My Very First Daring Bakers Challenge!

I was so excited for my first Daring Bakers Challenge! I couldn't wait to find out what the recipe would be. I had to wait almost a whole month before I could even find out. Finally the recipe was revealed, and I have to admit I got a little nervous. It would be Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake, from her cookbook, Baking from my home to yours. I'm not sure why, but cakes have been challenging for me lately. I don't know if my oven is off or just the baker trying to use the oven, but my baked goods haven't been rising properly and I was worried that it would happen again for my perfect party cake. Then, I decided just to go for it, and hopefully all would end well. I also decided what better time to try it out than Easter! I woke up early Sunday morning and started my first journey. I was crossing my fingers that my cake would rise higher than I'd ever seen a cake rise before. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. My poor cake didn't even rise an 1/8 of inch. I questioned whether I should try for a second time, but just did not have the time nor the energy. So I just decided not to cut the cakes in half and just have a simple layer cake instead of the 4 layer cake I had intended.

I have to say, this was a delicious cake. I decided to keep my first challenge simple and so I stuck with a strawberry preserve and strawberries inside the layer. I wished that I had just gone for it and tried to cut the layers in half, I'm sure it actually would have worked out fine, but I was so scared that I would mess it up, I was trying to be a little too safe. But an extra two layers of strawberries and it would have been the best cake I had ever had! I absolutely loved the buttercream frosting. It was so different than any buttercreams I have tasted. Using egg whites instead of powdered sugar made it so velvety and smooth. It wasn't too sweet, it almost tasted like a sweet cream. Mmmm....My pictures didn't really turn out as I intended either, but hopefully for my next challenge I will feel more confident and I know everything will turn out perfect! I'm sooo excited to see what my next challenge will be! If you want to see a million more versions of this lovely cake, check them out here. And for the recipe, go here.