salivate over!

I was gonna say the same thing as Sally Tricia. You need to cultivate a SWMBO image like John's wife!! :)
(She Who Must Be Obeyed!)

Anyway, at my workplace we have great bakers and they do the cakes so they can ply their trade.

So I have a couple of cakes I've been wanting to try, one is a limoncello cake, another is some kind of pistachio cake I think made with pistachio pudding mix somehow (gonna have to really search for that one). And Annie's hot milk cake has been on my "to try" list for a couple of years. Right now I'm kinda leaning towards hummingbird cake. But while searching for a recipe online I found one for something called "Pig Pickin' Cake" which also sounds good.

Hummingbird cake
Pig Pickin' cake

Reading these posts brought back fond memories. Years ago, when I was working at Williams-Sonoma, one of my co-workers made Ina Garten's Chocolate Ganache cake as a surprise for my 70th birthday. Maybe it was the thought as much as the cake but it was wonderful! Oh, to be young again!LOL

jude

Oh and I forgot to add that I have a recipe for oatmeal cake and it is also fab. Good with cake gravy too, or any type of struesel or coconut or even applesauce topping. You might like that one Rusty!

My favorite cake is also pie - Chocolate Hazelnut Bavarian Cream, and the next time I make it, I am going to sprinkle some ground coffee in it. Kevin recently bought some Kona Coffee Cream Half-dipped Shortbread Cookies at Trader Joe's that are better than any cake I've had recently.

As a child, my favorite cake was Angel-food, and I would usually make it myself because my mother thought it was too much trouble, but my grandmother would make it for me.

Lars

Every year DH makes me my favorite birthday cake, the Sachertorte from The Cooking of the Viennese Empire in the Time-Life series. Different icing,though; we like just a bitter chocolate glaze. Served with whipped cream.

Mom would make whatever "cake" I requested for my bday and I requested many different ones....baked alaska, lemon meringue, and my favorite lemon chiffon pie. Homemade cream puffs or choc eclairs are excellent too! But I also love chocolate mousse cake, I had a pineapple mousse cake that was OOTW! I love dirt, but without the worms. And we had this wonderful semi sweet chocolate frosting that is fab...made in a blender. It goes great on any cake that goes with chocolate. Yum!

Here is a link that might be useful: blender choc frosting

Lpink, I love the Oatmeal cake I make,
So I'm sure I would love yours, too.

My recipe is a very old one,
it came from my husband's Grandmother.
The topping is broiled on,
and has some oatmeal & nuts in it.
It was a really good seller
When I was baking for the public.

Sadly, no one in my family knew this recipe
When I was growing up and objecting to
plain white cakes.

BTW, I've also had Hummingbird and Pig Pickin' cake.
Both are really good!

Rusty

I always asked for rice pudding for my birthday when I was a kid. I don't think I even knew what German Chocolate Cake was back then, which is now my BD favorite. I think Date Bars would be my second favorite. Hubby is yet one more pie for cake person. It's often a fresh peach pie because peaches are ripe about the time of his birthday.

Hubby, makes German Chocolate Cake nearly every year for me for my birthday. When his sister, the professional cake decorator, asked him for his recipe after she ate and obviously enjoyed a piece, he said, "you start with a 3:1 ratio of soft white wheat and oats or spelt and mill that into flour." Her eyes glazed over because she only knows how to make cake from a mix, and that was the end of him giving her the recipe.

-Grainlady

I prefer a seasonal fresh fruit pie over any cake. But in my house, I will make any cake that is requested. I am having a birthday dinner this Friday and my friend's favorite is Red Velvet cake, so that will be done.:)

Berries and nuts one of my favorites!

Silvia

Oh, Silvia, my mouth is literally drooling, and my jaw is in the way of my typing. I love blueberries, and that just looks amazing.

Lpink, the link to the Pig Pinkin' cake didn't work for me. What's the address?

Tricia, I still think your story is romantic.

Sally

Rusty, Hummingbird cake? Is it as tiny as a Hummingbird?

Silvia, that is a fabulous berry and nut tart.

dcarch

To me birthday cake is one of two things. When I was little, my Dad always used to buy us Italian rum cakes (Florentine Pastry Shop, Utica, NY) for our birthdays. I LOVE them!

