What's your favorite cake?
This isn't one of those silly polls. A friend who does catering but doesn't bake has asked me to do some cake baking for her. We're not talking wedding or birthday cakes with fondant and intricate piping. These would be home style cakes; but what flavors to put on her menu? Have you got a favorite? Maybe a particular cake and frosting combo that would catch your eye. Help me come up with a few wonderful ideas. For example what would you think of a banana spice cake with peanut butter frosting?
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80 Comments:
Peanut butter and banana seems like a good combo. I love a good carrot cake with cream cheese or buttercream frosting. I probably only get to eat it about once every 2 or 3 years.
dmcavanagh at 7:23PM on 10/14/09
I hate to say it, but although I like both flavors, I think banana and pb frosting would be too rich. I would like banana with just swirls of dark chocolate, or perhaps some streusel topping.
I too love carrot cake, especially with walnuts. Cream cheese frosting is divine, especially in unexpected places--spice cake, banana cake, even chocolate cake.
The peanut butter frosting I might try with a very light cake--I have never seen pb frosting on white cake, but I bet it would be good!
HeartofGlass at 7:32PM on 10/14/09
My fav wedding cake was my sister's tiramisu cake.
AnnieNT at 7:34PM on 10/14/09
Chocolate cake wih a peanut butter frosting sounds great.
I also love a plan cake with homemade caramel frosting
Krimpetgirl at 7:35PM on 10/14/09
My favorite cake is a yellow, two layer cake filled and frosted with sweetened whipped cream. Put the first layer down and spread with whipped cream and then on that put half a can of drained crushed pineapple. Put the second layer on and frost the entire cake with remaining cream. Put the rest of the pineapple on the top and chill overnight. You must use real cream, sweetened and whipped and you must make your own cake. No mixes. Sooooo good!!
BakerPhlebo at 7:38PM on 10/14/09
Oh,I love and have loved for about 40 years a very good Opera cake. Nothing quite like it, served semi-chilled. The Black Hound bakery in NYC does a very nice one!
ChelseaGuy52 at 7:56PM on 10/14/09
TRES LECHES!!!! Amazing... specially when done right.
MadelynRodriguez at 7:58PM on 10/14/09
Red velvet with gads of cream cheese frosting!! So pretty too!!
PoorOldMama at 8:04PM on 10/14/09
@ChelseaGuy52- I just googled Opera cake because I've never had it. That sounds fantastic, as I love almonds and coffee.
dmcavanagh at 8:07PM on 10/14/09
Hummingbird Cake
caramel at 8:12PM on 10/14/09
i love pumpkin spice cake, banana cake with cream cheese frosting, lemon cake, and cheesecake.
cybercita at 8:25PM on 10/14/09
German chocolate cake and spice cake with cream cheese frosting:) Yum!
jhoefl88 at 8:26PM on 10/14/09
a great coconut cake OR a deep intensely flavored dark chocolate cake with a great chocolate frosting....not the overly sweet kind but with a nice deep chocolate taste
Italiancupcake at 8:35PM on 10/14/09
I used to make a chocolate layer cake with cinnamon and a pinch or two of nutmeg, with an orange custard filling, frosted with a chocolate ganache with a bit of chili powder mixed in.
NotAmerican at 8:42PM on 10/14/09
@chelseaguy52 - opera cake - what a beautiful cake. i've never made one.... i remember seeing a photo of one of the cooking mags a few months ago. i could never do it justice.
my favorite cake is probably a toss between: pavlova (very easy to do - and looks very elegant), old fashioned angel food cake with a nice chocolate glaze and a raspberry sauce .... oh, and a good black forest cake with cherries that i've horded away in the freezer from the summer.
pooch at 9:18PM on 10/14/09
I LOVE orange cake with orange cream-cheese frosting. Also lemon-ginger with Swiss meringue. But my favorite is actually white cake with this frosting that's cream cheese, whipped cream, and pineapple. It's pretty good with angel food cake too.
BangieB at 9:37PM on 10/14/09
Cream cheese frostings require refrigeration, so if you are looking for a layer cake easy to transport, I would go with German chocolate cake with the traditional cooked coconut/pecan frosting. So yummy.
