Fresh Fruit Cream Cake

 

Among my relatives the highest accolade I could receive for my baking is, "It's good - not too sweet."  Is that an Asian thing?  Maybe.  Possibly.  Definitely.  When I saw the recipe for a Fresh Fruit Cream Cake from Cook's Illustrated's May/Jun 2024 issue I knew it was the exact dessert that my family  would like.   I decided to make it for a get together jointly celebrating my Dad's birthday and Mother's Day.

The cake itself is similar to a castella, the light and sponge-y cakes you would find in a Chinese bakery.  There is no baking powder or baking soda in the recipe; egg whites are the only leavener used to make the cake rise.  In the past I hadn't had the best luck with these types of cakes if they weren't baked in a tube pan.  When I used a regular pan the cake inevitably ended up sinking during the cooling process.  Happy to report no such issues with this recipe.   The cake baked up nice and tall and didn't cave in when it cooled.

For the frosting heavy cream is whipped with instant vanilla pudding and sugar.  The pudding mix helps to stabilize the whipped cream so that it can stay in the fridge longer.   As for fruits I went for the classic berry combination of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.  

I'm looking forward to serving this to my family to get their review - let's hope it's a thumbs up!

 

 

 

Maritozzi

 

I could literally kick myself for never having tasted Maritozzi, a traditional Italian breakfast treat consisting of a brioche bun filled with freshly whipped cream, whenever I visited Italy.  This enticing Instagram post from Bread by Elise motivated me to correct that grievous error. 

 

What especially drew me to Elise's bun recipe was the use of tangzhong.  This flour and milk roux added into the dough ensures that the bread maintains a soft interior long after baking.   As I was making the dough I could tell straightaway that the buns were going to be fantastic because the dough's texture was so elastic, light and easy to work with.    

Who doesn't love freshly whipped cream and maritozzis are filled to the brim with it, along with a layer of homemade tart raspberry jam.  A marriage made in breakfast heaven.  The only drawback, if you consider it one, is that the maritozzi tastes best when consumed à la minute, i.e., right away.    Next time I think I'll freeze some of the unfilled, baked buns and then reheat and fill them at a later time.  Now that I'm confident in my maritozzi-making skills I can save myself the price of a plane ticket to Italy, although I'd happily still go for pasta and shopping!

Coconut Pineapple Cake

 

The Duncan Hines Dolly Parton coconut cake mix has become a recent favorite of mine and I'm finding even more ways to incorporate it into my baking.  I wanted to thank a friend for a recent act of kindness and I thought the cake would be a nice and delicious gift.   This time I took a tropical turn and made a Coconut Pineapple Cake.  Who doesn't love the combination of coconut and pineapple?  [You have the right to remain silent if you don't!]

 

 

The first time I made Dolly's coconut cake I filled and frosting it with cream cheese ermine frosting.  While that cake was delicious, to reduce the sweetness on this cake and let the pineapple flavor really come through, I made a small batch of vanilla pastry cream for the filling.  I then added homemade pineapple compote which was spread between the cake layers.  On top of the pastry cream layer I also applied another thin layer of the pineapple compote.  You can never have enough pineapple in my book.

Lightly sweetened mascarpone whipped cream enveloped the cake which was then finished with a flurry of dessicated coconut.  As I was gifting the cake on Easter Sunday I added a few holiday themed sprinkles.  I can attest that this coconut pineapple cake not only looks good, it tastes amazing!

Cream Tart

 

Often times people will ask me where I get baking inspiration from and my usual answer, "anywhere and everywhere," probably sounds a bit disappointing, but it's true!  I can't pinpoint anything in particular that inspires me.  Sometimes it's tasting an amazing pastry and wanting to replicate it at home or a friend texting me to to say they've seen a particular dessert and asking if I could make it.  