Growing up and moving away from home, finding the rum cake that I wanted became more difficult. So carrot cake with cream cheese frosting became the substitute. I have since found a local place that makes excellent rum cake (Nino's Bakery, Syracuse, NY). I'm a happy camper. Now I can have my rum cake and eat carrot cake too!:-)

The DH doesn't care for cake though. However he loves brownies. For his birthday I make chocolate turtle brownies or chocolate raspberry brownies.

This is crazy but ever since I was about 16 I have loved white cake with white icing. It has to have a touch of almond in both. You know, like the traditional wedding cake. I have told everyone for years that this is my favorite but no one ever makes one for me. Don't understand, I guess it's too simple.

Karen

Karen, and Tricia, a birthday girl should get what she wants. :-)

Sally

This post was edited by sally2 on Sun, Feb 3, 13 at 9:29

Many years ago my mother always made a plain yellow cake with chocolate icing, and it was gone in no time. Am not a cake maker, but this thread is encouraging and has made my mouth water.

Because my mother only baked chocolate cakes as a general rule, I always asked for a white cake with white icing for my birthdays as a child. Now I prefer Zuppa Inglese, which is a genoise brushed with sherry and split into thin layers, and filled with thick creme patisserie before frosting all over with whipped cream.
When I have had to take in a large cake for my birthday I make a variation of the Zuppa Inglese, leaving out the strawberries and flavouring one layer of creme patisserie orange, one lemon and one lime. It goes over well.
DH prefers cherry cobbler for his birthday and his sister asks for my lemon meringue pie. His mother doesn't care for cake, so for her birthdays I make meringues (her favourite) with whipped cream and apricot sauce. For celebrations the meringues get built into a tower like a croquembouche.
One fun birthday cake I made for a friend who thought it would be amusing to have a cake that looked like a Black Forest cake and tasted like lemon meringue pie. So after experimentation I tinted the cake to look chocolate but be plain, and the lemon filling to look like cherry. The frosting was a meringue-type frosting. It was really fun seeing everyone's reaction when they tasted it because I am well known in our circles for Black Forest cakes :-)

Thank you Sally and Dcarch.

Last night we went to Roy's Hawaiian fusion for a birthday celebration, I ordered for dessert a mango cobbler and coconut ice cream, it was so good!. The birthday cake that came for free was a molten lava chocolate cake...

Silvia

Silvia that blueberry tart is to die for! Blueberry pie is just about my favorite thing but only when I can get fresh MI blueberries to make it with!

Sally here's the link to the Pig Pickin' cake, it is on the "Serious Eats" Web site.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/05/pig-pickin-mandarin-orange-cake-with-pineapple-whipped-cream-recipe.html
That one seems like a really fun recipe, much better than one where you just add pudding mix to a boxed cake mix.

Now I keep dreaming about cakes. I sure do love those European spongy ones layered with the cream and fruits. And the boozy fruity ones too, and of course the chocolate ones! And I also like the rustic ones like oatmeal cake or apple cake.

Now while perusing for that pistachio cake recipe, I see that Rose Levy Beranbaum has a "Heavanly Cakes" cookbook which I might just have to get someday, or Dorrie Greenspan's baking book. I make her banana bundt cake as my go to on that style of banana cake.

Hummingbird cake is banana pineapple cake with pecans. That one I might actually get around to making because we almost always have brown bananas on hand since BF must eat a banana every day so he buys gads of them. I'm always looking for new and creative ways with bananas. . . . now if that's not an open invitation for EJ I don't know what is!

I made a banana chocolate chip cake and frosted it with a chocolate buttercream today for my MIL's, my SIL's and my birthdays. It was pretty good!

OK, mabel, which one is you?

Annie

I think that's mabel on the right :-)

Such yummy photos! Mabel's is the cutest, ever!

Eileen

Banana chocolate chip, ANOTHER one of my favorites. You gals look GREAT!! That cake looks so good!

I just realized I never posted that recipe I promised. I've made it many times, and it always is a hit. It's a nice size cake if you don't want gobs of cake.

