Comments on: Pumpkin Cake with Burnt Orange Silk Meringue Buttercream

By: Vicki

Vicki — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:28:15 +0000

Well done!

By: ButterYum

ButterYum — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:32:13 +0000

Hi Kristen – I love your little pumpkins. Great idea!

By: anitsirK

anitsirK — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:09:23 +0000

Faithy: So far, I have yet to have real success when I use anything other than a standard round or square pan. I’m thinking it has to be because of my lack of baker’s joy or a similar product. I usually walk by the “oil product in a can” section in the grocery stores without a second glance, but I guess I need to take a closer look next time I’m in the grocery store. I suppose it could also be due to the fact that with round/square, I can use parchment paper as “release insurance”.

Barbara: The cake crumbs were great for breakfast on their own. Hm. Cake for breakfast again. This is becoming a theme for me! I do have a bunch of cake crumbs in the freezer from past baking projects that I’ve been intending to turn into cake “truffles”, but haven’t gotten around to trying it out yet. Do you coat them in chocolate or something to make them look presentable?

By: Bungalow Barbara

Bungalow Barbara — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:58:11 +0000

What cute little pumpkins! And good save on cutting down the cake. (If you mix the cake crumbs with some leftover buttercream you can have some nice “cake truffles” too.)

By: Sugar Chef

Sugar Chef — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:36:38 +0000

Love those little pumpkins, I bet they looked cute on the cake. I liked the cake too. I’m impressed that you cooked your own pumkin for puree, I just used canned. Nice post.

By: faithy

faithy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:31:07 +0000

i know what you mean when you said you haven’t got the nerve to use the cottage pan. i’m always afraid of the cake sticking in bundt pans, even though i love those cottage pan and some nice castle ones, i dare not buy them! Thus i always end up buying the non-stick round version with plain simple design…:p

By: anitsirK

anitsirK — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:10:05 +0000

I have to admit, I have no idea whether mine’s right, either. The raspberry mousseline I made for the almond cake was a lot denser, but it also curdled horribly at one point during beating — I just kept beating the snot out of it, and it came together eventually, but really had the texture of butter. This one was definitely lighter, and it didn’t ever truly curdle (when it looked like it was starting to break, I stopped and warmed it over a bowl of warm water), but it wasn’t really a normal frosting consistency either. It was almost too soft. I did use a handheld mixer, and poured the sugar syrup directly from the pot, instead of into an intermediate container. I also undercooked the syrup by a couple of degrees, figuring by keeping it in the hot pan, it would continue cooking a bit. Then I basically had the pan in one hand, and the handheld mixer in the other. Poured a little syrup in, hit it with the beaters, pull the beaters back to the other side of the bowl, pour a little more syrup, and so on. This time I didn’t end up with any sugar mess stuck to anything other than the beaters.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:06:11 +0000

Too bad about the cake sticking in the pan… I hate when that happens! We can’t get baker’s joy here in Australia so I have to rely on butter/shortening and flour… Your shot of the buttercream in the bowl looks amazing and makes me think I did something wrong with mine.. yours looks so much lighter and fluffier… mine seemed a little greasy and dense. I need to practice… Lovely cake!