Booklish: Gone With the Wind Tara Cake

gone-with-the-wind-margaret-mitchell-cake-tara-full

Booklish Recipe #04: Gone With the Wind Tara Cake

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Foundation Cake- Wartime & Tara

Ingredients

  • 2 cups unsalted butter
  • 4 cups white sugar
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups cacoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp mace
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs loose gunpowder tea leaves
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne powder
  • 10 drops red food coloring

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 360F.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla extract.
  3. Steep gunpowder leaves in a cup of hot water. Steep extra long so water is thoroughly flavored and dark.
  4. Stir in milk and tea without the leaves.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients– flour, cacoa powder, baking soda, mace, black pepper, salt, and cayenne powder.
  6. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture a little at a time– make sure the batter is even and has no lumps.
  7. Drop in food coloring and stir until even.
  8. Pour mixture into *2* 10″ cake pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cake batter does not jiggle inside pan when prodded.
  9. Once finished, let cool for 10 minutes in the pans before removing the cakes onto cooling racks.

Middle Cake – Reconstruction

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 70 drops red food coloring

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 360F.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla extract. Next, stir in milk.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients– flour, baking soda, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
  4. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture a little at a time– make sure the batter is even and has no lumps.
  5. Drop in food coloring (more or less as needed to make deep red) and stir until even.
  6. Pour mixture into *2* 8″ cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake batter does not jiggle inside pan when prodded.
  7. Once finished, let cool for 10 minutes in the pans before removing the cakes onto cooling racks.

Top Cake – Finery

Ingredients

  • 1 cupsunsalted butter
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 8 egg whites
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 50 drops red food coloring

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 360F.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and milk.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients– flour, baking soda, and salt.
  4. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture a little at a time– make sure the batter is even and has no lumps.
  5. Drop in food coloring (more or less as needed to make deep red) and stir until even.
  6. Pour mixture into *2* 6″ cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake batter does not jiggle inside pan when prodded.
  7. Once finished, let cool for 10 minutes in the pans before removing the cakes onto cooling racks.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups butter
  • 18 3/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 5 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cup milk
  • 50 drops red food coloring

Directions

  1. Put butter in a large bowl and begin creaming with electric mixer.
  2. Alternate a tablespoon of milk with a cup of confectioner’s sugar and mix into butter mixture.
  3. Mix in vanilla extract, followed by food coloring. Use as much food coloring as needed to turn icing deep red.
  4. Store in refrigerator until needed.

Pomegranate Frosting

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 3 3/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 6 tbs pomegranate juice
  • 10 drops red food coloring

Directions

  1. Put butter in a large bowl and begin creaming with electric mixer.
  2. Alternate a tablespoon of pomegranate juice with a cup of confectioner’s sugar and mix into butter mixture.
  3. Mix in vanilla extract, followed by food coloring. Use as much food coloring as needed to turn icing deep red.
  4. Store in refrigerator until needed.

Other Ingredients

  • 10 oreos
  • 4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate

Construction

  1. Once all layers of cake are cooled to room temperature, begin building cake from bottom up. Stack cakes from largest to smallest, alternating cake and buttercream frosting. Ice the top of each subsequent cake layer fully before mounting the next.
  2. One all cake layers are assembled, use the remaining buttercream frosting to cover the sides.
  3. Put oreos into a bowl and crumble until desired size is reached. Pat handfuls of oreo crumble onto the sides of the bottom layer until covered.
  4. Transfer pomegranate frosting to a piper and decorate as desired.
  5. Melt baking chocolate into a non-stick pan over low heat. Stir constantly until melted and liquid.
  6. Drip chocolate into desired formation onto a greased cookie sheet. Freeze until chocolate has hardened.
  7. Carefully remove chocolate from cookie sheet with a sharp knife and insert into the top of cake.
  8. Enjoy! Store in a cool place, and share with *many* people.

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