 

 

In the case of the Cream Tart, it was seeing an Instagram post that was the inspiration.  If you're on social media I'm sure you've seen these cakes before, normally shaped into numbers or letters.   Apparently cream tarts have been popular since 2018, but to be honest I never really paid much attention to them.  After seeing that Instagram post I did some research and discovered that cream cakes weren't so difficult to make. 

 

 

When deconstructed, the tart was comprised of shortbread and some type of filling, then decorated with fresh fruit, meringues, macarons, flowers* and anything else your heart desired.   Once all the components were compiled the actual cake assembly was quite simple.  But you would never think that when you look at the finished cake...so visually stunning and very Instagram worthy!  [*Make sure the flowers you use are safe to put on food! For the "S" cake I mistakenly put a few sprigs on baby's breath but DO NOT DO THIS!  Baby's breath are toxic when consumed. They were immediately removed after taking the photo.]

 

 

I could easily see these cakes being the star dessert for a birthday, baby shower, bridal shower or any kind of party.  Since so many of my friends have birthdays in September (including my own!) they just might be getting a cream tart to celebrate.  

 

Strawberry Shortcake

 

Recently Kitchn did a taste test of four Strawberry Shortcake recipes and the winner came from culinary icon James Beard.  The recipe was actually his mother's and uses finely crumbled hard-boiled egg yolks to give the shortcake a rich and tender crumb.  I had a few baskets of freshly picked berries from my hometown in the San Joaquin Valley that were itching to be consumed.  No better time than the present to see if these shortcakes lived up to the hype.  

 

 

While the recipe calls for making the dough by hand I always find it's easiest to let a food processor do the hard work.  In my opinion the less you handle biscuit or pie dough the better.   As I was making the shortcakes I was reminded of British style scones.  The ingredients and techniques were actually quite similar, except the shortcakes used heavy cream instead of whole milk as the liquid.

One thing I could have done without was the hour long chill in the fridge once the dough rounds were cut.  I'm an impatient baker and would have preferred putting them in the oven straightaway.  [Maybe I'll try that next time.]  After fifteen minutes in a very hot oven the shortcakes came out beautifully golden brown.  Once cooled I split one open to have a taste.  I have to admit they did live up to their reputation.   The shortcake was rich in flavor and tender in texture.  I generous spoonful of lightly sweetened strawberry slices and a dollop of whipped cream was all that was needed for a delightful summertime dessert.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tea Cake

 

Strawberry season is finally here and I am loving it!  There's a farm stand up the road from where my parents live in the San Joaquin Valley that sells, in my opinion, the best strawberries. The ruby red, sweet fruit is picked fresh daily and sold to eagerly awaiting customers.  On a recent trip home I picked up a few baskets with the intent of making this Strawberry Mascarpone Tea Cake.  I'd seen it featured on King Arthur's website a while ago and bookmarked it to make when strawberries were in season. 

In appearance the cake looks very similar to the French fraisier.  What I particularly liked about this version was the use of sour cream in the cake batter and mascarpone cream in the whipped cream filling.  The slight tang from both these ingredients is a nice counterbalance to the sweetness from the strawberries.  

 The next time you have access to sweet berries I highly recommend you make this cake.  It's absolutely delicious!

 

Merveilleux

 

 On my last few trips to Paris I remember seeing a pâtisserie shop called Aux Merveilleux de Fred selling Merveilleux (French for Marvelous), which are cakes made out of meringues sandwiched with whipped cream and covered in chocolate shavings.  The desserts looked so pretty but for some reason I never bothered having a taste, which in hindsight I really regret.  On the bright side I now have something to look forward to when I return to Paris, right?  

Hopefully we'll be able to safely resume international travel in 2022, but until then I'll have to be content with making merveilleux chez moi.  I ended up using David Lebovitz's recipe from his book, My Paris Kitchen, because it had received good reviews when I was searching for merveilleux recipes online.  

