I spent this past weekend in Knoxville drinking wine on front porches (and huddled around fires) and soaking up all the fall weather that I could. The official purpose of my trip was to help out with a Side by Side wine dinner some friends were hosting. It was a private dinner perched atop an East Tennessee hillside, with sprawling views of the city, a picturesque backdrop for one of the most beautiful dinners I’ve ever been a part of. I spent the weekend hand rolling agnolottis, singing karaoke, having drinks with one of the most prolific food writers around, and drinking 1995 vouvray. It’s been a long time since I’ve had friends that felt more like family and every time I leave Knoxville I start thinking about my next excuse to return.

Recently, I’ve been trying to shift my mindset from apprehension to gratitude. There has been a lot of transition in leaving a full-time career to pursue a future in food writing and my day-to-day has taken some getting used to. Having to manage my time and discipline myself to put in the work, whether in the kitchen or at the computer, has challenged me in ways I didn’t anticipate. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been working all day and still don’t have anything to show for it and I often find myself holding a tight grasp to the “someday”, looking forward to the day when I see a paycheck, my name on a byline, or my own book in my hands. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that I have a goal to push towards on the days when I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m realizing that I also don’t want to miss the time I have right now. I’m trying to view my days as flexible instead of empty, grateful that I am able to take a weekend in Knoxville or that I have the time to make a birthday cake, like this one, for a sweet friend. These are the times I want to make the most of.

All of that being said, let’s be grateful for whatever season we’re in and let’s chat about Swiss meringue buttercream. I have never been a fan of traditional American buttercream, it’s a little too sweet for me and I don’t like its gritty texture. During culinary school, however, I discovered an entire world of buttercreams. Swiss buttercream is one of the easier buttercreams to execute and its silky smooth texture makes it one of the best for frosting layer cakes. You begin by heating egg whites and sugar over a double boiler, stirring frequently to make sure that you don’t end up with chunks of cooked egg whites because that’s gross. You’re going to heat the mixture to about 160 degrees F (feel free to use a candy thermometer if that floats your boat), but I find it’s easiest to just watch for the sugar to dissolved. The mixture should be warm to the touch and you should be able to rub a little between your fingers without feeling any sugar crystals. You will then transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and beat it until it is stiff and glossy and room temperature. This is really important because your meringue and your butter need to be the same temperature or you will either have a chunky mess or a liquid mess-either way, a mess. With the mixer on medium high speed, add the butter piece by piece. As soon as the butter is completely added, switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. At one point, your buttercream may look a little curdled and you may think it’s about to break. This is okay, as you continue to beat it, it will thicken up and start to take on that voluptuous buttercream shape. If it looks a little liquidy after you’ve added all the butter, pop the entire bowl into the fridge for a few minutes to cool it off and then try mixing it again. Because of all the butter in this recipe, when you add the melted chocolate, this buttercream tastes like a big glass of Ovaltine and takes on an ultra smooth consistency, perfect for cake swooping.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake 

Yield: 1-1/2 sheet pan or 3-8” cake layers or 6-5” cake layers

Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients: 

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted

2 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt 

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup olive oil 

1 T vanilla extract

2 eggs, room temperature 

1 cup brewed coffee, warm 

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large measuring cup, whisk together buttermilk, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until no lumps or flour streaks remain. Whisk in warm coffee until homogenized.

4. Divide and/or pour batter into your prepared cake pans. Baking times will vary depending on the size of your pans. For a 1/2 sheet pan, I baked the cake for 7 minutes, rotated it, and baked for another 10-12 minutes. For 8” cake pans, I would recommend baking for 12 minutes, rotating, and then another 12 minutes, adding more time if needed. You will know that the cake is done when the top springs back when touched and the edges begin to pull slightly away from the sides of the pan.

5. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Slice and layer as desired!

Chocolate Milk Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients: 

115 g egg whites

230 g sugar

345 g unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

Procedure: 

1. Create a double boiler, using a heat-proof bowl and a medium saucepan. Combine egg whites and sugar in the bowl and heat, stirring frequently, until the temperature reaches 160 degrees or mixture is hot to the touch. Make sure that all of the sugar crystals are dissolved.

2. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on medium-high speed until completely cool. You should have a stiff, glossy meringue that forms peaks when the whisk is lifted out of it.

3. With the mixer on medium-high speed, add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, making sure each piece is incorporated before adding the next. It is very important at this point that the butter and the meringue are the same temperature before adding the butter. As soon as you add the last of the butter, switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment and beat on high speed until mixture is smooth, light, and fluffy. It should look like a familiar buttercream at this point.

4. Melt chocolate over a double boiler and then cool to room temperature.

5. With the mixer on low speed, add melted chocolate, vanilla, and salt and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and use a rubber spatula to fold buttercream, ensuring that everything is evenly mixed.

*Note: Measuring egg whites without a kitchen scale is a pain in the butt, so you will notice that this recipe is written using metric measurements. If you’re interested in why I think all baking should be done using a kitchen scale, you can read more here. If you don’t have a kitchen scale and have your heart set on making this Swiss buttercream, there is a bit a of a workaround. An average large egg weighs about 50 grams and each white weighs about 30 grams. You can do a little mental math to divide 30 into 115 and then use the number of egg whites that will get you closest. Also, one stick of butter weights about 113 grams and a cup of sugar weighs about 200 grams. If you are feeling like a real arithmetic whiz, you can scale this recipe up or down fairly easily. Swiss Meringue buttercream always uses 1 part egg whites, 2 parts sugar, and 3 parts butter. Feel free to get a little wild!