DarLynn @ Big Apple: So, it's July.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

So, it's July.

The month of endless birthdays one after another, many of them my favorite people in this world, including my dearest sister and boyfriend. Ahh....so what do we do? At first Cheryl and I planned one elaborate birthday surprise party after another....a glamorous night out clubbing at New York's famous meatpacking district or a sunny surprise picnic at Central Park completed with colorful balloons and a pinata? At the end, we decided to do a joint birthday celebration in conjunction with DMC's housewarming BBQ party (he moved 2 avenues away from his original Upper East Side address).

So, Cheryl and I decided to pour our love and affection into baking homemade birthday cakes. I chose to make Orangette's Sour Cream-Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache Glaze for DMC because of his love of chocolate cakes and Cheryl advocated for the infamous Rainbow Cake made popular by Martha Stewart. The colorful and happy interior of cake fitted Yenn's wacky personality completely but I was pretty weary about the meticulous process that would go into making this cake.

Banana/Choco Cake - Straightforward and classic, just like the guy himself.

Those who know Yenn personally would agree that this cake would be perfect for her.

So, we dedicated the entire Saturday morning to baking these two cakes. Since it was a messy process, we took very limited pics but here's what we have!

Cheryl painstakingly dividing the batter for the rainbow cake into multiple cups and mixing them colors in.

Okayla, to save the trouble we actually bought 2 packets of cake mix so didn't have to start from scratch. But it's still very time consuming when you only have one cake pan and have to wait for each colored layer to bake before waiting for it to cool before removing and then repeating the same process again 5 times. By the time the whole thing was over, I could almost feel my entire apartment was wilting from the heat of the oven.

Never mind. By this time, my chocolate/banana cake was completed and stored nice and cool in the fridge. While Cheryl busied herself with the rainbow layers, I got set on making the Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the rainbow cake.

Such a painstaking experience. The first batch was a failure because my five egg whites and sugar failed to form stiff peaks no matter how much I beat them. Tossed them out and started a new batch. The electric whisk I had became so hot that I had to whisk the icing by hand. That's me giggling from the pain. I felt like my arm was gonna fall off from the repeating vigorous movements but it turned out okay in the end. The whisking took about 20 minutes. But now I have 10 useless egg yolks in my fridge. Any ideas what should I do with them?

Well, two cakes finally completed and the big, fat challenge was to transport them from our home in New Jersey to the other side of Manhattan.

Hot/humid summer day+heavy cakes/bags+bus+train+walk+4-flight-walk-up-to-apartment = Torture

By the time we got to DMC's, the icing from the rainbow cake had melted from the heat and my chocolate cake was looking more like a messy mud cake. We even had to go to a nearby grocery store to buy whipped cream for last minute touch-ups. I guess it's pretty safe to say Cheryl and I will not do this again anytime in the near future. Other that, the night went very well!

DMC, master of the BBQ pit.

C and yours truly.

Sunway buddies, Jann and awesome roomie Cheryl. Don't you just love her combo of vintage bangs, red lips and leopard print bikini outfit?

Yenn: What do you think if we pour beer into this watermelon??
Me: Let's try!!

End verdict: Meh. Try watermelon with sake. Beats the traditional watermelon soju. Trust me.