 

The desserts aren't difficult to make and the steps can be spread out over multiple days, which is what I did, but the process to make the merveilleux can be messy.  In particular the part where you fill and coat the meringues with whipped cream.  If your cream isn't beaten to a stiffness similar to buttercream I can see easily foresee challenges getting it to stay intact.  Next time I'll add more whipped cream in the middle and on top to get the really tall cone shape like the cakes I saw in Paris.  Even if your merveilleux aren't shop display worthy don't worry because the final coating of chocolate shavings hides all kinds of imperfections. 

Wanting to make as many flavors of merveilleux as possible in one go, I split the filling recipe into thirds and made stracciatella, strawberry and coffee chocolate chip.    Based on it's appearance you might think the merveilleux would be really sweet, but in fact it's not.  The lightly sweetened whipped cream is a really nice contrast to the crispy meringue cookie.  Delicieux!  An added bonus is that the cakes are 100% gluten-free which makes them perfect for anyone with a wheat intolerance.  Until I can hop of a plane to the city of lights I'll be happy enjoying my homemade merveilleux.  

Choux au Craquelin with Pistachio Crème Mousseline and Raspberry Jam

 

Towards the end of last year I decided to make homemade pistachio paste using this recipe from Stella Parks.  Being ambitious I thought it was a good idea to double the recipe so that I would have plenty of paste to last me for a while.  Little did I know that doing this would test the limits of my poor food processor.  It definitely wasn't a good sign when the motor started smoking...ha!  Fortunately, after a long rest the food processor recovered and I didn't have to replace it. Phew!  Perhaps it was that trauma that made me procrastinate in using the pistachio paste.  Several months passed and I finally found a use for it.

Pistachio is one of my favorite nut flavors and I thought it would be delicious in a pastry cream.  I found a recipe for Choux au Craquelin with Pistachio Crème Mousseline and Raspberry Jam from the blog Ana's Baking Chronicles.  Her pictures of the pastries were so stunning that I was immediately enticed to make them myself.  

You'll notice the crackly crust on top of the cream puffs.  This is called craquelin which is a dough made of butter, sugar, flour and salt (and a little food coloring, if you want).  It's rolled out thin, then frozen and cut into discs using a small round cutter.  The craquelin is placed on top of the pâte à choux just before baking.  When baked it turns into a crackly shell on top of the baked puff.

 

One of the issues I've found with cream puffs is the pastry cream filling tends to run and not hold it's shape, especially when you try to cut into it.  What I especially liked about Ana's recipe is that she fills her choux with pastry cream whipped with butter, also known as crème mousseline or German buttercream.  The result was a filling bursting with pistachio flavor that also held up to piping and cutting.  A layer of homemade raspberry jam at the bottom of the choux serves as a nice contrast to the nutty filling.  One bite of this decadent pastry and you'll be transported back to France!

Triple Berry Brita Cake

Rarely does a dessert exceed my expectations but I have to admit that this Triple Berry Brita Cake had me smitten at first bite.  I initially spotted this cake on Jenn Yee's Instagram and was immediately obsessed with the combination of cake and pavlova.   The recipe for this beauty comes from Susan Spungen's Open Kitchen: Inspired Food for Casual Gatherings and can be found online here.

Apparently brita cake has Nordic origins but in all the years I've visited Norway I don't think I've ever tasted it.  I can't believe what I was missing!  Pavlovas are one of my favorite summertime desserts so how excited was I find discover a dessert that added cake to the mix?  

This cake is so good that I actually made it twice in two days.  The first cake I brought along to a 4th of July BBQ and the second cake was to photograph for the blog, but I only made half the recipe which fit a loaf pan perfectly.  

I strayed slightly from the original recipe when it came to the cream toppings  I didn't have any creme fraiche so I increased the amount of heavy cream to a total of 2 cups and added some vanilje-sukker (vanilla sugar) that I picked up on previous trips to Norway.

 

The combination of moist, yellow cake and crispy meringue topped with fresh vanilla whipped cream and strawberries, blueberries and raspberries is absolutely amazing.  It's pure symphony I tell you!  It couldn't be easier to make so I highly encourage you to make this fruity dessert to really showcase summer's best berries.

