It can be argued that baking is an art. Certainly, for many it provides an immense pleasure. This book is dedicated to those who love to spend their days—or at least a couple of hours—in a kitchen, measuring, mixing, baking, filling, frosting, and, most of all, delighting in that astonishing transformation that takes place when ordinary ingredients like sugar, flour, butter, and eggs are magically transformed into a glorious dessert. Baking may be more exacting than ordinary cooking, but in some ways it’s more alchemical.
Cakes, especially, amuse us with their brilliant rise from batter to rich but light confections, with a delicate and delicious perfect crumb. And if a simple layer cake is one of the loveliest, most enticing desserts to set before a loved one or guest, how much more entertaining the drama of one that is three stories high.
Here is a collection of original triple-layer cakes dedicated to the proposition not so much that bigger is better as that you cannot have too much of a good thing. It also celebrates the drama and delight that a fabulous dessert triggers when presented at a dinner or party. And if an ordinary lushly frosted layer cake causes heads to turn, imagine the reaction to one of these gorgeous sky-high creations.
There’s just something so indulgent about three layers of moist, tender cake, given extra height by the silky, sweet frosting that both fills each layer and artfully crowns the top. Keep in mind that the third layer leaves room not only for more frosting, but also often for an extra flavor or filling.
More than any other baked dessert, a layer cake evokes warm memories in almost everyone. Perhaps that’s because so many of us grew up with a slice of rich chocolate cake accompanied by a glass of milk as a sweet reward. Or because it reminds us of those days when bakeries all across the country proudly displayed enticingly iced layer cakes, tempting both the youngest and the oldest customers alike. A gorgeous home-baked cake is a powerful reminder of childhood parties, weddings, anniversaries, and other family celebrations. More than any other confection you can name, people associate layer cakes with family, friends, and, yes, with love. For what birthday is ever complete without a cake?
Americans prefer their layer cakes tall. The introduction of baking soda in the 1840s, followed by baking powder soon after, had a huge impact on the height of cakes. While Europe is the epicenter for the low, sleek torte, these wondrous leavening agents inspired bakers on American shores to create cakes that rose higher and higher.
If the high, light layer cake is a distinctly American form of dessert, the traditions that surround it and the flavors that inform it come from all over the world. That’s why a collection like this is so much fun. If you enjoy baking as a hobby, you’ll find many of these recipes both interesting and satisfying to make.
Creating one of these dazzling skyscrapers of the cake world offers entertainment for the ardent, experienced baker and an accessible challenge to the average home cook. Fully dressed—that is, frosted, filled, and decorated—a triple-layer cake is the perfect showpiece to mark a special event. It’s not a dessert you can overlook. The mere sight of one guarantees a standing ovation at the end of the meal.
These statuesque confections possess extra height and triple the flavor of ordinary layer cakes. And they are dramatic. There is no way to present either the entire cake or a mile-high slice without eliciting wide grins and a chorus of applause. These are great party cakes that cannot go unnoticed.
Keep in mind, a triple-layer cake is not just a pumped-up version of a double-layer cake. You can’t simply up the amount of ingredients and divide the batter among three pans. Such a dessert is far more than three layers of cake. There is the important issue of balance—that is, the relation of height to diameter and cake to filling, frosting, and glaze. Depending upon the recipe and the occasion for which it is destined, and the number of people it is intended to serve, a layer cake might be as small as six inches or as large as ten inches or more in diameter. The height of each layer must be calculated accordingly, or the proportions will be off, and the cake will look ungainly when cut.
Three layers also means much more in the way of creative fillings. Many of these stunning cakes double the pleasure not only with classic additions such as nuts and spices, fruit preserves, marzipan, buttercream, and chocolate, but with contemporary flavors like chai, cappuccino, lime, mango, and ginger. The combinations can be endless and limited only by the imagination of the baker.
Sky High features both new flavor combinations and updated versions of popular classics. Scotch Whisky Cake (page 145), Marbled Lemon-Blueberry Butter Cake (page 109), Santa Fe Blue Cornmeal Cake with Caramel Cream (page 169), and Dulce de Leche Cake (page 154) will surely take their places next to such established favorites as our versions of Mile-High Devil’s Food Cake (page 53), Triple-Decker Boston Cream Pie (page 94), Neapolitan Rum Cake (page 161), and Sky-High Strawberry Shortcake (page 89).
Another advantage of triple-layer cakes is their generous size—perfect for entertaining, especially for holidays and special events. Halloween Sweet Potato Cake (page 178) offers a delightful coda to a casual party. Our gorgeous Strawberry Surprise-Package Cake (page 205), wrapped neatly in fondant, complete with ribbon and bow, is a present in itself, destined to be the star of any stylish table. We’ve got the ideal child’s Ice Cream Birthday Cake (page 183) and a romantically indulgent flourless Chocolate Valentine Sweetheart Cake for your beloved (page 175). And then there are the wedding cakes, so beautiful they may inspire you to tie the knot: Chocolate-Raspberry (page 187), for those who must have chocolate at every important event; Lavender-Rose (page 192), as sophisticated and gorgeous as any cake you’ve seen, designed as the grand centerpiece for a wedding celebration; and Tiramisu (page 201), a crowd-pleaser extraordinaire.
Some cakes are simply frosted, some contain a separate filling and frosting, and some go all the way with a filling, a frosting, and a glaze—not to mention ornamental decorations. Each cake in this book, with accompanying frosting, fillings, glazes, and decorations, has been individually designed to fit the flavor with the form. Aside from one or two challenging garnishes for the special-occasion cakes, simple piping is the most complicated technique required here. In addition to clear instructions and, we hope, enticing text, we’ve included separate sections on ingredients, equipment, and technique—all the necessary basics to help you produce the most glorious-looking and best-tasting cakes you’ll ever make.
It goes without saying that executing one of these beauties is surely more satisfying than making a cake from a box, and far less expensive than your local supermarket’s bakery-case offerings. And the look of bliss on the faces of friends and loved ones as they tuck in to a slice of any of these magnificent cakes will be ample reward. So why settle for two layers when you can have three—sky-high and heavenly tasting!
For home bakers, a layer cake is the ultimate indulgence, the first choice for bake sales and potlucks. And it is for those same bakers and dessert lovers everywhere—especially those who wish birthdays came more than once a year—that this collection of originally flavored, accessible, and simply but beautifully decorated three-layer cakes is dedicated.