Perfect parties are hard to come by. For some reason this week I have spent a lot of time thinking about past groups of friends. Mostly I have been thinking how much I miss them. I miss the times of hanging out at different houses, different people – yet all the same. I miss those last minute get-togethers that college life would bring my way.
Many of the fun times I had centered more around the people than the food we ate. Years ago, we were content all just being together. The counter was a hodge-podge of things like skittles, tortilla chips, spinach salad and random bottles of soda. Nothing went together, yet at that time, nothing felt out of place.
Somehow the older I have gotten, something has changed. Dinner parties seem to have taken the place of spur of the moment get-togethers. The focus has almost shifted more to the food than the friends. It is not to say that I don’t enjoy sharing a good meal or taking something for us to break bread with. But, I miss those kinds of friendships.
Why has all this been on my mind? Over the last week, I have spent several evenings in the company of other Americans. Those times of laughter and fun remind me of the past. Before, I may have been one to bring the chips and salsa. But, my “grown-up” tastes lead me to share something more refined, more polished.
In order to celebrate a few birthdays last weekend, I baked up Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake found in Baking–From My Home to Yours. She suggested lemon and raspberry as cake, filling and frosting flavors. Knowing that I couldn’t get lemon, my mind immediately wandered to orange. Lime is my most obvious substitute, but I was hoping for something more subtle. I thought a lot about what I wanted to use along with the orange flavored cake and wound up with two options – orange marmalade and fig jam. I chose the fig jam.
The cake baked up very nicely. I used a combination of flour and cornstarch as a cake flour replacement. I used plain drinkable yogurt as a substitute for buttermilk. The lemon zest was replaced with orange zest and the extract was not used as I did not yet have it in my kitchen. (Now I do, just in case I want to give this another whirl!)
Instead of two rounds, I used a very large & shallow sheet pan. My idea was to cut out small circles to stack up as individual cakes. Cutting the cake with a small glass proved to be near disastrous and I made a quick and reasonable change of plans. I went square. I could still cut four equal squares of a reasonable, yet adorable size. So that was exactly what I did!
The cake was then layered with fig jam and orange buttercream, then more cake, more jam and buttercream and so on. I was a bit bummed to find myself short on the buttercream. Typically I go really thin on the layers and end up with triple the amount I should have on the top and sides. This time was no exception, I used very little on the layers but found I had little pockets at the bottom where I just couldn’t spread anymore. (But then I cannot imagine making more…three sticks of butter *already*…how could I even ponder to add more?)
I never planned to cover it with coconut. I am just learning to like coconut so a whole cake covered in it would have just saddened me, not made me happier! I sprinkled purple and orange candies on the top (mind you…those came in an assorted color pack…I picked out the ones I wanted!)…get it…purple (figs) and orange (orange)?
So what did my friends and I think? The taste was good, but it wasn’t great. I thought the cake batter tasted great (yes, I taste test all batters) but the baked cake lost its pizzazz. (That may have been my bad for lack of extract.) The frosting just wasn’t enough (and I did not use all of the cake since I cut circles out of part of it). I would like to try it again with a citrus curd (lime, lemon, grapefruit) and more (gasp!) buttercream. I would also like to try a chocolate version.
Mmmm…perfect party cake for perfect parties.
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Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake is being served up as the March Daring Bakers Challenge. The Perfect Party Cake was chosen by this months host, Morven at Food, Art and Random Thoughts. Please visit the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see what other perfect cakes are being served up today!
Other Daring Baker Posts:
Julia Child’s French Bread – February 2008
Lime Meringue Pie Stars – January 2008
Christmas Yule Log – December 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
I agree, I had JUST enough buttercream. Used the last scrapings of it.
Your color scheme is so pretty.
Wonderful cake!! I love the sprinkles, it looks like a party just waiting to happen!! Thanks for stopping by!!
