So this year, the county fair "powers that be" decided to switch things up. They came up with the idea that all contestants entering the cake option have to make the same cake. They chose one of King Arthur's Cake of the Year winners.
They chose this one:
www.kingarthurbaking.com
Since the fair isn't until the end of September, I decided to bake a test version. Well, HALF a version because, let me tell you, this is NOT a cheap cake to make. The raspberries alone will cost between $10 and $15. Then there is cream cheese, butter, eggs, chocolate, Dutch cocoa, LOTS of powdered sugar and, of course, the $6 bag of KA flour, who sponsors this contest. After running the cost analysis (result: it's EXPENSIVE!) I supplied the extension field office running this contest with my data and the opinion that they may not get many entries. They reluctantly agreed that I was correct, but had already posted the contest criteria on the website and fair publications. See...this isn't a $10,000 or $25,000 winning contest. This is a $25 winner's purse, unless you have the best entry out of all the categories and then it's $25 and a KA gift certificate.
I made my test version and absolutely HATE the icing, which is just lots of powdered sugar and fat. I swear, once you've made real buttercream icing (French, Italian, Swiss) you simply can not go back to powdered sugar. It's too sweet...it's too cloying...it's too...too.
But I have to use it.
Here is the half version (one 8" cake split into two layers...final version will have 4 layers). I also hate the fresh raspberries...they look like mutant cone-heads.
They chose this one:
Chocolate Mousse Cake with Raspberries
Towering 4-layer chocolate cake, filled with chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries.
Since the fair isn't until the end of September, I decided to bake a test version. Well, HALF a version because, let me tell you, this is NOT a cheap cake to make. The raspberries alone will cost between $10 and $15. Then there is cream cheese, butter, eggs, chocolate, Dutch cocoa, LOTS of powdered sugar and, of course, the $6 bag of KA flour, who sponsors this contest. After running the cost analysis (result: it's EXPENSIVE!) I supplied the extension field office running this contest with my data and the opinion that they may not get many entries. They reluctantly agreed that I was correct, but had already posted the contest criteria on the website and fair publications. See...this isn't a $10,000 or $25,000 winning contest. This is a $25 winner's purse, unless you have the best entry out of all the categories and then it's $25 and a KA gift certificate.
I made my test version and absolutely HATE the icing, which is just lots of powdered sugar and fat. I swear, once you've made real buttercream icing (French, Italian, Swiss) you simply can not go back to powdered sugar. It's too sweet...it's too cloying...it's too...too.
But I have to use it.
Here is the half version (one 8" cake split into two layers...final version will have 4 layers). I also hate the fresh raspberries...they look like mutant cone-heads.