I don’t bake much, but a few weeks ago we ate out, and a desert by a different name reminded husband of this. I’ve made this recipe of and on for years, and sometimes it comes out perfectly, and other times, not as well.
One thing I notice about it at it’s best is the caramelized crust.
At it’s worse, I notice the temperature of the kitchen can make or break the creaming process, and getting the texture of the batter evenly distributed in the pan.
From Cooks illustrated
They had a nice picture depicting how to know when a stick of butter is right, but I can’t seem to find it within the editing window of time.
ETA here it is!
What I don’t understand is the role of starting with a cold oven.
If you start a cake in a cold oven, the crust won’t set as quickly as it would in a hot oven, so you should get more volume. I’ve also seen recipes for bread, bacon, salmon that call for a cold oven.
But it it’s a cake with a lot of beaten egg whites, then you probably want a hot oven.
Husband will probably have it with milk (we go to dinner in Napa and he always wishes there was milk on the menu.) I don’t plan to indulge, but if I do, it will likely be accompanied by the light of the moon.
