Kids Dish

When I was young and idealistic I swore I’d never fall into the consumerist, commercial trap of licensed character toys for my child. I still have not succumbed to the temptation, and though I’ve bought him a few Curious George books, all other licensed character items have come from others. I won’t buy them, but we borrow videos and books from the library feeding his licensed character addiction. Worse, I’ve actually suggested exactly which licensed character toys, namely Thomas the Tank Engine, to purchase for my little train-a-holic.

For his birthday I went to the next level. Rather than serving a regular birthday cake I borrowed a Thomas the Tank Engine cake pan from a friend. It was an arduous, painful process, but I colored two batches of frosting, and even made a practice cake in case I screwed up. I will never have a career in cake decorating, but considering my only tools were a small icing spatula, a butter knife, toothpicks, ziploc bags and my fingers, it didn’t come out too badly. The recipe, straight from the pages of Cooks Illustrated, was superb.

Yellow Layer Cake
from Cook’s Illustrated

* Move oven rack to the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350°.
* Grease two 9�? round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Dust pans with flour. (I was using one Thomas shaped pan so I did not line it with parchment fearing I’d lose the details necessary for proper frosting.
* Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 ½ cups sugar in a large bowl.
* In a separate bowl, mix together melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and egg yolks.
* Beat egg white in a stand mixer small bowl until foamy, about 30 seconds. Then slowly add the remaining ¼ cup sugar to the egg white while beating. Continue to beat until whites hold peaks, but mixture still looks moist.
* Add butter mixture to flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg white mixture, then add the remaining egg white mixture and gently fold in until fully incorporated.
* Divide batter between two pans, tapping filled pans gently on counter to dislodge air bubbles. (I just used the one pan. A sheet pan works too.)
* Bake 20-22 minutes or until done. (Using the oddly shaped pan this took a lot longer- maybe 34 minutes? If you don’t use a standard sized pan check often to avoid over- or under-cooking the cake)
* Cool 10 minutes before removing cakes from pan. Remove cakes from pan, and cool on a cooling rack for 1 ½ hours before frosting.

I just made a standard white frosting so it would dye well. Cooks Illustrated recommends serving this cake with chocolate frosting. Next time I will.