A party without cake is just a meeting.

Julia Child

Also, I would argue, a birthday without a layer cake is not a celebration. Okay, I know some people would beg to differ–like those who prefer pies over cake…or favor individual cupcakes to cutting a slice…or simply don’t like sweets (honestly I can’t relate). I dare you to not crack a smile when presented with a lovely frosted layer cake alight with birthday candle(s).

Admittedly not all birthday cakes are created equal. We’ve all had ones that looked fabulous and tasted meh…and comically imperfect ones that tasted amazingly good. One of my favorite homemade birthday cakes–believe it or not I can count on both hands how many of those I’ve had in my life–was baked for me by my friend Zee, who schlepped it to work, on a crowded bus through morning rush hour no less. The chocolate frosted layer cake, though slightly lopsided, was absolutely delicious and all the more memorable because of the love and care Zee poured into it to make my birthday special.

Layer cakes demand attention. It’s not simply a matter of mixing up a batter, pouring it into a cake pan and popping it in the oven. There’s assembling and decorating involved. Anyone who has ever caught an episode of Nailed It! on Netflix can tell you, organization is EVERYTHING…not to mention attention to detail. So when someone puts in the effort to make you a layer cake, whether it’s within their skill set or not, good or bad, it’s an expression of love, a sign of affection.

The layer cake is my love language–both making and eating it. My fascination began early, from the very first time Mom brought home that vintage red and white Betty Crocker cookbook she found at a garage sale. I’d spend hours flipping through the cake section of the cookbook, reading descriptions of the various “classic” cakes, like Hummingbird (I always imagined decorating it with a ring of little blue candy birds) and Lady Baltimore.

I was still too young to be entrusted with cake baking, so I settled for watching Mom (a handful of times) whip up a layer cake and frosting from boxed mixes (back when they still sold frosting mixes instead of just the pre-made canned stuff)–not quite as exciting as I’d imagine it to be, aside from licking the beaters. One of the few cakes Mom ever made completely from scratch was the chiffon cake from the Betty Crocker cookbook, which she baked in a tube pan…and served plain. It never occurred to her to frost or glaze the chiffon, despite all the pictures of perfectly “finished” cakes.

Come to think of it, Mom never even frosted the butter cupcakes she’d bake for my school bake sales. choosing instead to add raisins to the batter–that didn’t go over well. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy eating decorated cakes, she did and still does. Mom just had no patience for making them herself.

My first layer cakes were from boxed mixes Mom bought on sale. I hated using canned frostings because not only were they tooth-achingly sweet, you had to use 2 cans to adequately fill and frost a 9″ layer cake…so I consulted Betty Crocker and tried making frostings from scratch.

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Chocolate frosting usually came out the best–the deep dark bitterness of cocoa served as a foil for the sweetness of powdered sugar. However, I had yet to discover the transformative magic of sea salt. Without the benefit of instructional videos to show me what I was doing wrong, I muddled through layering and frosting, producing a fair number of tasty but slightly lopsided cakes.

My cake game improved exponentially once I got into culinary school. Finally, I learned how to properly split a cake layer and level-off rounded tops–mind blown! A world of cake opened up to me–Opera, Dobos Torte, Dacquoise, Charlotte–expanding my catalog of recipes and techniques. Now we were getting fancy.

During my externship at a wholesale bakery I honed my mass production skills, cranking out dozens of sponge cakes, 20-gallon batches of chocolate mousse, filling and frosting dozens of mousse cakes. I became a machine–but in a good way. I learned how to be organized, how to work efficiently, and most importantly, I learned how to construct a cake, something that I really didn’t know how to do before. Once I acquired those skills, everything else was…pardon the pun…a piece of cake.

For me, a well-made layer cake, above all other forms of baking, is the purest form of creativity and self-expression. I’m not talking about making cakes shaped like a Louis Vuitton handbag or a pregnant mermaid (though I have made one of those before).

