Baking with love: Imperfectly perfect Mother’s Day cakes
In 25 years of teaching kids to cook you can imagine that I’ve accumulated dozens of cake pans. Flowers, teddy bears and any geometric shape you can think of, I have.
But the one shape I have in multiple quantities of all sizes is the heart-shaped pan. And the sweetest time of year at Tiny Kitchen is not Valentine’s or Christmas, but the week of Mother’s Day.
Many years back I started a Tiny Kitchen tradition that, in the days leading up to the second Sunday of May, every student would bake a heart-shaped cake for their moms. The flavor, size and decorations were of their own choosing.
This only became challenging during the lockdown online classes because I had to ask my students what flavor cake they wanted to make without the ever-present moms hearing about it! At one point I even had to tell these moms that I needed to discuss something privately with their kids, which got them very curious. My students never let on what we talked about and I’m surprised these moms didn’t figure it out!
As for me, if I’ve instilled in my students the habit of creating something for their moms that will surprise and delight them, then I’ve done my best job as a teacher.
So, regardless of whatever course the kids are enrolled in, heart-shaped cakes are de rigueur every second week of May. By far the most requested flavor is red velvet. This beautifully colored cake gets its tender crumb from the acid, usually vinegar or calamansi juice that is combined with the wet ingredients.
I can’t forget Rainier, who every year baked his favorite pineapple upside down cake for Mother’s Day during his Tiny Kitchen classes because he didn’t own a heart-shaped pan at home. He also annoyed his mom but letting her know his main reason for coming to class was to feed the rabbits, but that’s a story for another time.
One girl informed me that her mother was already in heaven so I had her bake her favorite strawberry cake for herself.
No heart-shaped pan? No problem.
If you have a square pan and a round pan of the same diameter, you bake the cake in both pans (doubling the recipe). Cut the round cake down the middle and stick the two halves unto two successive sides of the square cake.
Mother’s Day cakes are a sweet labor of love.
Mother’s Day cakes are a sweet labor of love.
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It is heartwarming to watch these cakes take form, decorated by each child with great care and detail. Being the product of young hands, they may look a bit imperfect and yet that is precisely their charm and what makes them the most perfect Mother’s Day gift of all.
As for me, if I’ve instilled in my students the habit of creating something for their moms that will surprise and delight them, then I’ve done my best job as a teacher.
Red Velvet Cake Recipe
• Mix together in a bowl:
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp. red food coloring
- • Blend in:
- 2 Tbsp. cocoa
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1 tsp. vinegar
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
Spoon into an 8- or 9-inch baking pan that has been greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° F for 30-40 minutes or until cake pulls away from the sides and springs back when lightly touched.
• For the cream cheese icing beat together:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
This is an old-fashioned cake and a Tiny Kitchen favorite with its combination of sweet butterscotch, tart pineapple and buttery cake.
• Mix in the bottom of an 8-inch baking pan:
- 2 Tbsp. melted butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
• Make a pattern on top of this using pineapple tidbits and
Maraschino cherries
• For the cake batter blend together:
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Add:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
Pour on top of the pineapple and cherry design and bake at 350° F for 25-35 minutes or till center of the cake is set. Run a knife around the rim of the cake and immediately invert onto a serving plate.
Strawberry Cake
• Combine in a bowl:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
• Add:
- 1-2 tsp. strawberry flavoring
- 1/4 cup milk
• Mix in well:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
Bake in a greased and parchment lined 8 or 9-inch pan at 350°F about 30 minutes or till sides pull away from the pan and center springs back when lightly touched. Frost with buttercream icing when cool.
For the icing, beat together:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 Tbsp. shortening or butter
- 1-2 Tbsp. water
- 1 tsp. strawberry flavoring