Deuxième

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“Great cooking is not for the faint of heart.
You must be imaginative.  Strong hearted.
You must try things that may not work.
And you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from.
What I say is true: anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great.”

–Disney’s “Ratatouille

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Has it been this long, really?

How could it possibly have been this long?

Two years?

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Such a funny, dual-sided feeling, this one.
I have been writing this blog for my whole life, and, at the same time, have been writing for all of two days.
How can this be?

I have stumbled and stubbed toes, sliced fingers and scrubbed dishes; I have burned wrists and knuckles and cookies countless, have made nine thousand messes and used an entire herd of cows’ butter; I have dropped cakes and dropped things on cakes, have cried and sworn and studied and laughed on the kitchen floor.

I have planned meticulously and tasted liberally and danced in sheer delight; I have spat out failures and hoarded successes.

I have moved and survived, have mourned and celebrated, have resisted and adapted, have failed and succeeded.
I have given in and given up.
I have poured my heart and soul and dozens of cups of cream into La Pêche Fraîche.

I have closed my eyes and stuck the pan in the oven and then, terrified, let go.

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And yet here I am, still standing knee neck-deep in flour and sugar and butter.
Here I am, crying as I write this post, laughing at myself and at this silly, silly little space.

For I may have doubted this blog, doubted my writing, my work, my thoughts, myself,
but oh, oh, I have loved, loved, loved.

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188 posts prior to this one.
65 about chocolate, 55 about cake (32 about “cakes”), 50 for cookies.
43 posts in which I whine, 7 rants, 22 “stupid,” 13 diva moments.

25 brown butter, 25 holidays.
19 winter posts, but only 11 each of spring and autumn, and a sad 7 spring.

7 starry-eyed dreams, 7 cases of the blues.

39 love and 38 crazy.  Coincidence?  I think not.

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I always talk whine about this, but the growth and development on this blog is remarkable to me.
Look through the archives, and the most tangible improvement– photography– is undeniable.
I won’t lie, some of the photos on this blog are downright scary.
Out of focus, underexposed, unappetizing coloring, terrible angles, lack of styling… Good grief.

However, I remind myself as I cringe, the bad photography is only a testament to my willingness to learn, to try new things, to start from nothing and improve myself.
I am proud of this blog, damn it.
I am proud of how much I have learned, both on the pâtisserie and photographic sides.

I am beyond happy to celebrate the start of a third year.
I have no intentions of stopping or slowing down.
I don’t know where this blog is leading me.  I don’t know where my life is leading me.
I don’t even know where this post is leading me, for Pete’s sake.
Right now is a volatile and dynamic time in my life, and I’m doing my best to ride the waves, blind and fearful as I am.
Nevertheless, onwards I press, keys tapping and oven creaking.
I have faith that I shall better understand where I’m headed in the future.

I have faith that one day, I’ll figure my shit out.
And I have a strong suspicion that La Pêche Fraîche will be a part of it.

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It’s true that there have been times when I have been scared or reluctant to press “Publish.”
There have been posts so raw with emotion that I worry what my readership will think of me.

But you have stuck with me, through all the painful changes and exciting developments.
You’ve borne all my typos and rants and sappiness.
You’ve continued on with me during the slowed down times– I can see you clicking around, probably hungry for fresh material, tired of stale old crumbs.  I see you.  And I appreciate you.
You’ve read through too-long and too-short posts, through my geek-outs and freak-outs.

So sometimes, goes the moral of this story, you have to let go of the pan and let the oven work its magic.

Thank you, readers, for being my oven.
Thank you for demonstrating, with your clicks and searches and comments, that it is fine for me to press publish, to let go of the pan, to reveal insecurities and intimacies to an invisible audience.
It is for you that I write LPF, and it is thanks to you that it continues to grow.

Thank you for supporting this blog, replete with sugar and silliness.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.  From La Pêche Fraîche– from me.

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A birthday–blog birthdays included– demands cake.
Cupcakes, cookies, pavlovas, pudding and custards, ice creams, etc., will simply not do.
It must be cake.  I assure you, it must. be. cake.

Last blogiversary (May 2013) I made a brown-sugar/chocolate marble cake, filled with passionfruit curd and covered in fluffy, shiny clouds of vanilla bean Italian meringue buttercream.

The flavors were amazing– some of my absolute favorites– but I think the cake was left in the oven 3 minutes too long.
It wasn’t (ohhhh God, here it comes…) *moist* enough, in my opinion.

So though there have been many cakes in the last year, today’s cake demonstrates one way to keep your cakes from being dry and crumbly, in honor of last year’s semi-dry cake.

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This year’s is a 1 bowl cake.  (The frosting requires an additional pot, but whatever.)
This is a virtually fool-proof cake.

(ATTN: nerd alert. Skip to the recipe at the bottom if you don’t want to have to listen to me geek out.)

All is due to the FP FFP scheme that I have deployed here.
Fool Proof Fat Flour Paste.  Sound disgusting?  Well, yeah.