No, I’m talking about the kind of cake that’s layered with flavor and texture, a veritable dessert onto itself. That means a tender cake with a moist crumb, brushed with a flavorful syrup (I personally like booze in mine), a creamy smooth filling (mix-ins optional and very much encouraged), finished off with a rich, not too sweet glaze (i.e. bittersweet chocolate ganache) or frosting of some kind (i.e. Italian buttercream).

Depending on the flavor profile and cake components, I might zhoosh it up with chocolate curls, fresh berries, crushed toffee, toasted coconut chips, a drizzle of salted caramel, or any combination of garnishes. Think of it as plated dessert with all the components wrapped up in one cake.

A strong foundation starts with the cake. If you don’t have that you might as well make a bowl of pudding and call it a day. No really, if you don’t have a solid cake you’re gonna have nothing but a pile of filling.

Two foundation cakes in my arsenal are devil’s food and chiffon, which cover about 75% of all cake requests. The former satisfies the chocoholics and the latter is so versatile I can adapt it for almost any request–add some cinnamon, honey and graham cracker crumbs for s’mores cake, flavor the batter with coconut and ube extracts for coconut ube creme cake, mix in matcha powder for white chocolate matcha cake.

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Filling a cake can get tricky if you’re layering in multiple components–such as custard, fresh fruit, chopped nuts, etc. How much of each is enough or too much? I’ve had my own near disasters, being too ambitious and weighing down my cake layers with way too much “stuff,” which caused bulging and collapsing layers. A good rule of thumb is try to not make your filling more than 1/2 the thickness of your cake layers, especially if your cake has a light, tender crumb like chiffon. The heavier the filling the more cake layers will compress.

Depending on the thickness of my filling and what I’m using to frost the cake, I will often pipe a thick border of frosting all along the outside edge to create a dam that will keep my filling from oozing or poking out the sides as the weight of top layers compress the bottom layers–essential for looser components like jam or salted caramel.

If my filling is stable and firm, I might forgo the frosting ring, particularly if I’m using a light frosting like stabilized whipped cream, as in the case of my Guava Passion Creme Cake. As often as possible, I’ll layer my cakes inside a tall cake pan of the same diameter lined with a sturdy parchment collar, then refrigerate or freeze the assembled cake for extra stability.

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As far as party cakes go, the Guava Passion Creme surprisingly wins over even the most diehard chocaholics. It started out as a challenge to make my own version that could rival the beloved classic from the now defunct Aki’s Bakery.

I confess, before living in the South Bay, I had only heard about Aki’s famous guava cake. One of my pastry cooks worked there for several years and could probably make it in his sleep. It seemed the perfect dessert to make to compliment an upcoming Hawaiian-themed menu so I had him make a batch. Much to his dismay, we did not have the guava juice concentrate nor the whipped topping nor the “clear gel” he insisted he needed to make the cake, and bristled when I instructed him to use the real guava puree and heavy cream that we did have. “Well it won’t look or taste the same,” Armando complained, “the color won’t be as bright!”

After much grumbling Armando assembled the cakes, pumping up the pink with extra food coloring. The verdict? I had to agree with him, it did taste kind of blah, but I think that had to do with the fact that the filling/frosting was no more than some guava puree mixed with sweetened whipped cream. He barely soaked the chiffon sponge with syrup, so there was no additional guava flavor. Needless to say we shelved any further guava cake production.

Cut to a year later. I decided to resurrect the cake for what I had hoped to be regular monthly pop up bake sales. We were going for a retro vibe. What could be more retro and South Bay than guava cake? Aki had been closed for quite some time so I knew I had a market jonesing for that cake. This time I’d make it my way, with a punchy guava-passionfruit curd-based creme filling, pink chiffon cake soaked with guava syrup, and light pink guava whipped cream frosting. To make the guava glaze, I did order in some cold gel powder (basically a modified starch) to mix with sweetened guava puree and water. Instead of Aki’s standard short 2-layer cake, I went big–3 layers of cake, 2 layers of filling–just as one would expect to find at a bake sale. For the first bake sale I made 6 whole cakes and sold out. From then on, it was all guava passion, all the time.