Love the sprinkles! The colors are great:) Way to go daring baker subing orange and fig for lemon! Nice job:) Hope you find your perfect party cake!!!
the cake is simply lovely!…and the sprinklers added a wonderful touch
Your cake looks lovely and the orange and fig sounds like an amazing combination!
Ooh! I those orange and lavender confetti bits look so happy together!
j
orange and fig sound nice…love the way you rflected the colours on the toppings as well..Neat!
Gretchen, fig jam must have tasted wonderful! The sprinkles on top make it look very festive.
Christina ~ She Runs, She Eats
I love the colored sprinkles on your cake. It’s very pretty.
Orange and fig sounds great Gretchen! Your patience in picking out the purple and orange candies was rewarded – the end result is very pretty and colourful.
I love the decoration@ Purple and orange! two of my favourite colours
Hey Gretchen! Your cake sounds fab!!! It looks so pretty too!!!
Great flavor combination you chose, and I like the square shape! Great job!
Hi Gretchen,
Great job on the challenge! I love the colored decorations and the fig idea sounds wonderful.
Hi Gretchen, I love your blog, it’s amazing, I live in Ecuador so it’s great that you mention the substitutes, because here is also very difficult to find speciality goods…
The cake looke amazing and i’m going to try it
You did a fabulous job on your cake. I love all the sprinkles.
Natalie @ Gluten a Go Go
Beautiful Cake¡¡¡¡¡¡
I love this colors which has choosed.
Teresa
Nice looking cake!
It’s very fun and happy looking, so I hope it was a happy cake on that front. I know what you mean about not being blown away by the taste. Those layers are so thin yet perfect – you must have a surgeon’s steady hand!
How festive! Your flavors sound scrumptuous too! Congrats on a beautiful result.
Your sprinkles say happy to me. What a great flavor combination you came up with. You truly are a daring baker!
fig and orange are so wonderful together and your sprinkles are so cute, i’m sorry it wasn’t as good as you’d hoped!
i did a mango-lime curd in mine with some lime oil in the batter, and it was fan-fricking-tastic. so definitely give it another go!
You are probably right about the lack of extract making a difference. I never have lemon extract but instead use a bit of lemon juice in its place and find that works out well.
I like the square – I think yours is the first square one I’ve seen so far!
Pretty cake! I love the sprinkles!
This is beautiful and I love the colored candies on top..:)
The sprinkles make it extra festive. I love your flavor combos! Excellent.
how pretty. Love the sprinkles. well done
Your cake looks fantastic! I love frosting slathered on and sprinkles…just right for a party
MMM! Love the idea of fig jam – must’ve been fantastic with the orange buttercream.
Really cute cake – excellent job!
Super cute cake… I need to take some cake decorating clases with you. Hermoso!!!
I love how the sprinkle colors reflect the fig and orange flavors! Perfect!
I love that you did something so vibrant and colourful! It looks gorgeous, I am also salivating from the chocolate puddings above! yummy!
I lloovvveee those sprinkles! Your cake looks so alive and happy
Such a very pretty cake!
I love your nostaligic opening notes. A few years ago I realized how much I missed my university and high school social dynamic where people just hung out for no reason. Now it seems like you have to have an occasion, a men. a hostess gift and new shirt for any social gathering…why is that?
Like the confetti sprinkles on your cake, too – very festive.
I love the color-combo of purple & orange – so happy & festive. Sorry to hear it wasn’t as “grand” of a party cake as you would have liked. I love the square shape & would have been over-the-moon if you had baked this for my birthday – what a great friend you are!
xoxox Amy
I lvoe the candy on top of your cake and can’t believe that you picked them all out by hand! The fig and orange sounds delicious!
Love the combination of fig and orange! It reminds me of cuccidati, those yummy fig and orange jam italian cookies
The sprinkles look very sweet and festive too!
Your cake is so festive!! It looks great. I love the idea of figs.
sorry you weren’t in love w/this cake – i thought it was perfect
definitely try it again w/some other variations! i love the sprinkled candies you put on top!