Sometimes Even the Master Doesn't Get it Right

Martha Stewart's Mocha Majolica from the Feb-March 1992 issue 

of Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Let me preface this post by saying that I LOVE Martha Stewart.

I'll never forget the first, and only, time I met her. It was 1985 and her first book had come out about a year before. No one really knew who she was. I was working for a recherché little French housewares shop off Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia called Le Cook Nook. We carried her cookbook, Entertaining. 

A photo of yours truly in my retail housewares days.

As a promotion for the local restaurants, the city Chamber of Commerce was trying to get off the ground a week long event called the Cook and the Book that paired cookbook authors with restaurants around the city. Authors would go into local restaurant's kitchens then prepare a meal from their own recipes to a special audience that purchased tickets to the event. All the proceeds went to charity.

That year Martha was invited as a new author to participate in the Cook and the Book promotion. To kick off the event they had a big book signing extravaganza at a local department store's gourmet food hall. As a member of the "business" I went to the big book signing to see some of the celebrity authors who were on hand to sell their cookbooks.

As I walked around the hall I saw a number of famous faces swarmed by admiring fans. Right in the center of all this activity was this gorgeous, statuesque blond with long hair under a canopy standing all alone. I walked over to her and immediately recognized her from the photo on her cookbook's cover, Entertaining. She seemed bored and slightly annoyed that no one was speaking to her so I went over and made some small talk with her without mentioning that I had recognized her from the photo on the cover of her book. After a few moments one of the Cook and the Book organizers came over to her and grabbed her attention away from me so I just wandered off to see the other famous faces in the room.

That was my one brief interaction with the Grand Dame of entertaining and dining. I still chuckle when I think of her all alone, beautiful, statuesque and rather sad standing unknown in that crowded department store food hall. My how things have changed for her!

All these years later and Martha is now a household name with her own magazine, corporation and products. In the February-March 1992 issue of her magazine, Martha did a small piece on serving with majolica. She then created a food tribute to one of her favorite majolica patterns, Griffen, Smith & Company's Shell pattern. This cake, which she called Mocha Majolica was decorated in the Shell pattern. 

Etruscan Majolica Shell dessert stand

I have no idea what it tasted like but speaking as a former professional cake decorator it looked like a decorating train wreck if I ever saw one! I know it sounds cruel but I laughed because it was just so bad. The photos of the majolica cake stand was lovely. Unfortunately it had this hideous "majolica" cake covering the pretty Shell dessert stand. I will give her credit for at least trying to translate majolica glazes into icing which isn't an easy thing to do.

What will stay with me always though is that memory of her standing alone and unknown in that great crowded food hall.

Martha's recipes are usually quite dependable. If you want to give her Mocha Majolica recipe a try, here are the directions below. 

Ingredients

Genoise

• 2/3 c. sifted cake flour
• 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
• 5 T. unsalted butter
• 1 T. 
instant-espresso granules
• 1 tsp. hot water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar

Coffee Syrup

• 1/2 c. water
• 3 T. sugar
• 2 
T. instant-espresso ganules
• 1 T. Kahlua (optional)

Meringue Buttercream

• 1 ¼ c. sugar
• 1/3 c. water
• 5 lg. egg whites
• Pinch of cream of tanar
• 1 
lb. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Mocha Buttercream

• 8 
oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
• 1 
T. instant-espresso granules

Directions

Genoise

1. Heat oven to 350°. Butter three 6” round cake pans. Line bottoms with buttered parchment paper and dust with flour.
2. Sift together flour and cocoa twice. Melt butter. Dissolve espresso in hot water; add with vanilla to butter. Keep warm.
3. Break eggs into a large bowl and add sugar.Whisk over a pan of simmering water until warm. Remove from heat, and beat on high speed until tripled in bulk.
4. ln three additions, sift flour-cocoa mixture over egg mixture, folding quickly but gently. Scoop a cup of the batter into a small bowl fold in hot butter mixture, and then fold back into rest of batter. Divide evenly among pans and bake 20 to 25 min. Cakes will shrink away from sides of pan when done. Cool in pans 5 min. then tum out onto a rack to cool completely.

Coffee Syrup 

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat and bring to a boil. Set aside until ready to use.

Meringue Buttercream

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar and water to a boil. Continue to boil until syrup reaches soft-ball stage, 238° on a candy thermometer.
2. Meanwhile, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and beat on medium high until stiff but not dry.
3. With mixer running, pour syrup into egg whites in a steady stream and beat on high speed until steam is no longer visible, about 3 min. Add butter bit by bit. After all the buner has been added, beat for 3 to 5 min, until smooth and spreadable. If the icing looks curdled at any point during the beating process, don’t panic: keep beating and it will smooth out.

Mocha Buttercream

1. Melt and cool 8 oz. semi-or bittersweet chocolate. Stir into the beaten buttercream, along with 1 T. instant-espresso granules dissolved in 1 tsp. hot water.

Assembly

1. Trim off top of two layers and moisten cut sides with Coffee Syrup. 
2. Top one trimmed layer with Mocha Buttercream.
3. Add second trimmed layer; cover top with Mocha Buttercream. Add untrimmed layer. Chill until firm. 
4. Using a serrated knife, carve edges of top layer to make a dome shape. Frost cake with Meringue Buttercream. Chill again. 
5. Divide remaining Meringue Buttercream among five bowls. Tint four with rose, lavender, blue, and green paste food coloring, Leave fifth plain; fill sixth bowl with Mocha Buttercream. Cover cake with lavender frosting. Chill. 
6. With a toothpick, trace six large shell shapes around cake. Us­ing a #1 plain tip, pipe rows of plain, mocha, blue, and rose frosting inside shells. Pipe a thick scal­loped rose line on top of outlines. With a pastry brush, brush downward to blend Inside colors. Using a # 100 tip, pipe green lines between and over shells, overlapping on top of cake. Using a #70 leaf tip, pipe green and rose leaves on top. With plain tip, pipe green vines around bottom. Using a #67 tip, pipe on leaves. 

Bon Appétit!