She Loves Me Cake

I'm still not clear why this cake is called She Loves Me, but I do know that I Love This Cake, so maybe that's what I'll call it around these parts. The cake is essentially The Cake Bible's All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake, which no kidding, is my favorite cake, especially when paired with raspberry ganache. So guess what I did with this cake.

September 12, 2011
Name of Cake: I Love This Cake
Occasion: HCB
Constituents: one 9x9 yellow butter cake, frosted with raspberry ganache

There are only a few minor differences between the She Loves Me Cake and the All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake. From the etc etc Yellow etc Cake, Rose scaled the recipe down by a factor of about .834. (I know this because I stood with my calculator punching in numbers by trial and error until I hit upon the right fraction.) However, the amount of salt remains the same, the milk is a little less than x.834, and the vanilla is only decreased by 1/4 teaspoon, which I think is less than the x factor. Of course, the baking powder follows its own rules.

So, if you wanted to turn this recipe into two 9x1.5 inch layers, as in The Cake Bible, just multiply the SLMC by 1.2 and you'll be about right! If you want to turn this into two 9x2 inch layers, the cake flour needs to be about 400 grams, which means almost doubling the SLMC. Plus obeying the weird-ass rules of baking powder (the smaller the pan the more you need, proportionally speaking).

Anyways...the She Loves Me Cake calls for either a 10-cup specialty pan or a 10-cup tube pan. I didn't want a bundt cake, mostly because I don't like frosting bundt cakes, and omitting the ganache wasn't an option. Then I remembered I had a 9x9 square pan, and that is an 11-cup capacity pan. (Technically, it is more than 11 cups but less than 12, but I've bored you enough with decimals so I thought I'd skip it.) Square pan it is, with no modifications.

This cake is made with all egg yolks, which make it rich and tender. After separating the eggs (and freezing the egg whites), the rest of cake assembly and baking is really easy. In fact, I was surprised how quickly I got my mise together. Then the cake mixes up in the two-stage method and bakes for about 40 minutes. My square cake was finished at the 40 minute mark and had domed quite vigorously. After cooling, the dome shrunk to mild proportions--probably about 1/4 inch taller in the center than the sides.

I chose the raspberry ganache to frost this cake as it is still my favorite ganache, despite my new-found love for the midnight ganache. The raspberry ganache is raspberry puree, 60% dark chocolate, and heavy cream. That's TCB version. The RHC version also adds a tiny amount of white chocolate. It is both tangy tart and bittersweet, and I love it. I had two frozen tubs in my freezer so I defrosted one while the cake baked. There was just enough in the tub to thinly coat the sides and top.

And that's all there is to it. The cake has a fine, tender crumb and speaks of rich yolks and butter. The ganache is velvety smooth and tangy-tart. Together, it is my favorite cake-frosting combination and has yet to beat. I overbaked it a tad so it is a bit dry and really crumbly, but it's nothing a scoop of vanilla ice cream can't fix.

I almost forgot! This week, the Heavenly Cake Bakers are baking up the delicious and creamy Ginger Cheesecake. I made that sucker in April.