Martha Reviews

Martha's Sky High Apple Cranberry Pie was a hit.  It was so yummy.  We went the Pate Brisee route vs. a pre-made pie crust and I think it was well worth the effort.  Over 2 sticks of butter in this simple crust-yes please.  It was buttery and wonderful.

I recommend serving it A la mode.

The next thing I made was Martha's 6 layer Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake.  Um.  It didn't turn out so spectacular.  It tasted good, but lord have mercy, it really and truly took me over 3 hours to prepare.  It was very involved.

The most fun part of this cake was making the caramel.  Did you know to make caramel you add lots of sugar to a saucepan, a little corn syrup, a little water and you just let it hang out in the pan over high heat for about 14 minutes?  You don't stir it or anything.  I was excited to see if it really worked and sure enough, it starts breaking down into an amber syrup.  After 14 minutes you remove it from the heat to add heavy cream, then keep cooking.

Until it reaches precisely 238 degrees.  Very fun.

One of my pastry chefs helpers dug into one two of the layers while I had my back turned.  I cried.  Really.  I was over 2 hours into the process and it was frustrating.  There was no time or ingredients left for a redo, so we went with it.  I'd like to say this detour in the recipe is why we aptly named my version "The Earthquake Cake", but I also had a hand in the Earthquakeness quality of the finished product.

You know that part of the recipe where it says cut off the top layer so everything will lay flat?  I just couldn't do it.  Wasted cake, are you kidding me?  Well.  Martha was right.  I should've listened.  That puppy split right down the middle.  You know what they say though, "When life hands you lemons stick candles in them."  

MARTHA

ME

MARTHA

ME