Last year, my friend Patsy made a cake for our friend Kate's birthday that was so delicious that I couldn't stop eating it. It was a dense and velvety white chocolate layer cake filled with raspberry sauce and topped with fresh raspberries. When I asked for the recipe, Patsy told me that it was the White Chocolate Patty Cake from Baking with Julia. Fortunately, my friend Kristina gave me this cookbook as a gift years ago. The book is a companion to the PBS series of the same name from the late 90s (the TV show is still on in reruns; I caught an episode yesterday afternoon).
When I got home from Kate's birthday party and looked up the recipe, I was pleased to see that the technique is very simple. But the cost of the ingredients is relatively high. I decided that I would have to save this cake for a special occasion.
Last week, the right special occasion finally presented itself. We had a party at the office to celebrate the return of our division's Associate Director, who had been on loan to another office in the agency for several months. The division staff had been eagerly awaiting Mary's return, and I knew that this was the time to break out the White Chocolate Patty Cake.
I decided to double the recipe and make a 2-layer 9 x 13 inch cake (the recipe is written to make a 9-inch round layer cake). As a result, my ingredient list included a pound and a half of white chocolate, 20 eggs, 2 pounds of frozen raspberries and 1 pound of fresh raspberries. Given that the ingredients alone cost close to $30, you can see why this is a special occasion cake. I won't go in detail about how to make the cake, because PBS has a nice video archive and you can watch the entire episode of Baking with Julia where Marcel Desaulniers shows Julia Child how to make this cake. Just go to this page and select Marcel Desaulniers from the drop down menu of chefs in the "Prime Video Cuts" search box.
The white chocolate makes the texture and flavor of the cake unbelievable. It's extremely dense, but not fudgy or wet at all. The raspberry crush (which is simply frozen raspberries, lemon juice and sugar run through the food processor and strained) on top of both layers and the fresh raspberries on top are the perfect flavor complement to the cake. I served the extra raspberry crush on the side.
I honestly think that might be my favorite cake of all time. The cake flavor is unique and the mouthfeel is rich and luxurious. The raspberry components are bright and have just the right balance of sweetness and tartness. I think I had it backwards when I was saving this cake for a special occasion... this cake makes the special occasion!
Recipe: "White Chocolate Patty Cake" from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
When I got home from Kate's birthday party and looked up the recipe, I was pleased to see that the technique is very simple. But the cost of the ingredients is relatively high. I decided that I would have to save this cake for a special occasion.
Last week, the right special occasion finally presented itself. We had a party at the office to celebrate the return of our division's Associate Director, who had been on loan to another office in the agency for several months. The division staff had been eagerly awaiting Mary's return, and I knew that this was the time to break out the White Chocolate Patty Cake.
I decided to double the recipe and make a 2-layer 9 x 13 inch cake (the recipe is written to make a 9-inch round layer cake). As a result, my ingredient list included a pound and a half of white chocolate, 20 eggs, 2 pounds of frozen raspberries and 1 pound of fresh raspberries. Given that the ingredients alone cost close to $30, you can see why this is a special occasion cake. I won't go in detail about how to make the cake, because PBS has a nice video archive and you can watch the entire episode of Baking with Julia where Marcel Desaulniers shows Julia Child how to make this cake. Just go to this page and select Marcel Desaulniers from the drop down menu of chefs in the "Prime Video Cuts" search box.
The white chocolate makes the texture and flavor of the cake unbelievable. It's extremely dense, but not fudgy or wet at all. The raspberry crush (which is simply frozen raspberries, lemon juice and sugar run through the food processor and strained) on top of both layers and the fresh raspberries on top are the perfect flavor complement to the cake. I served the extra raspberry crush on the side.
I honestly think that might be my favorite cake of all time. The cake flavor is unique and the mouthfeel is rich and luxurious. The raspberry components are bright and have just the right balance of sweetness and tartness. I think I had it backwards when I was saving this cake for a special occasion... this cake makes the special occasion!Recipe: "White Chocolate Patty Cake" from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
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