While browsing the cooking section of Powell's Bookstore in Hyde Park during a recent trip to Chicago, I was delighted to find a used copy of Desserts by the Yard. The recipes in the cookbook are not organized by type of dessert, but by place and time in Sherry Yard's life. The first chapter, "Brooklyn Inspirations," draws on her childhood experiences; the book then progresses through New York, London, San Francisco, different restaurants in Los Angeles, etc.
I decided the first recipe I wanted to try was one from the "Spago Beverly Hills" chapter, "Strawberry and White Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake." What initially drew me in was the gorgeous photo of three rectangular layers of cake neatly filled with whipped cream and strawberries. But I got really excited after I read the recipe headnote, which concludes with Yard's bold claim that this cake -- created by Sixto Pocasangre, the executive pastry chef of Wolfgang Puck Catering -- "is so good that it will change your cake-making life forever."
This cake is baked in a single sheet in a 12-inch by 17-inch pan, and then sliced into three separate pieces to create the layers for assembly. You make the batter by creaming together butter and sugar, mixing in melted white chocolate, adding egg yolks and vanilla, alternately adding in buttermilk and dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt), and the folding in egg whites beaten with sugar to stiff peaks. I spread the batter into a parchment-lined pan and put it in the oven to bake; the top got a little dark, so I wish I had tented it with foil midway through the baking time.
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After the cake was cool, I unmolded it, trimmed the edges to square it up, and then cut the cake into three equal rectangles. I made the whipped cream filling by beating heavy cream, sugar, and crème fraîche to medium peaks. I was about to assemble the finished cake -- layering the cake with the filling and strawberries -- but then I decided to make individual servings that would be easier to serve. So I cut the cake into smaller pieces before stacking them with whipped cream and fruit. Cutting the cake into smaller pieces skewed the proportions such that stacking three cake layers would have made each finished serving precariously tall. I stopped with just two layers of cake, which was plenty.
Because of the melted white chocolate in the batter, I thought this cake might be similar to Marcel Desaulnier's astonishingly delicious White Chocolate Patty Cake, which is a decadent, superdense cake with an extraordinary flavor and texture. Yard's cake is definitely a step above ordinary cake -- it is very moist, finely textured, has a complex, rich flavor, and it is the perfect base for berries and cream -- but I don't think it's as good as the patty cake. Even though this cake isn't going to "change my cake-making life forever," it is an absolutely lovely and beautiful summer dessert.
Recipe: "Strawberry and White Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake" from Desserts by the Yard by Sherry Yard.
Previous Post: "Patty Cake Patty Cake, Baker's Man, Bake Me a White Chocolate Raspberry Cake as Fast as You Can!," June 28, 2009.
I decided the first recipe I wanted to try was one from the "Spago Beverly Hills" chapter, "Strawberry and White Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake." What initially drew me in was the gorgeous photo of three rectangular layers of cake neatly filled with whipped cream and strawberries. But I got really excited after I read the recipe headnote, which concludes with Yard's bold claim that this cake -- created by Sixto Pocasangre, the executive pastry chef of Wolfgang Puck Catering -- "is so good that it will change your cake-making life forever."
This cake is baked in a single sheet in a 12-inch by 17-inch pan, and then sliced into three separate pieces to create the layers for assembly. You make the batter by creaming together butter and sugar, mixing in melted white chocolate, adding egg yolks and vanilla, alternately adding in buttermilk and dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt), and the folding in egg whites beaten with sugar to stiff peaks. I spread the batter into a parchment-lined pan and put it in the oven to bake; the top got a little dark, so I wish I had tented it with foil midway through the baking time.
.JPG)
Because of the melted white chocolate in the batter, I thought this cake might be similar to Marcel Desaulnier's astonishingly delicious White Chocolate Patty Cake, which is a decadent, superdense cake with an extraordinary flavor and texture. Yard's cake is definitely a step above ordinary cake -- it is very moist, finely textured, has a complex, rich flavor, and it is the perfect base for berries and cream -- but I don't think it's as good as the patty cake. Even though this cake isn't going to "change my cake-making life forever," it is an absolutely lovely and beautiful summer dessert.
Recipe: "Strawberry and White Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake" from Desserts by the Yard by Sherry Yard.
Previous Post: "Patty Cake Patty Cake, Baker's Man, Bake Me a White Chocolate Raspberry Cake as Fast as You Can!," June 28, 2009.
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