Noah’s cakes get simpler every year
Seven years, seven birthday cakes. Between every cake, I gained 365 days of pastry knowledge. Some years when I didn’t work in kitchens, I didn’t make much progress. Other years, with countless decorative squiggles and thousands & thousands of quarts of mousses under my belt, I could see, through these cakes, the rise in my confidence level when baking at home.
But I don’t have good photos of most of them, unfortunately. It’s just because we get so caught up in the eating and celebrating, that no one takes a photo. But I don’t mind! I never remember to take a photo, so I shouldn’t expect anyone else to, and I’m glad no celebrations were interrupted for some glamour shots.
This year (2021): Bravetart’s Classic Yellow Layer Cake with Fudge Frosting - The simplest of them all. A classic flavor, not that special, not that unique, but not that easy to make well. Nowhere to hide. I’m happy that I made the fudge frosting correctly, because I made it twice before at work, and my impatience failed me. I decided to forgo a jam layer or additional garnishes other than slightly gaudy rainbow sprinkles, because why bother overcomplicating something so simple yet joyful?
Overall, I think I didn’t put enough frosting on, and Noah failed to serve the extra frosting I sent on the side. Oh well. I hope everyone liked it okay. I thought it tasted very nostalgic, only not so cloyingly sweet.
Last year (2020): Tiramisu cake - Noah’s go-to answer for “favorite dessert” is tiramisu. I don’t know if that’s true or if it’s just the thing that always pops into his head. Either way, I asked him what to make, and he said tiramisu! So I made it into a cake form. It was not a tiramisu cake, but quite literally tiramisu served in a cake form. I took my usual tiramisu sabayon recipe, added a little more gelatin to make it hold freeform (a calculation I’m very proud of!), and piped ladyfinger batter into rounds like a dacqoise. Assembled in my special extra-tall Bravetart cheesecake pan, and decorated simply with a janky homemade stencil, some ganache, and cocoa powder. I think this may have been my favorite of the seven, and I’m particularly proud of how I came up with this on my own and so smoothly pulled from various sources to make my vision come true. Yay.
2019: Chocolate cake, fudge frosting, oreo crumbs
Aside from tiramisu, the other answer Noah gives every year when I ask him what cake he wants is “chocolate.” So I made one of my favorite Bravetart recipes of all time. So chocolately, so dark, and very simple. Just cake, frosting, and oreo crumb.
The milk chocolate ganache overwhipped in like 2 seconds, and I spent forever trying to fix it, but with the oreo crumbs, no one noticed and it was still a hit.
Nowadays I’d fix that thing like it was no big deal. But I remember feeling so upset that I “ruined” the cake lol.
The only photo from the night I have, luckily, shows a tiny quarter of it next to all the trash and bottles.
2018: Red Velvet Cake - This is this year that this “simple” cake thing clicked for me. I hadn’t enjoyed my cake making experience the last couple of years - so tiring and chaotic, and not for a worthy result. That year, I didn’t even know what kind of cake to make and told my coworker at Union Loafer’s. He said, “uhhh, red velvet is good.” And I said, “SOLD!” That night, I looked up some recipes, bought the ingredients, and pulled together a cake in one night with little planning. And people freaking loved it. They loved this simple red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, even though I was kind of discouraged and uncertain about my skills.
[Two dark years of no photos whatsoever. Very sad.]
2017: Chocolate mousse cake - Another year where Noah requested a chocolate cake. I had been running a coffee shop that year after moving to St. Louis, so I decided to bring back some fond memories of making this cake day in and day out. I was not very experienced back then, and also very rusty from my time away. The cake did not adapt well to my home environment, and I did not adapt well to that fact. I felt pretty dejected about the result that year. Probably why there were no pictures.
2016: Carrot cake, orange marmalade, candied pecans, cream cheese frosting - Waaaay too complicated. Such a cringeworthy cake. That year, I remember getting home early from work after we took a trip to the chocolate academy and being super motivated to “put all that I’ve learned this year” into this cake. So I assembled this VERY sweet cake, with four components that took quite a bit of time to make. Pretty finnicky, lots of ingredients. It took me all night. That writing took me so many tries. Thinking back, I can’t believe it. All I needed was some confidence. The only thing I’m very proud of was how I successfully duped Noah into thinking I bought this cake because I got a box and cake board from Bennison’s; he was visiting home the few days before his birthday, so he thought I surprised him by buying a cake! I probably should have that year… but then I wouldn’t have this lovely way to measure how far I’ve come since this cake.
2015: Sponge cake, stabilized whipped cream, and berries - Saved the best for last! I was barely out of college, and this was pretty much a cake I made regularly in college. I probably thought I could make it better with my, by that point, four whopping months of culinary experience. Look at those uneven cuts kiwis and different sized strawberries! Yikes. However, still one of my favorite cake making memories, decorating alongside Teng, Noah’s best friend from college. The man lovingly and painstakingly carved all those dicks out of strawberries after freshly stepping off a plane from China. What a guy!
While writing this, each cake took me back to a distinct day, surrounded by whatever particular place we were in life that year. It’s a nice way to anchor my pastry journey, but also all these memories as life sort of flies by in a flurry.
Next year… a plain cake no frosting? If we keep with this simplifying trend.