Cinammon Squares

from: Baking, From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenpan

For the Cake

1 1/4 cups plus t tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 1/2 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Place the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the cake: Stir 2 tablespoons of the sugar, 2 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon and the espresso together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, the remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar, the baking powder, salt and the remaining 1 tablespoon cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and gently whisk until you have a homogenous batter. Now, using the whisk or a rubber spatula, fold in the butter with a light touch, just until the butter is absorbed. You'll have a smooth, satiny batter.

Scrape half of the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the chocolate over the batter and smooth the top again. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan; a thin knife inserted into the center will come out clean. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 15 minutes before un-molding it onto another rack. Peel off the paper, invert it onto the first rack, and cool to room temperature right side up.

For the frosting:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

To make the frosting: Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and fit the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring gently and often, just until they melt. Be careful not to overheat the mixture so much that it thins out; the chocolate should be smooth very shiny, thick land spreadable. (If it thins, leave the frosting at room temperature for a bit, until it thickens a little.)

Using an offset metal icing spatula or table knife, spread the frosting in generous sweeps and swirls over the top of the cake. Allow the frosting to set at room temperature, then cut the cake into 9 squares, each about 2 1/2 inches on a side.

My note: This is one cake I do like the frosting on, but it's good without it, too, if you just want to eat the cake and not wait to make the frosting, lol.

Colleenoz is correct, I'm on the right -notice my eyes are on the cake, not looking at the camera!

The cake was a big hit with all, we just have a couple of pieces left for dinner tonight. I posted the recipe on my cooking blog if you want to try it. It was delicious, and I am curious to see how it fares a day later.

edited to correct typo

Here is a link that might be useful: Banana cake

This post was edited by mabeldingeldine on Tue, Feb 5, 13 at 15:29

I'm okay with cakes - only with ganache, never buttercream or fondant - but if I had to choose, it would be the passionfruit souffle with passionfruit granite from Olivar in Seattle, WA. Possibly the finest dessert I've ever had the pleasure of eating in six decades of focused dessert exploration.

For my DH it would be the classic Rigo Jancsi from the Time-Life series Cooking of Vienna. No fake RJs need apply. If the recipe doesn't call for cooking the chocolate whipping cream down by 1/2 (which takes about an hour of constant stirring), it's not authentic. I hate making this cake as it dirties up every pan in the house and takes hours. But it is amazing...2" high, 8" square of intense chocolate lusciousness. Not even Cocolat's famed Triple Chocolate Mousse cake can match it.

My niece, a very fine baker herself, would list without hesitation the Chocolate Cabbage Cake I made for her more than 25 yrs ago. I guess it made quite an impression on her! It is from Judith Olney's classic "Joy of Chocolate" (long out of print). A photo from the cover, showing the cake, is below.

It is actually quite a simple cake. Make an angelfood or spongecake, tear it into pieces, mix with whipped cream and fresh fruit (raspberries were suggested and what I used). Pack it into a 2-qt mixing bowl as a mold.

Melt chocolate and coat raw cabbage leaves. You want both large and small leaves. The leaves will soften and are then removed. Turn the cake mold out onto a serving plate, so you have a nice half-round.

Stack the chocolate leaves carefully around the cake, using the smaller leaves first, then the larger ones. Decorate the platter with whatever you like.

Note: I found the recipe grossly underestimated the amount of chocolate needed. I broke several leaves, and it took more chocolate than expected to cover the larger leaves. I ended up using three times the amount of melted chocolate chips; had to run to the store to get more so I could finish it off!

But it did LOOK spectacular, I admit. Not being a chocoholic, I preferred the cake, with just a few pieces of chocolate broken up as garnish. Most of the leaves go to waste, but I figured a bag or two of chocolate chips wasn't going to break the bank. If you want to be thrifty you could always remelt the leaves and make chocolate covered nuts or chocolate chunk cookies.

Cookbook cover: Chocolate Cabbage Cake by Judith Olney, 1982

Black Forest for me. No cherry pie filling, has to be home made with Montmorency cherries.

So glad to see others select pie for their dream BD cake. So a tart apple pie would be my first choice. If it had to be cake I would want a coffee cake with fruit.

That is an amazing looking cake. It seems the cabbage would flavor the chocolate. Is that not so? Why couldn't you re-melt the chocolate and use it again for the cabbage leaves? I'm guessing it has to do with how the recipe works?

