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.
WOW! Thanks for posting this...I am obsessed with Swiss myself. Went to a wedding in NO the other night and just my luck! A Swiss wedding cake! I knew it was Swiss as soon as I smelled it. I ate my delicious slice slowly, then took another to bring home for further tasting...
ReplyDeleteI wonder what their secret is?
Ahh, Swiss. I had a piece yesterday too. As soon as they cut the cake I knew it was Swiss. Their cakes have such a sweet, moist almond smell. Heaven.
ReplyDeleteI just wish I knew their secret. I have tried and tried, but I just can’t figure it out. I thought about going to work at their bakery, but I’m sure even their bakers aren’t privy to the secret Swiss Wedding Cake recipe.
Thanks for reading, becklynn.
I wish I could taste the cake your mentioning! It makes my mouth water reading your comments about it. I've been on the search for the perfect white cake for about 20 years now.
ReplyDeleteI've got a recipe similar to this one and the secret is: using oil instead of shortening.
I'll be giving your recipe a try to see if it beats mine, asap. Will post results when I do.
There is nothing better than Swiss Cake! Nothing! Let me know how this recipe compares to yours. I'm still looking for the most "Swiss-like" white cake.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever figure out this recipe? I would love to know if you did! I am looking for a recipe for a wedding cake for my sister's wedding. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lorie,
ReplyDeleteNo I was never able to figure out the real Swiss cake recipe. Now I just buy one when I need a Swiss fix!!
But a tasty wedding cake you can try is the White Almond Sour Cream Cake from Cake Central web site. It can be found here:
www.cakecentral.com/recipe/7445/the-original-wasc-cake-recipe
Give it a try...
Carol
So I am not sure what this cake tastes like bc I have never been to NO but I have read something that might help. I am not sure what is missing on the cake but if it is the almond flavor I read that there is an almond emulsion made locally in NO that most local bakers used. It is made by a store called Koerners (I think). I read that it gives a big almond punch. I know this is an older post but it might fulfill your quest. I just can't use almond bc my daughter is allergic.
ReplyDeleteHi occheermommy,
DeleteThanks for the tip on the almond emulsion. I had never heard of Koerners before so I looked it up, and amazingly their warehouse is about 1/2 mile from where I work. Who knew!!! I will give their emulsion a try and see if it tastes like the “Swiss” cake.
I actually have had some recent success duplicating the Swiss flavor. I use a combination of almond, lemon, butter, and vanilla extract and it taste pretty close. I think the secret it the lemon. But I am going to try the Koerners emulsion just so I can compare.
Again, thanks for the info.
PS: my brother is deathly allergic to any kind of tree nut or seed, but he can eat stuff with almond extract. He said almond extract is actually made with bitter almond oil which comes from the pits of peaches and apricots. And Swiss cake is his favorite.
I’m sitting here eating a piece of my daughters wedding cake from Swiss. When we started ourquest for a wedding cake, it took a bit to gether there
ReplyDeleteSwiss is the best!
DeleteI absolutely love swiss. Whenever i come home for xmas I always order a cake and a few cake cups to take back to Maryland… there is no place like it
ReplyDelete