Strawberries & Cream Chiffon Cake

This is the second time I've made this Strawberries & Cream Chiffon Cake.  Yes, it's that good. The first time was on the occasion of my friend A's birthday at the end of January.  When I asked him what treat he wanted I was expecting his usual favorite, tiramisu, but not this time!  Last year his wife had gotten him a cake similar to this one from a local bakery so I took that as a challenge to make it myself.  I was so happy with how it turned out that I had to make another one for this blog. 

The chiffon cake is the real star of this dessert and one of the best that I've ever tasted.  One bite and the first thing that came to mind were the cakes you find in Chinese bakeries here in San Francisco, i.e., not too sweet, but soft, light and fluffy.  I got the recipe from my baking guru Stella Parks on Serious Eats.  If you haven't already tried one of Stella's recipes I highly encourage you to.  They are as close to baking perfection as you can get.

I couldn't think of a better companion to the chiffon cake than whipped cream.  Now this isn't your typical whipped cream; this one is mixed with cream cheese which provides stability to the frosting as well as a beautiful tang.   Perfection!

Rigó Jancsi

For someone who's traveled quite extensively throughout Europe I never managed to make it to Hungary.  Had I known earlier about their famous cake, Rigó Jancsi, I might have made it more of a priority to visit.   Named after a famous Hungarian violinist, the cake is composed of two layers of  chocolate sponge filled with a whipped chocolate cream then covered in chocolate ganache.  A true chocolate extravaganza!

I had no idea this classic dessert existed until I saw it included in the latest volume of Bake from Scratch.  To be honest I'm not the hugest fan of chocolate but there was something about the sharp, clean lines of this entremet that really stood out to me.  Plus, the fact that it didn't use too much sugar is always welcome in my book.  For any chocoholic in your life this dessert is right up their alley.  Light and creamy but still decadent it's the perfect companion to a cup of coffee or tea. 

 

For portioning the cake I started with long rectangular slices, but after having a taste of how rich the cake was I ended up cutting the rectangles in half.  This yielded 36 perfectly sized pieces that can easily feed a crowd. 

Triple Berry Cake

Full disclosure: I totally and completely copied the idea for this Triple Berry Cake from Sweet Lady Jane Bakery in Southern California.  I'd seen this particular  layer cake countless times in magazines and the internet because it seemed to be the birthday cake of choice by the likes of Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid.  Celebrities aside, I was mainly drawn to the cake for its aesthetics.  I just love the beautiful fruit flowers and leaves set against the whipped cream background.  Absolutely gorgeous!

I did a google search and found a few YouTube videos that showed how the cake is made. What I especially loved was that it wasn't too sweet since the frosting was whipped cream.  Unfortunately Sweet Lady Jane's hasn't disclosed the cake recipe but if you break it down to its components it didn't seem that difficult: yellow cake, whipped cream and lots of fresh berries (strawberries, blackberries and raspberries).

Here's what I made my cake with:

Classic Yellow Cake from Stella Parks

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream from Cook's Illustrated  

Tips for next time: 

1. Make at least 6 cups of sweetened whipped cream (using about 3 cups heavy cream) because I ran out at the end, thus the "naked" look on the sides of my cake.
2. When applying the fresh berries between each cake layer fill the entire surface with tightly packed fruit!  I left gaps and when you cut in to the cake you have gaps...not pretty.

Swedish Princess Cake (Prinsesstårta)

I'd been looking for a cake to celebrate spring and Easter and the first thing that popped in to my head was a Swedish Princess Cake (or Prinsesstårta).  It's been on my baking bucket list for what seems like an eternity so it was finally time to have a go.  Fittingly, I think my introduction to these beautiful cakes was at IKEA many, many years ago...ha!  What could be more delicious than moist vanilla genoise sponge cake filled with layers of raspberry jam, diplomat cream a gorgeous dome of whipped cream and then covered in verdant colored marzipan?   Nothing, I tell you!

