I don’t like Italian cakes. There, I said it. I admitted it openly and can’t take it back.
The cookies and pastries are great, but the cakes leave a lot to be desired – at least in my book.
You see, here cake is usually made out of pan di spagna. And, although it’s translation is usually given as sponge cake, it’s a much drier and denser version. In fact, you can find it cryopacked and ready to use in the supermarket (UGH!)
That may seem strange until you realize how cake is made here. Basically what they do is take the pan di spagna and soak it in some kind of liqueur, then layer it with pastry cream. It’s not that bad, but it’s not my idea of cake.
The other kind of cake they have here is a mille-feuille or napoleon cake. Basically thin layers of eclair pastry with pastry cream in between. In other words, it’s not a cake, it’s just a giant pastry.
I couldn’t possibly give Luigi a cake like that for his birthday. We ordered a Saint Honoré cake for his baptism, but for his birthday we had to have a real birthday cake. At least, that was my feeling. So, I decided to make the cake myself. Well, two cakes really – one toddler-friendly cake and a cake for the adults.
Of course, it doesn’t sound like a big deal. After all, every mom makes birthday cakes for their kids, right? The only thing was that we were having a party at the local restaurant with around 20 people, so I had to make a big cake.
The next problem was deciding what kind of cake to make. A while back I had seen a Devil’s Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache frosting on David Lebovitz’s blog. It looked so delicious and I knew it would definitely be something out of the ordinary here, so that’s what I decided to make. In fact, two weeks ago I did a test run of the cake and it was delicious.
For the big cake though, I tripled the recipe and made it in two large lasagna pans then cut it in the shape of a number 1. OK, so I’m no pastry chef, but it’s not too ugly.
I did have to stop some people from trying to give some to Luigi. You would think that it would have been obvious that I didn’t want him to have chocolate. Otherwise I wouldn’t have made him his own cake, right? Seems obvious to me…
For Luigi’s cake I wanted something simple yet tasty and not too sweet. So, I decided to use the recipe KC (The Shock of the Old) did for her daughter’s first birthday. The only change I made was that I used cinnamon instead of ginger.
Luigi certainly liked it. In fact, we couldn’t pull him away to take pictures.
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I agree with you completely about Italian cakes!
I love the #! cake! What a great idea, and I can believe that it was delicious! I’m glad Luigi liked the carrot cake. It was a great hit at Pata’s party. She ate it the same way Luigi ate his. All of the little children liked it. For everyone else I made a yogurt and apricot preserves cake with cream cheese frosting. That really wowed the guests, they’d never had cake like that before. I find that Italians love American-style cakes, I suppose because they’re so new and different.
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Mary Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:09 pm
The adults wanted to try the carrot cake too. Actually, I’m thinking of trying the recipe with some whole wheat flour and making breakfast muffins out of it. The yogurt and apricot preserves cake sounds good too. O keeps asking me what kind of cake I should make next.
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Isn’t he gorgeous? I have to agree with you about the Italian cakes, they’re such a disappointment somehow (although they look so ornate). I’ve always done my own cakes for the childrens’ birthdays, except for Lizzy this year (and that says a lot about second children), but I’ve never done such a big one – congratulations!
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Mary Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Thanks Deborah. I have to admit, the cake was a lot bigger than I needed to make, but I was happy to have too much. I gave the rest away to friends and family. I wouldn’t feel to bad about not making a cake for Lizzy this year. There’s always next year.
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Both cakes are beautiful! Great job!
[rq=54532,0,blog][/rq]Monday Musings: Itty Bitty
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Mary Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Thanks Amber.
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Mary, Luigi is just adorable! The cakes are beautiful and look delicious. That first birthday is always so special. Glad it turned out well.
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Mary Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Thanks Rosemary. I can’t believe a whole year has gone by already! Did you recognize the Boomerang from the pictures?
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Great job on the cakes. Luigi is a doll.
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Mary Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Thanks!
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Question, since my youngest is 20, and I don’t remember-what is wrong with giving a 1 year old chocolate.
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Mary Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Well, they say not to give babies any chocolate until they’re at least a year old due to possible allergies. As for the cake, it was loaded with chocolate (hence caffeine) and sugar, a lot more than a simple taste. I didn’t want Luigi overloaded on his first birthday. I didn’t appreciate anyone trying to slip him chocolate because it was obvious that I didn’t want him to have it and giving it to him would make him want it more. Fortunately, he absolutely loved his little carrot cake, so wasn’t interested in the chocolate, but I was imagining a crying fit after having a taste of chocolate and not being given any more.
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Cathy Reply:
June 27th, 2009 at 5:05 am
That was something I didn’t remember. I think my kids first birthday cakes were probably vanilla, maybe because of possible allergies but more likely because chocolate stains. Coming from a long line of ‘chocolaholics’ the possibilty of chocolate allergies would not have occurred to me. By the way I love the candle holder it is so cute and tghe little cake is darling.
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Mary Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 10:52 am
I guess you can tell I’m a chocoholic too from the cake I chose to bake for the adults.