Recently I made two cakes, one delicious cake and one not so delicious cake. Turns out cake is all about the icing. If you have a bad icing it won't matter how fluffy and tasty your cake is.
The first cake I made was a poppy seed cake with mascarpone icing and strawberries. The cake turned out a little dense but I think that was due to my impatience and not whipping the eggs and sugar for long enough. But the icing, the icing was incredible. It was by far one of the best icings I've ever had. I made one small change. I didn't have any lemon so substituted fresh orange juice. YUM! I will make this cake over and over again but maybe with a little more patience.
The second cake I made did not turn out as well. I made Smitten Kitchen's Best Birthday Cake. Not that it was anyone birthday, I just wanted cake. Something about this cake did not sit right. I thought the buttermilk was too dense and added a sour flavor to the cake and the icing was really unappetizing. Maybe it's just my pregnancy taste buds but the sour cream flavor was just not what I wanted. The cake looks beautiful but next time I'll stick with a buttercream frosting.