For the recipe I turned to Mary Berry, of The Great British Bake Off fame.  Princess cake was the technical challenge in the Continental Cakes episode of Series 5.  At first glance this recipe is daunting, there's a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps!, but don't be deterred. While the contestants were given just over two hours to complete their cakes I made my life easy and decided to make it over the course of a weekend.  Some of the components (pastry cream, jam, marzipan and fondant rose) were made on the first day and the sponge cake and assembly were done on the second day.   

  

I passed on the chocolate decorations from Mary's original recipe and kept it sweet and simple with a light dusting of powdered sugar.  I just think it looks so stunning in an elegant and understated way. I don't know about you, but I seriously love all the spring feels this cake is giving me.  The beautiful pastel green marzipan exterior and cream and pink interiors are just so refreshing and light.  No doubt this beauty will banish any wintertime blues you may have.  

Happy Spring!

Raspberries & Cream Angel Food Cake

I debated whether or not to wait until February to post this Raspberries & Cream Angel Food Cake, you know for Valentine's Day and all, but then I figured why wait?   For those of you looking to make a dessert to celebrate the holiday this will give you a leg up and time to prepare.  The inspiration for this beautiful cake came from two baking masters: Zoë Francois and Stella Parks. 

 

For the angel food cake I made Stella's recipe which uses a slow and steady approach to whipping  the fluffy meringue base.   I also love that her recipes uses egg whites straight from the fridge - no need to get them warmed to room temperature.   As for the pale pink raspberry cream frosting, I literally stopped in my tracks when I first caught sight of it on Zoë's Instagram feed.  I couldn't get over how visually stunning it looked.  Whenever I use whipped cream as a frosting I like to add in some cream cheese which gives it a delicious tang and much needed stability.  Cue the raspberry jam and you end up with the most beautiful and delicious frosting! 

As I write this blog post I am literally enjoying a big slice of the cake.  It's heaven, I tell you.  Whereas most angel food cakes tend to be cloyingly sweet this one is anything but!  I highly encourage you to give it a try.  Trust me, you won't regret it.

p.s. I used this fabulous angel food cake cutter and it works like a dream!

Tartine's Passion Fruit and Lime Bavarian Cake

Tartine Bakery's fame extends not only within San Francisco but other parts near and far.  They received a James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2008 which is like an Academy Award in the culinary world.  So it was extremely gratifying for me when I was able to replicate, at home, one of their most popular cakes.  

I had my first taste of the Passion Fruit and Lime Bavarian a few weekends ago with my sister.  Yes, there was a line when we got there - as there always is - but in the end waiting for 30 minutes was so worth it.  One bite of the moist chiffon cake filled with tart passion fruit bavarian cream, covered with lightly sweetened whipped cream and coconut shavings and I was hooked.   I had to try and make it for myself and lucky for me Tartine included the recipe in their eponymous  cookbook.

 The cake was perfect to bring to a family gathering to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  As I've mentioned before my people don't care for overly sweet desserts so I thought this cake was the ideal choice.   Boy was I right.  My family loved the cake, although one of my brothers said it was too tart - hmmm, there's always one dissenter in any big family...lol.   My sister commented that the cake tasted exactly like the one we bought at Tartine, surely confirmation that this recipe was a winner!

While the ingredient list and instructions may seem long the actual creation of this dessert was pretty straight forward.  Make the chiffon and passion fruit filling, assemble the layers and frost.  I spread the process over several days to make it more manageable.  In the recipe you end up with an extra layer of chiffon so I made little parfait versions of the cake in glass Weck canning jars.  I'd seen desserts presented like this at my favorite restaurant, ad hoc, and thought it was such a great idea.  

Stay tuned to this blog as I'm sure I'll be creating more fabulous treats from Tartine!