Brandon Eats

The Best Cake in the World

I've received a lot of requests for the recipe for the best cake in the world.  Although I provided a link, everyone said that, combined with my instructions, it was all just too confusing to bother with and could I please post a real recipe? So here it is:

The Best Cake in the World
("based"   on a recipe by Martha Stewart)

makes two round 9" layers

5 extra-large eggs, room temperature and separated
2 cups super-fine sugar
4  oz. (1 stick) of unsalted Plugra butter, softened
1/2 c. vegetable shortening, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon backing soda
1 cup part-skim or skim buttermilk, room temperature
2 cups (7 oz.) cake flour, sifted

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter and flour the cake pans and line with parchment paper.

Beat egg  whites until soft peaks form; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar until the egg whites resemble meringue.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the remaining sugar with the butter and shortening until pale yellow and fluffy.  Mix in vanilla.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl each time, until fully incorporated.

Stir the baking soda into the buttermilk.

Sift the salt and flour together three times.  Add to the butter mixture alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour (you will add the flour in fourths and the buttermilk in thirds). Scrape down sides each time. Fold in egg whites and divide batter between the two pans.

Bake 35 minutes.  Allow to cool in pan ten minutes, then invert on a parchment covered wire rack until completely cool.  Frost, serve, and keep your fingers away from your guests' mouths.

Grandpa Eddie's

To read about all of the glories of barbecue and my review in Style Weekly of Grandpa Eddie's   in Goochland, click here.

Cures No One (except for your Italian or Greek or French or Spanish Grandmother) Will Tell You About

Ah, the flu season--it's upon us again, despite the deceptively mild temperatures of this Virginia winter.  Although I've been laid low recently by a stomach bug (my daughter recovered in about eight hours; I haven't been able to eat anything except for toast for about three days), prior to my latest  elementary school-related illness, an upper respiratory, flu-like virus (the doctor's words, not mine) ran through the entire family and wiped the floor with us.  Well, it wasn't that bad really--we've all been vaccinated this season, but none of us were too happy about it. I turned, not to family lore (as a native Virginian--mostly--my grandparents are from, well, here, as were their grandparents, and so on), having no lore to speak of really, but to a variation of a recipe for garlic soup originally by Martha Rose Shulman.

Escabar

For my Style Weekly review of Escabar on Grove Avenue at Libbie, follow this link.

In Season?

For another reason--or maybe just a reminder--of why you should cook and eat according to the season, see the cogent Genevelyn Steele at GenevelynSteeleSwallows (hey, aren't you supposed to be drinking and writing about wine, Genevelyn?).

Temporary Leave of Absence

Although I've neglected this blog for the last few months, I'm officially putting all posts temporarily on  hiatus until further notice. Since the Harvey family tragedy New Year's Day (see the Richmond Times Dispatch and Style Weekly), it's difficult for me to see why yammering on about food is anything but trivial. It would be innappropriate for me to reflect upon my feelings or memories here, and besides, I have yet to come to terms with something I cannot even bear to think about.