Baking Cake Love

Cake Love is Warren Brown's Washington D.C. bakery. He had a show on the Food Network called Sugar Rush. He used to be a lawyer. I first remember him from Ace of Cakes. Then I saw his cookbook in my local bookstore almost a year ago, hot pink and yellow with his photo on the cover.

One recipe in I was hooked. I decided to go front to back through the entire book. There are between 30-40 cakes in this thing, that's a lot of muscavado. I have baked 6 of them.

He is picky. I spent hours oven drying mint for the Mojito Cake my husband requested. I searched all over Santa Cruz for vanilla powder. I went to Safeway for the superfine sugar when I could have just picked it up at Shopper's Corner. So far it has all been worth it. In general I'm not a fan of cake batter, but with these batters I can't keep my face out of the bowl. I used to decorate cakes as a teenager and I had no idea italian merengue buttercream existed. I can tell you, it tastes like clouds, the ones you sculpt into familar shapes lying on your back in the grass on those perfect weather days. Rum or orange flavored depending upon what you are frosting.

I have baked:
LCD Vanilla Pound Cake
Chocolate Pound Cake
Sassy
Espresso Pound Cake
Chocolate Pecan Bundt
Mojito Pound Cake

So far my favorite is Sassy. The heat from the chile wins me over. You don't taste it, you just feel it. It brings another sense to cake that is unexpected, in a good way. Plus the orange italian merengue buttercream can't be beat.