high-bar baking

I’d loosely (correctly!) remembered the original quote as coming out of Mythbusters, but I’ll always reach first for the paraphrased version my ex would say. “It only counts as science if you write it down.”

Is it more likely that the misquote comes from me and not from him? Well, we don’t have to get into that. 

The original is more fun anyway. It’s Adam Savage: “The only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.” 

Wouldn’t want you to think I’m just out here screwing around. So here’s me writing it down. 

I love the Two Chicks Coffeecake from a couple posts ago. It never lets me down. I also get so many comments (because it’s true) about how the cake isn’t too sweet. My personal favourite feature, though, is the texture. It is so soft. It melts. And it’s so distinct, too. I don’t come across a lot of cakes that manage to be that tender. 

So here’s my science: it occurred to me that I could make the cake layer as a base for other frostings. The coffeecake cinnamon sugar top is just a convention. (Sidebar, I do so love discovering things that are merely conventions. It’s so much of the world, really). 

I made the cake as-is (ok, I decreased the baking powder from 3 tsp (!) to 2 for Salt Lake City, which is the new move) and then let it cool. It was interesting watching it bake up, because I’d never seen the top of the cake before. Very naked. Quite strange. 

Then I frosted it with some old (very purple!) Ermine frosting from the dragon’s horde that is my freezer. 

Now, the bad science was, I was storing the cake in the fridge and cut a slice without letting it come to room temperature. There, I’m human, now you know. So it wasn’t the blissfully tender experience I was used to. More tests are required.

But I wasn’t unhappy with this development, and it got good reviews from my coworkers. The note that I have is that the original cake doesn’t call for any vanilla. And frankly, it doesn’t need it. That’s coming from one of the biggest vanilla fanatics in the world. It’s perfect and simple and cinnamon sugar-y. But, when the cake layer has to stand on its own, I’m going to add vanilla in next time. It needed a little something. 

Don’t we all?