Sally

Good thread. As a kid, my DM would always make my favorite Maraschino Cherry Cake. Now, I really prefer a white on white cake (same as Lakemayor).

mabeldingeldine, I will pin your Banana Cake today on Pinterest and will see how it goes, it has a nice homespun look and for me it's all about the flavor rather than looks.
I don't see a way to follow your blog, I'd like to.

Nancy

I'm with cookie8 -- Black forest cake. I made this one last year for my sister's 50th, with fresh chopped cherries in a cream cheese frosting in the middle. I had hoped to use cherries from our tree, but it finished producing cherries two weeks before the birthdate.

Nancy I'll have to look and see if I can change a setting to allow followers on that blog. I mostly use it as an archive for recipes so I post fairly irregularly. My primary blog documents my gardening habit.

We had the last 2 pieces of cake last night, and the banana flavor was more pronounced and the cake seemed moister, perhaps pulling moisture from the frosting? Anyway, it was still delicious and will certainly be made again when a cake is needed.

Pie, cake, pie, cake - I can't decide. My dad loved pie - ate a piece a day for 84 years. For his 80th birthday, we had 12 different pies, and a token cake.

Now you've got me fantasizing about amazing cakes I've consumed. Once at a workplace around 1981, someone who dabbled in catering on the side made a chocolate Grand Marnier cake that was to die for. It was a chocolate-y, liquer-y concoction formed in a bowl, with mousse and all kinds of sinful ingredients. I think the recipe was in Woman's Day or Family Circle (believe it or not). I saved the recipe and will post it, if I can find it and if anyone is interested.

Best wedding cake I ever ate had a strawberry filling between melt-in-your-mouth cake (genoise??) and delicate icing.

I love spice cake with caramel icing - the kind where you boil brown sugar and milk for just a couple minutes, then add 10X sugar and butter.

I actually prefer to make my own birthday cake, but DH thinks I'm crazy and would prefer to go out and buy one. One year, I made what I think must be my all-time favorite birthday cake - sour cream chocolate fudge with sour cream chocolate fudge icing. If memory serves me correctly, it was a recipe that Ann T. had posted.

Oh, how could I forget carrot cake with cream cheese icing! No, no - THAT is my favorite birthday cake...

Did someone mention cinnamon rolls? I could totally do those instead of cake, too!

Re the chocolate cabbage, sally2 asked "It seems the cabbage would flavor the chocolate. Is that not so? Why couldn't you re-melt the chocolate and use it again for the cabbage leaves?"

No, the cabbage doesn't flavor the chocolate. The actual cabbage leaves soften almost immediately and you can peel them off the chocolate very easily. They might be useful for soup, or maybe making cabbage rolls.

I mentioned you could probably re-melt the chocolate and use it again. I just chose not to. I am not a chocolate fanatic, just have some family members and friends who are. Me, I'm happier with strawberry shortcake!

Having spent well over 20 yrs. baking cakes for family, friends and clients, I'd have to say, Baklava is my favorite birthday dessert, not cake. Is that weird?

Sol

This is kind of mundane give the spectacular favorites posted, but here is what I have wanted for years from our town's most famous restaurant and finally got last year.
Bern's has a huge dessert room with booths made of redwood wine casks.

Chocolate-Chocolate-Chocolate: Classic layers of our chocolate cheese pie, chocolate cheesecake, and milk chocolate mousse on a dense chocolate crust. served with fresh whipped cream and milk chocolate shavings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bern's Steak House

Bob thanks for posting that photo of the black forest cake. That is a beautiful thing! I've been dreaming about it for days, lol! Someday I have got to try making a cake like that!

I would like anything from a good bakery. My birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving and mostly just before or after. I have had my share of supermarket turkey shaped cakes and cakes with pilgrims. I used to ask for ice cream cakes as a kid because they at least had ice cream and usually weren't awful.....The worst was when I was 16. I wanted something grown up and beautiful. My sister talked my boyfriend and my parents into going to a amusement/arcade park for a surprise. The place was a castle themed park called Camelot. All the kids at my school called it "scam-a-lot" I was horrified. When the girl brought out the cake badly frosted and with day glow icing clowns and balloons I asked them to get it boxed and we went home to have ice cream instead. At least none of my friends saw it all. No I am not stealing this from the show Golden Girls. This actually happened to me!

