anything but lavender creme brulee cake

Today Josh has declared me to be the world’s worst daughter. Can I blame him when the birthday cake made for my mother went straight into the garbage as I frantically called my husband to “Get something quick! Oh, and can it be pumpkin cheesecake?” an hour before our guests were to arrive for their birthday dinner and dessert. Perhaps he’s being a bit harsh or perhaps I maybe, might have, I won’t admit to anything, alright I did ignore my mother’s birthday cake wishes and well, I guess this is karma.

Months and months (and months) prior to her birthday my mother requested a honey orange cheesecake for her birthday and I down right ignored her. Cheesecakes are my Achilles heel. They scare me more than phyllo, pie crust, mayo infused coleslaws and chicken rib cages combined and I was not about to conquer this fear, because that would be absurd, right?

Somewhere in between clippings for pumpkin waffles and cheddar apple bundles I found a recipe for a cake involving lavender and creme brulee and cake. After getting over the initial shock of seventeen egg yolks and a quart of heavy cream I felt justified in my disregard knowing my mother likes lavender, loves creme brulee and well, neither is cheesecake so surely this is a good thing. Remember that thing about karma?

It came to bite me in the arse when I confusedly tried to justify that the recipe was correct in only needing the creme brulee to bake for twelve minutes, okay, well I can just adjust that part, and the cake only has a cup and a half of flour with all that liquid, but I’m sure it will work out just fine. What’s that? My cream is boiling over and burning itself to the stove? My cake is burnt but the center is more liquid-y than the batter I put in the pan? I guess it makes sense that the first comment for this recipe happened to be spam that read “wanting to get garbage or ripped off?”.

I could scream and say, “Mr. Pastry Chef at PS 7, who taught you to bake?” Or I could chalk it up to the fact that I should have made what my mother requested. A simple, honey orange cheesecake and probably conquered a recipe instead of being defeated.

Anything But Lavender Crème Brulee Cake
Adapted from PS 7’s pastry chef Leon Baker via The Washingtonian

I spent two days trying to increase that, decrease this, cut this in half, bake for, well, a lot longer, and nothing seems to work.If you are super adventurous and have eggs to spare, then by all means tackle this and tell me how you did it. I found that dividing the batter between two 9 x 9 pans prevented the batter from bubbling over and it needed a good 45 – 60 minutes for the center to bake. As for the creme brulee, you are on your own, it could not and would not set for me.

Makes one 9 x 9-inch cake

Pound Cake:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup honey
5 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Zest of a lemon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Put the butter, sugar and honey into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until everything is incorporated well, about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix the egg yolks, and whole eggs together and set aside. Sift the cake flour and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Fold in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of the egg mixture into the butter mixture. Fold in lemon zest. Spray and 9 x 9-inch pan with nonstick spray and line it with parchment paper. Spread the batter into the pan and bake for 12 minutes (see above note) or until the cake is set. Let cool and set aside.

Crème Brulee:
3/4 cup sugar plus 1/8 cup sugar, divided
17 egg yolks
1 quart heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cup dry lavender (available at Whole Foods)

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In a medium bowl, whisk the 3/4 cup sugar and the egg yolks together. In a saucepan set over medium heat, bring the remaining 1/8 cup sugar, lavender and the heavy cream to a boil. Pour the milk into a stainless bowl. When the cream comes to a boil, slowly (so as not to cook the eggs) pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into the egg mixture. Mix together, then pour the yolk mixture into the milk. Place plastic wrap directly on the crème brulee (this will prevent a film from forming on top) then place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour.

Spray a 9 x 9-inch pan with cooking spray and place parchment paper on bottom, making sure it’s flat and stuck to the bottom. Pour the crème brulee mixture into the pan, and bake 12 to 15 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready if it stays still when you shake the pan. When it’s done, place the pan into the freezer and freeze until solid.

Assembly:
1 cup sugar, plus more to taste
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, bring the sugar, water and vanilla to a boil and let cool, creating a vanilla syrup.

Brush cake with the vanilla syrup. Place frozen crème brulee on top of the cake, paper side up. Peel paper off the top. Cut the cake into the desired size while the crème brulee is still somewhat frozen. Sprinkle the top with sugar to taste, then caramelize with a brulee torch.