pink lady cake

For Valentine's Day, I made the highly questionable decision to make a celebratory dessert to accompany our dinner of lasagna. As it happens, lasagna is the favorite, most beloved dish of my SH, and he has lamented on more than one occasion about the decidedly small number of times that I have prepared it for him. In my defense, I was only made aware of this preference AFTER we were married, and ever since, I have made a delectable, no holds-barred, pure and fresh lasagna, courtesy of Tyler Florence, multiple times. Not a drop of bottled sauce or a crimped bit of no-boil lasagna noodles are a part of my finished product. It probably weighs five or six pounds, and more than half is inevitably carved into single-serving portions and thrust into my packed freezer. I digress. The whole point of this very belated post is my dessert of choice, the appropriately hued pink lady cake.

When I first discovered the recipe on my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, (where I am captivated DAILY with the clever witticisms of the incomparable Deb, mouthwatering recipes, and spectacular photography), I felt that I had to save it for a special occasion did not have the requisite baking skills to pull it off. I mean, THREE layers of cake? Its origin from a cookbook with the name Sky High? Every time I try my hand at baking, I find myself exceedingly frustrated. I inevitably forget important details like leaving butter out to reach room temperature or purchasing cake flour instead of plain old all-purpose. I'm a COOK, not a baker!

In the name of making something special for my SH, however, I decided that I must refuse to be intimidated by those layers and detailed instructions. I've always loved strawberry cake, after all. How terrible could it be? I have a Kitchen-Aide mixer, for heaven's sake! Thus, I pressed onward, even remembering to leave out the cream cheese for the frosting until it was a desirable softness.

Oh, how I wish my version of this beautiful, delicate dessert remotely resembled its inspiration! Instead, the result was slightly lopsided, and the decorative elements of the frosting only faintly pink. Also, you should know that I use the adjective "decorative" loosely. Very loosely. I'm embarrassed to even post a picture, except for one thing. The taste? DELICIOUS. Heavenly. Worth every agonizing hour that it took for me to finish.

I highly recommend perusing Smitten Kitchen-and not just for a truly beautiful pink lady cake.