I had another cake disaster for my graduation. My sis and I got the freshest ingredients and made a cake from a cake bible cookbook from the library. I had spent a week prior making frosting roses for this masterpiece had saving them in the freezer. We made the cake and tasted the trimmed off parts it was fantastic! The next day we frosted it and that evening when the family tried it it was so dry no one wanted to eat it. After that I always ordered a cake from the European bakery I love in Pasadena.

The other cake fail I was involved in was my cousin's wedding. She knew I could do frosting flowers well so she asked me to come over and decorate her wedding cake. She wanted me to use this lavender icing she made. I decorated the whole thing and we set it by the window. After an hour into the reception, the purple icing in the sunlight faded to blue and was melting a little. My part of the family was out drinking and laughing on the grass. My cousin's husband's family was inside being shocked at the drinking going on outside. The cake suddenly started to lean and lucky her husband's brother was sitting close by and grabbed for it. The top 2 tiers were saved but the lower ones crashed. She didn't put in any supports inside. But, great sport that she is, she just laughed and served her husband's family the upper layers and our family the toppled ones. We didn't mind a bit. She's a great gal and can laugh through anything. One of the weddings I can say I really enjoyed. Sliding color changing cake and all.

Please no one get a bright colored cake for a birthday. At my granddad's 90th, my aunt ordered a NASA themed cake with dark blue icing. My Grandad worked in the space program after being in the air force during WWII. Everybody had a dark blue tongue and blue teeth. All these old people with blue lips and teeth!

I love a simple cake with almond extract and some fresh ripe strawberries or peaches and whipped cream. I had a fantastic cake once made with 4 different pastel fruit flavored layers and also a very good Black Forest cake by a Belgian pastry chef who used to have a bakery in my city but has now retired. I'm too wary to try a special cake again but I love to make pies and decorate cupcakes with fresh flowers.

I have a reputation of loving anything chocolate. However, after many years of getting ooey, gooey layer cakes with soft chocolate icing, I put my personal requests in. My daughter is a fabulous scratch baker and makes a fantastic tri-colored layer cake with hard chocolate icing. Filling is usually seedless raspberry jam. That's usually my first choice. She also makes a "Hostess Cupcake" type cake - from scratch, also, that is fantastic. Just the right ratio of chocolate cake, hard chocolate icing and creamy filling.

I have the same book as jkom has, "The Joy of Chocolate," but I have to admit I don't think I've ever opened it, although I have drooled over the cover. I guess it's time to open it, doncha think? ;-)

Helene

This thread can seriously induce cake cravings! Seriously!

For many years my MIL made me a gorgeous, tall German Chocolate Cake every year for my birthday - bless her heart! It was always delicious and she knew how much it meant to me.

Sometimes at work a dear soul will bring in a homemade pound cake when my birthday rolls around. That's always nice as a good plain pound cake is one of my favorites.

One year some friends had me over for dinner on my birthday. They cooked something on the grill and had fresh vegetables and salad which was all delicious. She had asked me what kind of cake I wanted, but I asked for homemade ice cream. I just adore homemade ice cream and would have been happy just to have had only ice cream for my birthday dinner!

Teresa

Giggling at Kitty's description of all the old folks with blue lips and teeth. Funny. One time my brother drank food coloring and had a blue mouth for days. He saw my mom putting it into cake icing and presumed that was how it would taste -- like icing. Boy, did he get a surprise.

dedtired, can you imagine....that was maybe the last time some of those relatives might have seen each other and had pictures taken. We had a great time and my grandad loved it but that blue icing was awful.

My mother's dark chocolate mayo cake, no frosting with an ice cold glass of whole (gasp) milk dispensed from a cafeteria milk dispenser so it's a tad frothy on the top. Sigh........

Oh, mine would be Schaum Torte - do you know what that is? It was my mom's "special" holiday dessert growing up but it's touchy and pretty much impossible to make at altitude - and my DH has tried!

Looks just like a pavlova, blueiris. Have you tried stablising the egg white with a little cream of tartar?