Suzzanne at 9:49PM on 10/14/09
A really dark chocolate cake with a flulffy white frosting - basically a Swiss meringue, very marshmallowy.
lemons at 10:38PM on 10/14/09
Because it is in season, pumpkin spice cake
Also, coconut cake is very yummy. Or even better, chocolate coconut cake. The dark brown chocolate frosting and white shredded coconut would make a nice contrast
jo_wang at 11:24PM on 10/14/09
This is a very tough choice, kind of like asking, "What's your favorite sex position?" That said, I will put in a vote for strawberry whipped cream cake.
salpico at 11:51PM on 10/14/09
For making cakes always go with seasonal and most favorite.
Yellow with choc icing
choc with choc icing
german choc
banana
coconut
lemon with white icing
carrot with cream cheese icing
all butter pound with icing
black forrest
boston cream
spice cake with white icing
JerzeeTomato at 4:01AM on 10/15/09
My favorite cake is the one my mother made for my birthdays as a child - though then I thought it wasn't sweet enough. Will be a little unusual. A white layer cake with currant jelly between the layers, and a currant 7-minute frosting. Just substitute currant jelly for the water and some (all?) of the sugar in the frosting. It will come out with a dusky rose pink color, just a slight tartness. Would need to look for the recipe later today for the frosting if you're interested. You can use any jelly in the frosting, but don't find a recipe for that when I google.
lemonfair at 6:58AM on 10/15/09
Red Velvet is big here in the South. If you can get past the offputting color of the batter, this is one of the best behaved cake recipes I've ever used. I made a ginormous red velvet cake for BF's boss' birthday and it was served to the entire company. I got a bunch of thumbs up - not bad for a Yankee.
Everyone should have a great, T&T chocolate cake recipe and an icing to go with it. Ganache is about the easiest icing to make and can be adjusted for textural variations with very little tweaking. My favorite ganache is Rose Levy Beranbaum's from The Cake Bible.
Some other cakes -
Carrot
Nut-based cake (hazelnut, pecan, almond or walnut)
NY Style Cheesecake
LBNL, this German Walnut Spice Cake has the surprising origin of McCall's magazine but had I not made it myself for a 3 tier birthday cake for an 80 y/o woman, I wouldn't suggest it. The cake is delicious and stays moist for several days if iced. I used a cream cheese icing and filled it with a sour cream-walnut Bavarian.
Gotta also echo Jerz - you cannot go wrong with a well-made pound cake. It might be the Rodney Dangerfield of cakery but it hits the spot every time.
therealchiffonade at 7:19AM on 10/15/09
Loves me a good rum cake! It is one of the few cakes I enjoy that doesn't require frosting. Which brings me to pound cake. Chiff got it right by saying "well made". A well made pound cake can go in many different directions by small additions such as nuts, citrus zest, cocoa powder, spices and even green tea. I have discovered green tea and ginger are a magical combo. A crap pound cake will always be a crap pound cake no matter what is done to it.
On the other end of the spectrum chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganauch over the whole cake is something to behold.
finsbigfan at 9:34AM on 10/15/09
Coconut cake with raspberry filling
flavacrisp at 10:27AM on 10/15/09
I second @Jerzee's suggestion of a lemon cake with white frosting -- light and decadent, both at the same time!
gbania at 10:49AM on 10/15/09
My go to cake is an orange almond cake. The recipe comes from a Jeanne Lemlin cookbook. No frosting, I just dust with confectioner's sugar using a doily or cake stencil. I get raves whenever I make it, and it's easy.
cobleskill at 11:00AM on 10/15/09
I love Opera but I want it professionally made.
My favorite homemade cake is Earl Grey chiffon cake with anglaise sauce.
hmw0029 at 11:05AM on 10/15/09
The most popular cake I've ever made was from the Betty Crocker book. Silver white cake, lemon filling, seven minute frosting. I served it with fresh blueberries.
