Gluttony

Jennifer and I came up with a recipe for a delicious cake that has its origins in a cake that my grandfather used to send to clients for the holidays. It was from the ƒclair bakery here in New York. The bakery closed in the late '90's, thereby eliminating the supply of the subject of one of the nicer memories of my childhood. So I decided to be proactive and create my own facsimile of the cake.

Razz Rum Cake

This recipe is rather complicated, but worth the effort.

You'll need:

-Marble cake mix
-Bacardi Razz flavored rum
-Raspberry jam
-Chocolate butter cream frosting
-Pink vanilla butter cream frosting
-Chocolate sprinkles (jimmies)
-Cocoa powder
-Mint leaves
-Maraschino cherry

Bake the cake as instructed on the package in two round pans and let cool. When fully cooled split one of the layers in half horizontally (this can be done by drawing thread or wire through the cake), then separate the layers. You should now have three separate layers. Take the bottom of the layer you've split and put it on a cardboard cake round that matches the circumference of the cake, then frost only the top surface of the bottom layer with the raspberry jam. Then place the top half of the sliced layer on top of the jam and frost the top surface of that with the chocolate frosting, then place the unsliced layer on top of the frosting. I like my cake to be rather architectural, with a flat top, so I usually like to slice off the rounded top of the cake at this point using the thread or wire I used to slice the bottom layer in half. This step also makes the cake more open to soaking up the rum in the next step. With a skewer, poke holes in the cake through all layers and douse lightly with the rum. You can repeat this step several times waiting until the rum has soaked into the cake each time. The more rum you douse the cake with the more decadent the finished cake will be. After all the rum has soaked into the cake you can frost it. Frost the sides with the chocolate icing and press the chocolate jimmies into the icing (this can be a messy process, but it adds a delightful touch to the finished cake), then frost the top with the pink icing, being careful not to slop it over onto the side. We don't want a messy result, do we? When you've finished icing the cake you can add a delightful touch by placing a doily over the top and lightly patting a sifter of cocoa powder above it. When you lift the doily you'll have the lacy pattern replicated in light brown on the pink icing. Finish the cake off with a maraschino cherry and a couple of mint leaves.

This cake is guaranteed to leave them wondering what bakery you go to.

Episode 210 Main Page