thanks to betty crocker and pillsbury, there is no shortage of cakes in a box that anyone can make perfectly - the funfetti cake should be probably have a place in the smithsonian as a turning point in human ingenuity. however, there is also, on the other side of spectrum, the type of cake for which the recipe recommends you spend several days working out logistics, testing hypotheses and slaving in an extremely hot kitchen before putting all of the pieces carefully together just so to create something previously unwitnessed by the human senses. as the finishing touches are applied, women and children gasp, fanfare plays, grown men weep from the sheer beauty. the sky opens up and from the heavens descends: the princess cake.

am i being overly dramatic? in all seriousness, this cake was a pretty hefty undertaking. why did i take it on? the girl sent me a link about 2 years ago to the princess cake, saying that she wanted one. i checked it out, laughed it off, but bookmarked it for later. earlier this year, i found the bookmark, and a bit more confident in my baking skills, did a little googling for more info on this cake. it’s a traditional swedish dessert with a multiple layers and a giant sheet of homemade marzipan that is draped on the cake like fondant.

assembling the cake was not actually that difficult. the whipped cream, which covers the cake and provides a giant dome on which the marzipan lies, holds up surprisingly well. the most challenging aspect for me was the cake itself - it’s a genoise cake, meaning it does not use any type of leavening agent to rise. the volume of the cake is introduced while you make the batter by beating whole eggs into a frothy, aerated mixture. folding butter, vanilla and flour into the eggs proved to be tough. it took me several tries (and lots of eggs).

it really does pay to plan in advance of tackling a princess cake. i made the mistake of trying to make the marzipan at the same time as the pastry cream. i set the mixer up on the counter next to the range and literally used one hand to manipulate the almond paste while whisking boiling cream and eggs with the other. i laugh at danger!

i finally got all of the elements of this delicious monstrosity together and had the girl come over for dinner and dessert for the great (surprise) unveiling. she was very happy with the cake (and thankfully it tasted amazing). as i sliced a giant wedge for her, she asked what all of the layers were. she didn’t know? wasn’t she the one who asked me to lovingly devote several days to measuring, mixing, kneading, rolling and baking? “i just thought it was pretty!” she responded. to be fair, it was very pretty. we were both lucky it tasted so good too.

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while there’s no shortage of cupcake blogs in the blogosphere (i hate that word), i thought i would throw my cupcake hat in the cupcake ring and share my favorite (and really, the only cupcake i make). i’ve combined the graham cracker crust of a pie with the fluffy goodness of a cake and topped with coconut buttercream frosting.

i’m not a big fan of dainty cupcakes. you know the ones i’m talking about - small, moist looking mouthfuls of cake with a dollop of frosting on top. sure, they’re beautiful and they may taste incredible, but eating them, i can’t help feeling a little ripped off. for me, a cupcake should be a full cake, just condensed to a size you can safely carry around with you. it should take more than two bites to finish. and when you’re done, you should want more, but fear that a second one might overload your pleasure receptors and possibly send you into diabetic shock. my friends, these are cupcakes of which you can eat only one a day for fear of your life.

a word of advice: i would say that you should jump on baking these up immediately, but if you live in an area that is experiencing late spring/summer, you may have some issues frosting these bad boys. in washington dc, summer hits pretty quickly and unrelentingly, and my apartment hit about 92 F (AC in my building was broken) as i tried to assemble the cupcakes. it became a fairly tedious process of chilling the frosting, icing a few cupcakes and getting them into the fridge quickly. the frosting had to be chilled every five minutes or the temperature caused it to melt all over the place and make a huge delicious mess. with that out of the way, BAKE THESE IMMEDIATELY! after you taste them, i’ll leave it up to you whether you want to share with your friends or keep them your little abrosial secret.

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what makes a coffee cake a coffee cake? well, either it’s got coffee in it (this one doesn’t, but looking back, it would be a great idea. however i do have an upcoming recipe that contains coffee - prepare yourselves, it’s amazing), or, it’s just a cake that you eat with coffee, probably with breakfast or brunch. it’s usually spiced with cinnamon (check) and got a sort of streusel (check).

except this one is chock full of chocolate chips (A LOT of chocolate chips). the cake itself come out super light and fluffy and it couldn’t be simpler to make. this is a great cake to slice up into bite sized pieces for a brunch, or you could do what i do - get a giant glass of milk, a few forks and dig right into the pan.

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