Of course, if you're serving to a bunch of chocolate fanatics, I don't reccomend this cake.
eeels at 11:23AM on 10/15/09
Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting : )
NanaJoie at 11:34AM on 10/15/09
If you've got a recipe for a peanut butter frosting that isn't cloyingly sweet, please share. I haven't found one yet and I've been trying for 40 years.
I wouldn't put "banana spice cake with peanut butter frosting" on the menu. I'd call it "The Elvis Cake."
Baking for a caterer is less iffy than baking for a restaurant: you don't have to worry about putting out a cake and nobody buying it, so you can list 100 different cakes on the menu. Aside from weddings, birthdays and graduations, most catering clients asked for cupcakes, cookies and bars--handheld sweets.
My experience with cakes that go over big at diners, cafes and truckstops, in order of sales:
Chocolate cake, two layers split and filled with ganache, with chocolate whipped cream frosting
Lemon cake, lemon filling (not lemon curd), lemon buttercream
Coconut cake and seven-minute frosting covered with toasted coconut
Carrot cake with gingered cream cheese frosting
Orange cream cake with whipped cream frosting, not to be confused with the Dreamsicle Cake made with powdered whipped topping
Sour cream pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream, not to be confused with strawberry shortcake, which is made with biscuits
Vanilla cake with vanilla bean buttercream
betteirene at 1:11PM on 10/15/09
@ betteirene, I just add peanut butter to Italian meringue buttercream and it is so creamy and good... I serve mine in a chocolate roulade covered in ganache and make it a giant gourmet Devil Dog, though I'm sure it's good on other things as well.
meem21 at 1:44PM on 10/15/09
I agree that chocolate cake with suit the peanut butter frosting much better. And that carrot cake with cream cheese is a winner. For something seasonal, you can try a Pumpkin Pie Cake.
Chew on That at 1:58PM on 10/15/09
How about a flourless hazelnut chocolate cake with a ganache icing? A bit rich, but definitely elegant. (I'd line right up for a slice of that!)
An apple cake with a caramel icing?
Or substitute caramel frosting for the peanut butter icing for the banana cake.
moibec at 2:15PM on 10/15/09
If you're trying to sell me a cake, start by baking a rich Carrot Cake with a ton of cream cheese icing. Once I've polished that off I'll be back looking for a German Chocolate cake with rich coconut frosting and at my funeral, I want you to serve a luscious Red Velvet with fluffy white cream cheese frosting concealing its crimson beauty...
czken at 3:50PM on 10/15/09
You guys are amazing. Thanks for all the great suggestions. It looks like I better get to work and @betteirene Elvis Cake is a terrific name!
tapioca at 4:30PM on 10/15/09
Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (hold the nuts and raisins!) is definitely my favorite, but Ina Garten's iced lemon pound cake is a very, very close second! I've tasted (and made) more "innovative" cakes, but these classics always come out on top for me!
ChristineB at 4:40PM on 10/15/09
To me, a plain sponge cake baked in a sheet pan is the best and most practical. You can make countless desserts with it by frosting it with your choice of icings; make fruit shortcakes, dousing with spirits, slicing and filling with ice cream, custard or whipped cream, cutting into petit fours, etc., etc., etc.
SavtaShayna at 5:39PM on 10/15/09
I usually don't do sweets, but when I do carrot cake is probably my favorite. I like to use lemon and orange zest in the cream cheese frosting. One my family likes is a chocolate cake with a thin layer of raspberry jam and cheesecake in the middle and the whole thing encased in chocolate ganache.
dhorst at 6:08PM on 10/15/09
Chocolate and Coconut is my favorite combination. Not German chocolate cake, but a nice moist coconut cake frosted with chocolate.
Lime cake is also great.
Carioca at 7:48PM on 10/15/09
If you're doing these to order, why not offer a selection of cakes, a selection of frostings, and a selection of optional fillings. If they don't want the filling for the layer cake, you just use the frosting. Maybe some optional toppings, like shredded coconut or crushed nuts or even sprinkles. Maybe crushed candy canes for the holidays.
That way, you don't have someone looking at the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and saying, "Oh, I love that, but I'd rather have chocolate frosting." Some people might be brave enough to ask for a substitution, but others might skip the cake if they don't like any of the more interesting combinations.
