It’s a classic: Gooey butter cake is at the heart of the fourth and final Cooking, Carols & Cocktails video from the Rep. Who can say no?
Chris Phillips of Perfectly Pastry brings us along as she creates a sheet-pan-sized batch in the kitchen of Urban Eats. If the name Urban Eats doesn’t ring a bell, it’s new. The food hall, shared kitchen and incubator in Dutchtown where Perfectly Pastry shares space with several other spots businesses is at the corner of Meramec and Virginia, about a block from St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.
Video personality Pascal hosts this episode – one of his projects is a series called “The Art of Conversation” and he certainly creates an easy atmosphere talking to Chris Phillips about her background, how gooey butter cake came to be, and lending a hand as she puts together the GBC.
Yes, that’s quite a big cake, larger than the home version, but the recipe is similar to the easier versions of it, the ones that utilize cake mix, and the tips for making it are equally applicable. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to see things like how the large sheet pans, whose sides are only about an inch tall, become vehicles for the much taller gooey butter cake. (There’s a rectangular frame called an extender that’s put in place and greased like the rest of the pan – works just fine!) The recipe for the larger version is included, if you’re preparing to feed a mob – it includes 40 ounces of cake mix, which is a little less than three standard boxes of dry cake mix.
The interaction between Chris and Pascal is relaxed and comfortable, just a conversation – see what I just did there? - between a couple of professionals.
Music in this episode is from Fresh Heir, here operating as a 4-person group (the number varies, depending on the gig), with music that pulls together jazz, funk, soul and pop, along with, in this case a little traditional with a swell version of “Go Tell It on the Mountain”.
And in this final episode, we not only get a hotty toddy from mixologist Heather Sharpe, we get the back story on Big O Ginger Liqueur from the St. Louis couple who created it, and it’s pretty charming.
All four of these shows featuring local restaurants and their chef-proprietors are now available online, and will be until the end of January. Access is $15 for one show, $60 for all four. There are details at http://www.repstl.org/events/detail/cooking-carols-and-cocktails.
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