Almost Swiss

If you have ever attended a wedding reception in New Orleans, chances are the cake came from Swiss Confectionary. Swiss makes, hands-down, the best white/almond wedding cake I have ever tasted. Their cakes are light and airy and give off a delicate scent of almonds. The texture is not super moist, not like a cake from a boxed mix, but it isn't dry either. It has a fine crumb and a soft mouth feel. It reminds me of white fluffy pillows and cool silk sheets. It is perfection, pure baked perfection. Wait …. I need to wipe the drool off my keyboard.

For years now I have tried to duplicate the super secret Swiss recipe, but I have never had any luck. Then just two short weeks ago the cake gods took pity on me and I stumbled across a recipe simply called "Wedding Cake". I baked it up right away and to my utter delight it was Almost Swiss. Wedding Cake Trial #1 was a little drier than Swiss and not nearly as almondy (sp) but the texture was right, the mouth feel was the same. I was so excited I ate the whole thing, except for the little piece I gave to my Chihuahua, Peanut. She liked it too.

The next weekend (Mother's Day) I baked up White Wedding Cake Trial #2. I substituted half & half for the whole milk, added a lot more almond extract and a few tablespoons of Karo syrup. I baked and decorated it for Mother's Day and I could hardly wait until after lunch to cut into it.

But alas, the cake gods were not pleased with me (probably because I made my Mom cook gumbo on Mother's Day see post below). The resulting cake was very UN-Swiss. It was dense, moist, and very rich. Don't get me wrong, it tasted good, very good according to by brother, but it was more like pound cake and less like white fluffy pillows. Sigh. I will try again next week.