Of course, you could have a few "named" cakes listed as your specialties, like the Evis cake, to give people some ideas of good combinations.
dbcurrie at 9:32PM on 10/15/09
Adding to my comment, you could probably make the pricing easier if all the cakes and frostings were a standard price, and then you added extra for specialty fillings, add-ins and toppings like fresh fruits, jams, nuts, etc. So maybe a standard carrot cake is the regular price, but nuts in the batter is extra. Ganache or cream cheese frosting could be more than a regular frosting if the ingredients cost more
And then you could price your special "named" cakes so that they're a dollar or so less than if someone specified that combination of add-ins..
dbcurrie at 9:53PM on 10/15/09
@meem21, thank you very much. I had always played around with peanut butter, butter, cream or milk and powdered sugar, sometimes with marshmallow fluff or Karo syrup. If I got a good texture, it would taste lousy, and if I got a good taste, it wouldn't spread. A neighbor is having a pumpkin carving block party next Saturday and I think I'll steal your Devil Dog idea and make a Buche de Halloween. Again, thanks.
betteirene at 12:26AM on 10/16/09
For my cousin's birthday this year, I made a special request: chocolate cake, chocolate ganache between the layers, frosted with peanut butter (not peanut butter frosting but actual Jif), with crispy fried bacon pieces pressed into the sides of the cake (like nuts). He freaking loved it, but he is obsessed with taking desserts further and further over that sweet/savory divide.
BangieB at 12:55AM on 10/16/09
@dbcurrie I like the idea of offering selections to mix and match. I had been concerned about that.
tapioca at 4:49AM on 10/16/09
In The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum, there is a chocolate cake with the top covered in raspberries. It is my go to show stopper dessert. Not just showy, but delicious. And fairly simple to make if you are used to making cakes from scratch. Most libraries have the book.
angelfood at 9:05AM on 10/16/09
Red velvet with cream cheese icing, for sure. Just thinking about it makes me want to make one.
angb78 at 11:13AM on 10/16/09
I'm really not a 'cake' or 'dessert' person.
(does this make me less of a SErious Eater???
But if I get a craving the odd time I would agree with a tiramisu.
I also like:
- angel food
- fruit tartes
pretty much anything on the 'lighter' side
hungrychristel at 3:03PM on 10/16/09
I agree on the basic cakes with choice of icing/frosting and/or filling. Everyone will eat a white cake with white frosting and a lovely chocloate mousse filling(I had a piece this morning!!). Since you are doing sheet cake style, I am guessing, you do the basic Texas sheet cake recipe and go from there. Chocolate, vanilla, devil's food, white and yellow cakes can be changed up by how you, the baker, want them to be. You also don't want the flavor of anything to be overpowering. Presentation is essential, but if it is just for a dinner party, well, it doesn't have to look like a wedding cake. Do what you are most comfortable with and go from there. And my favorite cake is a wonderfully rich butter pound cake with no frosting.
queenbleu at 3:18PM on 10/16/09
Hmmm. I do a LOT of baking, so my favorite really depnds on my mood, but of the cakes I make, I like these best:
Ispahan - Rich vanilla almond cake brushed with rose syrup and filled with lychee and raspberry fillings and frosting with pink vanilla swiss style buttercream and garnished with raspberries and rose petals
Ancho Chili: Devil's food chocolate cake with a hint of ancho chili. Brushed with Kahlua, filled with mexican vanilla custard and topped with white chocolate whipped cream and chocolate covered coffee beans.
Caramel Cardamom Pistachio: Caramel flavored cake with a hint of cardamom. Milk chocolate pistachio filling and vanilla caramel frosting.
Lemon Rosemary: Lemon and rosemary cake with a lemon curd creme filling and white chocolate buttercream.
Or anything with cream cheese frosting. I'm pretty sure I would eat bark if you put enough cream cheese frosting on it.
peachfish at 3:51PM on 10/16/09
Also, "Maida Heatter's Cakes" has awesome recipes, everything I've made out of there has been excellent. Her chocolate sour cream frosting is pure bliss.
peachfish at 3:53PM on 10/16/09
Ina's Chocolate cake with the coffee/choco icing. Decadent and delicious.