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The fun of creating layer cakes is that you can inject personality in the each one, whether it’s for a special person or a whole slew of cake fans. All it takes is some imagination and passion for cake.

This recipe can be adapted to make either a very tall single 9″ cake (4 layers of cake, 3 layers of filling) or two 6″ layer cakes (3 layers of cake, 2 layers of filling). In either case, use 2″ deep cake pans and split each cake layer horizontally in half

Guava Passion Creme Cake

Chiffon:

• 1 1/2 c. + 2 T. cake flour
• 3/4 t. sea salt
• 2 3/8 t. baking powder
• 1 c. + 3 T. sugar, divided
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/3 c. oil
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 2-3 drops red food gel
• 1/8 t. cream of tartar

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1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Grease and line cake pan bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Set aside 1/3 c. sugar.
3. Sift cake flour, salt, baking powder, and remaining sugar into a medium bowl. Create a well in the center.
4. Whisk together yolks, water, oil, vanilla and red coloring to combine, then pour in the center of the well.
5. Whisk together wet and dry ingredients until smooth.
6. Whip whites and cream of tartar on medium high speed until very foamy, then gradually beat in reserved 1/3 c. sugar. Increase speed to high and continue whipping the whites to medium firm peaks.
7. Gently whisk 1/3 meringue into the batter to lighten the texture, then carefully fold in the remaining 2/3 (in 2 additions) until meringue is completely incorporated.
8. Divide batter evenly into cake pans. Immediately bake in preheated oven for 22-25 mins. or until cakes test done.
9. Immediately invert cake pans onto a lightly greased rack.
10. Once pans are cooled run the tip of a paring knife to loosen the cakes.

Guava Passion Creme Filling:

• 2/3 c. guava puree
• 1/3 c. passionfruit puree
• 1/2 c. sugar
• pinch of sea salt
• 8 oz. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 6 large eggs
• 1 T. unflavored gelatin powder (e.g. Knox)
• 1/4 c. cold water
• 1 1/2 c. cold heavy cream

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1. Place the purees, sugar, salt, and butter into a microwave safe bowl or container. Microwave on hight until butter is completely melted (about 3 mins.). Whisk until smooth.
2. With a stand blender or in a container with immersion blender, blend the eggs until smooth, then gradually blend in the hot puree/butter mixture.
3. Transfer everything back into a microwave safe bowl or container and microwave on high at 3 min. intervals, whisking to smooth out the lumps, until the curd is very thick and homogenous.
4. Meanwhile sprinkle the gelatin over cold water and let it soften while curd is cooking. Whisk the soften gelatin into the hot curd.
5. Press a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent skin from forming. Set the curd over an ice bath to chill down.
6. Once the curd is completely chilled, whip the cream to medium peaks and gradually fold into the curd to make the creme filling.

Guave Syrup:

• 1/4 c. guava puree
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. water

1. Heat water and sugar until hot, then whisk to dissolve sugar.
2. Whisk in puree and lemon jjuice. Cool to room temperature.

Guava Whipped Cream Frosting:

• 1/3 c. guava puree
• 2 t. unflavored gelatin powder
• 1 T. cold water
• 2 c. cold heavy cream
• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 1-2 drops red food gel (optional)

1. Sprinkle gelatin over water and let sit soften for 5 mins. Microwave on high for about 10 secs. to melt, then whisk into the guava puree.
2. Whip together cream and powdered sugar to medium peaks, then gradually beat in puree. Add coloring. Continue whipping until firm enough to frost. Don’t over whip

Pink Guava Glaze:

• 1 pack Dr. Oetker Clear Glaze (10g)
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. guava puree or nectar
• 1-2 drops red food gel

1. In sauce pan mix clear glaze powder with sugar. Stir in liquids.
2. Bring to a boil, let boil over medium heat for 1 min. Stir in color.
3. Cool for room temperature, then spoon glaze in the center of frosted cake.

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