Cakey Cakey! Wai!

[cyrano]

Clever cookery friends!
I got to thinking this morning and wondered:
What would happen if I baked a chocolate cake, and then crumbled it and stirred it into the batter for a lemon cake and then baked that? Would it be sad and horrid? Would it just be a lemon cake with flecks of chocolate cake? Would the chocolate bits all sink to the bottom and make a two-layer cake?

Inquiring mind wants to know!
(You may consider this your IFIAYAQ! entry.)

Comments

[a-belletrist.livejournal.com]

Cake crumb usually doesn't have enough cohesion to withstand an additional exposure to overwhelming moisture, such as more standard cake batter. And with the addition of heat to further alter the molecules of the cake crumbs, you'd probably just have a hot mess; small flecks, some of which settle, but others that just bring down the consistency and loft of the secondary cake.

If you used a secondary batter that was more ... oh, say a meringue than a straight up batter, you might have a better chance at keeping the first bits intact, but they would definitely sink to the bottom then, and make the resulting cake flat flat flat.

If you want to combine chocolate and lemon cakes, there are ways to make both flavors and texture come out, such as a layer of each type of cake, baked individually. Or a marbling effect of batters, then the baking.

If you want to play with your cake, and the taste is secondary to exploration of "what if," go forth and experiment! I'd be interested to see what really happens. :)

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

My thought is "make some batters and find out."

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I didn't have time this morning to bake a few cakes.
Plus, that would undermine the entire IFIAYAQD! tradition.
(The spoon, in this icon, is for kitchening specifically and not to be considered a Spoon(tm).)

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I second both commenters suggestions, but if you're only trying to get the lemon and chocolate flavors in the same cake layer, I'd lean towards the marbling idea.

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

Umm, what they said. I would fear that the cake chunks would first turn into goo absorbing the lemon batter, then into who knows what when its baked. Marbling or layering is the way to go.

Also, you have to be careful when lemon plays with chocolate. They are both strong flavors that will fight with one another in the wrong proportions.

[satanya.livejournal.com]

I recommend the marbling. Speaking as a Pastry chef, the consistency will not come out as you want it to with crumb, or broken up pieces of cake. Also it will throw off your cooking time, and affect your cake "crumb" which is the spongy consistency of the cake.