BananaMonkey at 4:05PM on 10/16/09
I second the "Maida Heatter's Cakes" recommendation, but I must admit to loving red velvet cake the very best (at the moment).
MMinNYC at 5:23PM on 10/16/09
There have been tons of votes for it already, but you can't go wrong with a moist red velvet with tons of thick cream cheese icing. I like to press finely chopped pecan bits or whole pecans into the side and topping with fresh strawberries. A nice dark chocolate ribbon would probably make a good topper too.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=53134639&l=01408fe67c&id=13925965
Red velvet is so unexpected and people always enjoy trying it!
ec_washington at 5:43PM on 10/16/09
What ISN'T my favourite cake?
catmistress at 8:17PM on 10/16/09
Black Forest Cake is my fave ~ I was just at a dinner party that ended with pear clafoutis & chocolate dipped madelines.
petitesoeur at 11:07PM on 10/16/09
Red Velvet and/or Hummingbird. Maybe it's really the cream cheese frosting.
GrantK at 2:36AM on 10/17/09
You could decorate the Elvis cake with candied bacon. Mmmm!
helenex at 6:44AM on 10/17/09
Banana spice cake with PB frosting would guarantee that I'd stick to my diet. That doesn't appeal to me at all. I like carrot cake and German chocolate cake, but my all-time favorite is angel food cake. Not cakes, but two other desserts that most people like are peach cobbler and apple crisp. If served with a big dollop of whipped cream or ice cream -- so much the better!
IndyGal at 3:29PM on 10/18/09
One other nice thing about a ganache is that it's so versatile. If you do one, buy extra chocolate and cream. Melt all the chocolate, but only use half for the frosting. Use half of the rest, mix with a small amount of cream and a few spoonfuls of your favourite spirit or liqueur, refrigerate, and then roll into balls and dip in cocoa and sugar, or else dip into tempered chocolate. The easiest truffles ever.
NotAmerican at 3:30AM on 10/19/09
ohmygoodness. the best, summery-est, moistest cake I've ever had is the Lemon Jell-O Cake. It sounds juvenile, but it just makes people happy. Period. With a fab cream cheese frosting.
*drool*
I gather from all of these posts that the best bet is Cream Cheese frosting. Just serve that. Don't even worry about the cakes. :)
krr07a at 7:31AM on 10/19/09
Flo Braker's Buttermilk Cake is possibly the best cake I've ever tasted. You can frost it with some lemon curd (she also has a very good recipe for that), but I usually eat it plain, because I find the cake itself is so delicious that a frosting of any sort would detract from its flavor. It also freezes beautifully, if you need to store it for a while.
secondtimearound at 8:50AM on 10/19/09
hate to admit it but it's Funfetti cake from the box...
Meewlee at 9:20AM on 10/19/09
I made an Elvis cake for my birthday a couple years ago: banana cake with mini chocolate chips and peanut butter frosting, from this blogpost: http://www.foodaphilia.com/2007/07/elvis-cake.html Wrote happy birthday to myself in chocolate - it was lovely. Italian meringue buttercream with peanut butter sounds even better than the confectioners sugar frosting in the recipe.
My favorite cake is a buttermilk cake with coconut frosting and passion fruit curd. Curd freezes, and by having lemon, raspberry, passion fruit, mango curd on hand with some Flo Braker yellow layers, you could turn out a bunch of different cakes.
One other thought would be a flourless almond meal cake, coated with a little ganache, for those who have problems with wheat.
2newfies at 9:54AM on 10/19/09
I have to say I'm surprised to not see Pineapple Upside Down Cake here. Made with crushed pineapple it is much easier to manage cutting for a large crowd. It can go with a nice Hawaiian Luau or a country ham dinner buffet. Easy enough to do a yellow cake (homemade or mix), brown sugar and butter with the pineapple and some maraschino cherries...
