Valentine’s Day calls for cake. And, as Michelle Weissman Heston of Heston Cakes said, “Ultimately all cake … [in my mind] should be chocolate.”
By day, Heston is a communications marketing executive for a luxury hotel brand; by night, a cake artist.
“It is my great passion to design, build and present cakes,” Heston told the Journal. “I love talking about cake. I like thinking about cake and I really like eating cake.”
Food has always been a common thread in her family, and she comes from some great home cooks.
“Breaking bread, sharing a meal – a well-prepared thought-out meal [that] doesn’t have to be fancy – gathering around a table is truly community,” she said. “And isn’t that at the essence of what our Jewishness is, sharing, being part of a larger group, talking about your day.”
Years ago, Heston decided she was going to get really good at baking.
“I love the way a home smells when there’s something baking; for me, that’s like the ultimate comfort,” Heston said. “And dessert’s a showstopper – dessert gets the spotlight.”
There is an art and craft to creating a cake.
“I think [with] a dessert, the expectation is it’s going to taste unbelievable and be delicious and have a great mouth feel,” Heston said. “But to add literally the frosting on the cake is to make it so exquisitely beautiful, that you are almost timid to break it, to cut into that cake.”
When Heston bakes, she loves for her desserts to tell a story, whether it’s subtle, an added detail or over the top.
“Maybe it’s a flavor, maybe it’s a filling, maybe it’s a decor item, but there’s always something that you can subtly weave into it,” she said.
And she loves to create hyper-realistic cakes.
For instance, Heston recently made a cake in the shape of a tennis shoe for a friend’s son, who loves expensive sneakers. She baked a cake that looked like a Big Mac – foam container and all – for a friend whose love of that fast food burger was a “dirty little secret” that was not such a secret. When a friend, who was dating a rabbi, went public with her relationship, she created a lox and bagel shaped cake to celebrate.
Her favorite chocolate cake recipe comes from Martha Stewart. Her super-easy ganache recipe that goes with it is below.
Any cake recipe is adaptable. For example, if you don’t want to use vegetable oil, use butter, refined coconut oil or a type of milk.
“Cake baking is science, so as long as you have your ratios, [you’re] good,” she said. “So if the recipe calls her buttermilk, you can use cream or half and half; you can substitute [a liqueur], as long as the amounts or the weights are the same.”
You can even adapt a box cake.
“If you’re making a kid’s cake and it’s a lemon [cake], use lemonade,” she said. “Add an extra egg; that will just give your cake more moisture and body and structure … and substitute the water with milk.”
The frosting and cake decorations – literally – add a whole other layer. This is something you can certainly have fun with when creating a cake for a special someone for Valentine’s Day.
“If you make a plain chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache, you can … glaze it over or you can do it more subtle with frosting, but add something dramatic to it; maybe sugar some red rose petals,” Heston said. “I’ve done a cake where I’ve taken those little candy hearts with the little messages and I’ve replicated that in fondant and put them all over the cake.”
Another option is hollow out some of the cake and fill it with those candy hearts, so when you cut into it, they spill out. Heston said this is super-easy to do. Bake three layers of a three-layer cake, then cut a muffin-size hole (about 1 ½ inches) in the bottom two layers. You basically have a donut hole in the middle of your cake.
Frost the bottom layer, place the middle on top of it, then fill the hole with candy hearts, before adding and frosting the top.
“I always like the decor to tell the story, so if there’s lemon in it, maybe I’ll put some lemon zest or some candied lemon peel,” Heston said. “If there’s Valentine’s Day hearts in there, maybe I’ll put one little tiny one on the bottom of the cake.”
When asked how you are supposed to eat these works of art, Heston said to just take a picture – you will always have that – and remember that cake is meant to be eaten.
“One of the things I love about cake is that, if you’re a painter or a photographer or you knit or any other fine art, the recipient feels almost obliged to hang it, to wear it, to display,” she said. “With cake, take a picture, enjoy it, relish it, be in the moment … and then [enjoy it]; it should taste as beautiful as it looks.”
For more cake inspiration, follow @hestoncakes on Instagram.
For the full conversation, listen to the podcast:
Michelle Heston’s go-to cake recipe is the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe from Martha Stewart.
Notes: The buttermilk can be substituted for half and half, cream, liquor or any combination. I always substitute the vegetable oil for melted butter. I also add a tablespoon of freeze-dried coffee granules to the hot water. Coffee truly amps up chocolate flavors.
Michelle Heston’s Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
Equal parts heavy whipping cream and good chopped chocolate. I prefer Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate. (You can also sub full-fat coconut milk).
Instructions
Place finely chopped chocolate into a heat-proof glass or metal bowl.
Heat cream on the stovetop until just simmering. If it’s boiling, the cream is too hot and could separate or even burn the chocolate. Turn off the heat and immediately pour the warm cream over the chocolate.
Let the 2 sit for a few minutes before stirring.
Stir slowly until smooth.
For a cake glaze, use the ganache right away.
If you wait about 2 hours and let it cool completely, the ganache can be scooped with a spoon, spread onto desserts, or piped with piping tips. At this point, it can also be whipped for frosting.
Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.