The idea here is that by creating a paste of the flour and fat, you coat essentially of the fat particles with starch particles.
Following this observation, then, it becomes clear that all of the starch particles are associated with fat particles, which prevents them from forming too much gluten when moistened.
Adding sugar in the form of cane sugar and milk sugar (lactose) further inhibits gluten formation.
Since all of the ingredients are thoroughly beaten together, the batter is completely homogeneous and the dry ingredients are very evenly distributed, preventing pockets of dryness or bitterness where flour or baking soda didn’t fully incorporate, and making over-beating cake batter a thing of the past.

Once moisture is added, some gluten forms, which maintains the structure of the cake.
Plenty of egg whites are added, since they contain albumen, a structural protein, that help enhance the gluten structure, ensuring the cake is sturdy, not crumbly.

Basically, by preventing too much gluten from forming, we ensure the cake is very tender and fine-crumbed, and since the fat particles have been evenly suspended in starch, as they melt, they create a very moist, soft cake.

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In sum total: this cake is a tall, four-layer beauty, with a base of malted milk cake, redolent of nutty malt and laced with a hint of salt, butter, and buttermilk.  The crumb is fine, tender, and soft.

The frosting is sweet and salty vanilla Italian meringue buttercream, glossy and fluffy, swaddling the cake in buttery goodness.

Finally, and most importantly, 39 ( and exactly 39) handfuls of sprinkles are thrown, haphazardly, at the cake.
The pattern that results is organic in shape but very much artificially dyed and flavored.

Sprinkles are just so happy and fun and bright and colorful and they, along with the pink frosting, make this cake so damn twee.
Once I pull out that 1 pound jar (no, I am not kidding), there’s no stopping me.
The soles of my shoes have been tracking sprinkles everywhere since I made this cake.
I may have gotten a tad bit out-of-control.  Just a tad, though.
{Send help.}

Joyeuse anniversaire, La Pêche Fraîche!

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“I did then what I knew how to do.
Now that I know better, I do better.”

–Maya Angelou 

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Malted Milk Birthday Cake
makes a 4 layer 6-inch cake or a 2 layer 8- or 9-inch cake

ingredients:
for the malted milk cake:
340 grams (2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon) all purpose flour
50 grams (5 tablespoons) cornstarch
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1 teaspoon kosher salt
113 grams (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
100 grams (8 tablespoons) shortening
350 grams (1 3/4 cups) granulated sugar
60 grams (heaping 1/2 cup) malted milk powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3 egg whites
120 grams (120mL, 1/2 cup) buttermilk, cold
240 grams (240mL, 1 cup) water, cold

for the vanilla Italian meringue buttercream:
6 egg whites
3 drops (1/8 teaspoon) white vinegar
350 grams (1 1/2 cups) sugar
big pinch kosher salt
90 grams (6 tablespoons) water
660 grams (6 sticks, 1 1/2 pounds, 3 cups) butter, diced
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
drop red gel food coloring, if desired

to assemble:
sprinkles!

directions:
Make the cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour 4 6-inch pans or 2 8- or 9-inch pans.
Place flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir to combine.
Add in the softened butter and shortening a few tablespoons at a time, mixing until a flour-fat paste forms– it will be thick like cookie dough.
Stir together the sugar and malted milk powder, then add to the flour paste, stirring slowly at first, then beating until fluffy.
Whisk together the vanilla, egg, egg whites, buttermilk, and water, then add to the batter, stirring very very slowly at first, then increasing speed to beat at high speed for 30 seconds.
Batter should be thick and creamy; if it is a tiny bit curdled, don’t worry about it.
Pour into prepared pans and bake for 35-38 minutes, until springy in the center and a tester comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely, then trim and level as needed.

Meanwhile, make the frosting: place egg whites and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Place sugar, salt, and water in a small pot.
Begin to heat the sugar mixture on high as you whip the whites on medium speed.
When the syrup reaches 245 degrees F, your egg whites should be at firm soft peaks (almost hard peaks, but not dry).
Drizzle the syrup into the meringue with the mixer running; whip on high until cooled to body temperature.
Beat in butter one or two tablespoons at a time.
Beat buttercream on high speed until thick, glossy, and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
If buttercream is too soft, refrigerate for 20 minutes.

To assemble the cake, stack layers with 1/2-2/3 cup frosting between them.
Use about 1 cup of frosting to crumb coat and level out the cake; freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Finish the cake with the remaining frosting as desired, and add sprinkles to your heart’s content!

44 comments

  1. Yummy! Love the haphazardness of the 39 handfuls of sprinkles. Great work!!

    1. Thanks so much Hannah! 🙂

  2. Happy Blog Birthday! The cake looks beautiful! I’m so happy to have stumbled upon your blog. I’ll be back for another slice soon 🙂

    1. Thanks so much Maryanne!! Very glad to have you 🙂

  3. i love sprinkles. what a fun cake!

