Perfect White Cake

For Ellen's 3rd birthday, we had two birthday dinners. For a change of pace, we had both of these meals around lunchtime. All through high school, I worked at Maria's Hair Villa in Harrow, as a shampoo girl. Maria and her family are from the Azores, and I remember that on Sundays and holidays they would all get together at her mom's house and enjoy a big Sunday lunch. Europeans aren't the only ones that follow this ritual and it struck me lately, that eating in the middle of the day would have many advantages for my family, too.

Let me explain how it worked with having these celebrations at lunch. Firstly, the kids are at their best during the day. Once dinner comes, they are starting to wind down for bedtime, and are usually getting a little grumpy. Eating around 1pm worked really well for the kids, but this isn't the only plus. I worked on both meals during the morning and by the middle of the afternoon, we were finished eating, and I was sitting down with a glass of wine, not a care in the world. We were able to go sledding (all nine of us) in the bright winter sunshine on the first occasion, and last weekend, we sat around the table playing Candyland and Make-A-Match. No one was tired and there was nothing else to be done in the kitchen (except clean-up, my downfall I'm sorry to say!).

Another good reason for doing this was to avoid grazing on appetizers throughout the afternoon, thus taking away our appetite for what was supposed to be the main event, dinner. Then there is the advantage of not going to bed full and we were able to enjoy tea and coffee without the fear that sometime in the night we would be tossing and turning, because we had caffeine before bed. We all agreed that it was a very civilized way of doing a weekend meal. I realize that many of you probably eat like this, but in our family, it is a big shift in our thinking. I am so glad that we gave it a try and having Sunday lunches is definitely going to become a tradition at our house. I must mention that I don't think this will work as well for us in the summer months. Too busy outside and too hot to sit down for a meal before the sun starts to set.

Now, let me tell you about the food. For the first meal with my sister & her family, and my parents, we did a lamb in the crockpot. My mom put the lamb roast on around 6am but I think it would be great to put it on before you go to bed and just keep it on low. Then you could turn it off in the morning and just reheat it before lunch (or keep it in the crockpot on the keep warm setting). The lamb was simple, just garlic and seasonings. I made a rice pilaf from "Please To The Table", the Russian cookbook. It was delicious and very flavourful. It had orange zest, currants, slivered almonds, and tumeric for colour. For a vegetable, I made a huge Greek salad, without lettuce. Add warm pita bread and tzatziki and we had all the fixings for make-your-own gyros. The rice dish was a splash of colour and flavour and everyone loved it. For dessert, I made a vanilla chiffon cake (in a tube pan), with fresh lemon curd layered on the inside, and a raspberry/strawberry mousse on the outside. A chiffon cake is more substantial than an angel food cake, but still quite light.

The second meal was with my father-in-law, the same day that I had him try my butter. I marinated a sirloin steak in a mouth-watering marinade. Apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, cilantro, etc. We then grilled the steak over charcoal. I made a Yukon Gold potato and sweet potato gratin, without cream or cheese. I drizzled olive oil between the layers and put a heavy pan on top of the whole thing while it baked in the oven. It was tasty and not too heavy (not that I mind cream or cheese, as you know!). I found really great looking arugula and I added that to a mixed green salad with a well-seasoned vinaigrette. Delicious! For dessert, I made a wonderful white cake from Bonnie Stern's "Essentials of Home Cooking" cookbook. I thawed some leftover mousseline buttercream and whipped that with a drop or so of blue food colouring, as per Ellen's request. Very simple and very good.

Here is that simple cake recipe. There are no yolks in the cake, making a very white cake, great with any colour of icing. I have made it many times and it also makes wonderful cupcakes. Sometimes you just want a basic white cake, no frills. This is the perfect white cake.

Perfect White Cake

1 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 c. white sugar
6 egg whites
2 t. vanilla
3 c. all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk

1. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans. Butter bottom and sides and then line bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl or KitchenAid mixer, cream butter and sugar until very light. Beat in egg whites two at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. If you have been using a mixer, switch to a wooden spoon and blend flour into butter mixture alternately with milk in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Do not over mix.
4. Divide batter evenly between the pans. Bake for around 25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then invert onto racks to cool completely.
5. Ice cakes with your favourite icing (I promise I will put my favourite icing on the blog asap).
Makes one 9-inch two-layer cake.

*This recipe makes around 24 large cupcakes. I use the jumbo-sized muffin cups. Reduce the baking time to somewhere around 20 minutes, but check after 15 minutes to be safe.
*For Ellen's white cake with blue icing (see picture above), I used only one layer and I froze the other layer for later use.