Rozenjoze at 9:56AM on 10/19/09
I love the Hawaiian cake with fresh cream topping
peggy1116 at 10:38AM on 10/19/09
I love a southern standby jam cake with caramel frosting or better than sex cake
sassy kathy at 10:50AM on 10/19/09
I just LOVE cakes! Nothing too fancy, a good German chocolate cake or my current favorite is lemon cake with lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream icing. Fresh coconut cake that my mom used to make is a sentimental fave as well.
Foodiejudy at 10:57AM on 10/19/09
Chocolate cake with mocha frosting. Yum!
cheezepleeze at 11:42AM on 10/19/09
Southern Living's Mile-High Hummingbird Cake is one of my most requested recipes. A true show-stopper.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1727431
cpulliam at 12:19PM on 10/19/09
Another vote for carrot cake!
etirv at 1:15PM on 10/19/09
The kind you can eat!
Pavlov at 3:52PM on 10/19/09
Rick dark dark dark chocolate cake with white chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries between the layers, chocolate ganache on top garnished with fresh raspberries and macadamia nuts. Gets RAVE reviews!
arwenb at 4:39PM on 10/19/09
My favorite cake is really a frosting made by Van de Kamps bakery in L.A. I believe the bakery closed about 15 years ago. My mom would buy their birthday cake at Ralph's market for my first 14 birthdays. I love their frosting. Does anyone have the recipe? I would love to make some. Please, if you are part of the Van de Kamp family, send the recipe so I can make it for my kids.I live in Oregon and Alaska now and cannot find a frosting like that!
Thanks
sallee at 8:57PM on 10/19/09
mexican radio in NY's tres leches cake.
annosaurusrex at 10:38AM on 10/20/09
My friend Wendy's carrot cake with ginger cream cheese frosting. Lots of pecans, carrots and fresh pineapple. They are never pretty but always tasty.
zannadoo at 1:59PM on 10/20/09
I really like Hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting- basically its banana and pineapple cake. Never met anyone who didnt like it, super easy cake and always gets love.
pamstar at 3:03PM on 10/20/09
Anything with caramel frosting is amazing. It's good on jam cakes, but I think it would be yummy on a plain yellow cake too.
minnarouge at 3:06PM on 10/20/09
The cake I find myself making most often is a Marcella Hazan almond cake.
Then there's the tres leches cake at Red Cat. When I told the server that I had to really make an effort not to pick the plate up and lick it, she told me that if I had, I wouldn't have been the first one to do so.
But the one that stirs my memories is my mother's banana cake from an old Settlement cookbook, not that she made it very well. It was always gummy on the bottom, but that was my favorite part, even more than the cream cheese frosting. It was the only thing she could make other than Rice Krispies treats. Fortunately, my grandmother lived with us and did all the cooking.
Lippy at 1:16PM on 10/21/09
I'm so over the heavy, in extremis cakes of my youth. You know, Death By Chocolate, or stuffed with everything you can get the batter to hold--like Hummingbird Cake.
For the past couple years, I've been making white and yellow cakes, with whipped cream or mousse filling and the splendid perfection of impeccably ripe fruit. light, light, light. Citrus curds are yummy, too, as fillings. I usually flavor the batter to complement the filling.
When only chocolate will do, Sachertorte. I've been making it since college, but apricot isn't very popular amongst my kith & kin, so I use raspberry or cherry. Once, as a special birthday request, I filled & iced the cake with Swiss meringue, then dripped a fudgy ganache down the sides. It was an imitation of Max's Cafe "Niagara Falls Cake". It was gone very quickly and well appreciated.
Currently, I'm trying to perfect crumb cake versions: vanilla ("plain"), spice and with fruit. First, mini muffins, then muffin tops.
If you're going to sell by the slice, I would buy pieces of fruit-filled quick breads like pumpkin, persimmon, apple-walnut.
I strongly suggest you develop a killer buttercream. A good cake becomes a repeat, must-have with a well balanced, rich but not overwhelming, frosting. And, of course, you can doctor the flavoring extracts to suit the final product.
My reason for this suggestion is that while I don't make buttecream except as a special request for a special occasion,--because I feel bad about its unhealthfulness--it doesn't stop me from buying a high-end cuppie for myself!
Good luck! a homey bakery is a great idea.
mauserati at 4:41AM on 10/22/09