Aunt Marthas Birthday Cake Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Cook potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook until tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup potato water; cool to lukewarm. (save remaining water for other dishes- freeze it to use with soup of vegetables).
• 2. Dissolve yeast in the 1/2 cup potato water;stir until dissolved. In a large mixing bowl;Mash potatoes when cooled to lukewarm and add to yeast mixture. Stir in milk, oil, sugar, eggs and salt. Add enough flour to form a soft dough. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down; let rise again until doubled, about 20 minutes. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured 3 inch doughnut cutter.
• 3. In a deep fryer(I use my electric fry pan), heat oil to 375^. fry doughnuts, a few at a time, until golden brown on each side. For a glaze: 4 c. powdered sugar 1/3 c. water 1 teas. vanilla Combine ingredients in a bowl and dip warm doughnuts in glaze. Cool on wire racks. --- OR---- Place granulated sugar about 1/2 cup and 2 Tablespoons cinnamon in a seal-able bag and place luke-warm doughnuts in bag -one or 2 at a time and shake gently to coat evenly.

Steps:

• Make the frosting: Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring cream to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Pour over chocolate and let sit, undisturbed, for 3 minutes. Gently whisk until combined and smooth. Whisk in the corn syrup.
• Let cool to room temperature, then transfer ganache to refrigerator and chill, stirring frequently and scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula, until slightly stiff and cool enough to spread, about 1 hour. If frosting becomes too firm, briefly place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until desired consistency is reached. Frosting should be smooth and spreadable, but not runny.
• Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans; line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then beat in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack; peel off the parchment. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
• Make the orange curd: Combine yolks, orange zest, orange juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan; whisk to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula (be sure to scrape the sides of the pan), until the mixture is thick, about 8 to 10 minutes. Let mixture come to a vigorous simmer and cook, continually scraping sides of pan, for 2 minutes.
• Remove saucepan from heat. Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. If desired, strain through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate until chilled and very firm, at least 2 hours or up to 1 1/2 weeks.
• Assemble cake: Using a serrated knife, trim the tops of the cakes to make level. Split each layer into two, for a total of four. Place bottom layer on a rotating cake stand and with an offset spatula, carefully top with 1/2 cup of orange curd, leaving a 1-inch border. Place the second cake layer on top, spread with another 3/4 cup of the orange curd. Repeat with the third layer; top with the final cake layer. Insert 3 wooden skewers into the top of the cake to secure.
• For the crumb coat, spread the entire cake with a thin coat of frosting using an offset spatula. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Spread the entire cake with remaining frosting, swirling to coat in a decorative fashion. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered with a cake dome. Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
• Beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla with the last egg. Pour in the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing until just incorporated.
• Mix walnuts, 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Fold half of the walnut mixture into the batter; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the remaining walnut mixture on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter the inside of a 10-inch stainless steel bowl (4 1/2 to 6 inches deep). Dust with flour, and tap out excess; set aside. Into a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and vanilla seeds on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in four parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large, wide bowl; set aside.
• With a clean bowl and whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and the pinch of salt on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the remaining tablespoon sugar, and continue to beat until medium-stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Whisk a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture to lighten, then use a rubber spatula to gently fold in remaining whites until just combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared bowl, and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating bowl halfway through, until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 40 minutes. (If the cake begins to get too dark, cover loosely with aluminum foil.) Transfer bowl to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes. Invert cake onto the rack and let cool completely.
• Line a bowl slightly smaller than the cake with plastic wrap, leaving some overhang. Fit cake into bowl. Using a serrated knife, trim the bottom of the cake to make level. Invert cake onto a clean work surface or cake turntable. Using the serrated knife, cut cake horizontally into four layers of approximately the same height.
• Place the bottom (largest) layer on a cardboard round or serving plate. Brush the top liberally with Amaretto Simple Syrup. Using an offset spatula, evenly spread about 1 cup Almond Buttercream over the top, about 1/4 inch thick. Top with the next-largest layer, and brush with syrup. Spread apricot jam in an even layer over the top. Place the next-largest layer, and brush with syrup. Spread about 1/2 cup buttercream over the top. Place remaining (smallest) layer on top. Brush the surface of the entire cake with syrup. Spread about 1/2 cup buttercream over the entire cake in a thin layer. Cake can be made up to this point up to 1 day in advance; refrigerate, covered, until ready to proceed.
• Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (such as an Ateco #5) with Almond Swiss Meringue. Pipe stars to cover the entire surface of the cake, pulling up as you pipe to form points. Using a small kitchen torch, lightly brown the meringue all over. Let cake stand at room temperature until ready to serve, up to 6 hours.
• In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer, combine egg whites, sugar, salt, and almond extract. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and whites are hot to the touch, 3 to 5 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Attach the bowl to the electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; mix on medium-high speed, about 2 minutes. Raise speed to high and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Use immediately.
• The cake is baked in a stainless steel bowl, which gives the cake a dome shape when inverted.
• After splitting the dome into four layers, almond-flavored buttercream and apricot jam are used to flavor alternating layers.
• The filled cake is given a crumb coat of buttercream before its final layer of piped meringue.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in eggs, buttermilk, water, vanilla, and oil.
• Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake until tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack; let cool 15 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack, remove parchment, then turn top-side up (to prevent sticky tops from sticking to rack); let cool completely.
• Spread 1 1/2 cups frosting over top of one cooled cake layer. Top with remaining layer. Spread a thin coat (about 1 cup) of frosting over top and sides of cake to create a "crumb coat." Refrigerate about 20 minutes, then frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. (For a more refined look, trim domed top of cake flat before layering and frosting.)