  4. Happy blog-oversary!

    Isn’t blog great. It’s so much more than it appears to be on the surface. We put so much of ourselves into the work behind it. Thank you for sharing your lovely work and self 🙂

    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Joyti 😀

  5. Happy blogaversary! The cake looks absolutely gorgeous + delicious! Hope you have many more blogaversaries!!

    1. Thanks so much Lucy!

  6. I love that you quoted the late great voice of Maya Angelou. That was a very nice tribute to her recent passing.

    1. Thanks mama! A Phenomenal Woman, to be sure!

  7. […] So see you all later… I’m off to make some coffee, pull some beads and ogle the internet, and commence on the baking of this cake. […]

  8. […] cheeks | eclectic home decor | a flowy summer dress | bright cakes for celebrating | rosé | a catchall for odds and ends | pretty floral pattern | an effortless summer […]

  9. Can I not just compliment on how the cake taste, but the aesthetic vibrance and colors you bring to your photos. Like wow I am in love with all of your photo’s. Great work. 🙂 .

    1. Thank you so much Emily!

  10. […] Something very special is happening on B-P next week! Here is your first clue, and your second. […]

  11. […] of the posts of which I am proudest (oh, say, here, here, here, or here, if you want to hear me toot my horn tout my writing. Toot toot) came pouring out […]

  12. Oh, now I don’t know what cake to make for my 27th birthday! I was settled on a giant chocolate chip cookie layer cake, but your wonderfully twee concoction has put me in a quandary. (Great quotes, btw!)

    PS, a belated congratulations on your blog! I came for cake and walked in on a party!

    1. Thank you so much Jenna! A giant chocolate chip cookie layer cake is now on my to-make list! Love that idea! xx

  13. Hi! Love this cake, going to make it for my 30th birthday. 🙂 Do you know how long this cake will be OK to eat? Does it need to be refrigerated after making it?

    1. It will save at room temperature for 2 days, then I’d wrap it up in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge—it should save for 3 more days after that. Happy early birthday! Let me know how the cake goes! xx

  14. […] CAKE nr.1 ; CAKE nr.2 ; CAKE […]

  15. […] not make this one.  It is tricky.  Start with a non-cream cheese meringue buttercream first (like this beautiful pink one), or make a cream cheese frosting like Rosie’s or a cooked milk frosting […]

  16. […] [malted milk birthday cake] […]

  17. I was looking for a very special cake to bake for my bestie’s 40th. This is the cake! Perfect in every way. Thank you!

    1. I’m so glad Patti! Hugs! xoxo

  18. […] Source / Source / Source / Source Pinterest is a great way to find new recipes to try out. Whether you’re looking for a savoury snack, a healthy smoothie or a sweet treat, there’s something for everyone. I’ve loved the few recipes I’ve tried from Pinterest and I plan to try out a lot more, including the ones I’ve featured. I’ve pinned lots of delicious recipes on my food board. For drinks, see this board.   Source / Source / Source / Source I love spring fashion because of the bright colours, fun prints and feminine pieces. I often use Pinterest for fashion inspiration and have been pinning a lot of spring inspired outfits lately. Whenever I stumble across a stylish outfit, it gets pinned to my style board.  […]

  19. […] Kids will love this enormous and colourful cake! It’s very nice and looks delicious…can you resist it? You can find the receipt at La Pêche Fraîche […]

  20. This cake is delicious!! Such a moist cake and the butter/ malt flavor is amazing. I completely botched the icing. I’m not even sure how but it was a disaster and I felt so bad for disrespecting 8 eggs that way. I ended up making a basic butter cream and the whole thing worked out well. I’m a good cook but a baking novice so I think I did okay for my first try. Thanks for the inspiration to get the ball rolling with baking. I will be trying more of your recipes!! J x

    1. Jayne, I’m so happy to hear that! I love malt flavors – I don’t think you can go wrong with them! I’m sure the cake turned out marvelously. Thank you for the kind comment. x

  21. beautiful cake! et joyeux anniversaire 🙂
    Il a l’air vraiment bon !

  22. Hi Rachel!

    I’m in love with the idea of this cake and planning to bake it very soon — however, could you perhaps suggest a frosting alternate without the raw egg? I’ve tried and loved your meringue buttercreams in the past, but currently raw egg is off my menu so I’d love to hear what you have to suggest instead. Thank you!

    1. Hi Tehniyat! So sorry for my slow reply! You can use an American buttercream, like here: https://lapechefraiche.com/cinquieme/ . Or, you could use pasteurized egg whites, like here: https://www.sugarhero.com/the-easiest-swiss-meringue-buttercream/ . Hope that helps and take care! xoxoxo

  23. Six sticks of butter for the butter creme frosting is too much. The frosting was a disaster.

  24. Hi There,

    Excited to make this cake for my daughters birthday. I’m in the middle of it and somehow forgot the food coloring. What will the frosting look like without it?

    Thanks!

    1. It should be a pale yellow/white! I think it will be very pretty! Happy birthday to your daughter! XOXO!

  25. I only have one 6-inch pan. Will the batter deflate as it waits to be used (thinking of the egg whites)? Thanks!

    1. Hi Zanne! I think it will be fine. Best of luck! Hope you’re well! x

  26. Made this cake for a dear friends 30th birthday and OH MY GOD. Absolutely perfect cake. An amazing finish for a homemade in-and-out dinner First recipe I’ve ever made from your blog. I actually only stumbled on it as I was scouring the depths of my Pinterest boards. Can’t wait to try another soon!

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