Cakes and Updates

Hi!!! I know its been forever and I don’t have a good enough reason for abandoning my blog. Fear not, lol I return to regularly blogging from today:) Its no April fool’s day joke, promise! Speaking of April, I am so excited for the beautiful spring weather, it was almost 80 degrees here in Atlanta yesterday.

I am kicking off with a recipe for a cake I baked last month. Its such a simple, fool proof recipe and a sure winner at your next event. The best part, is that you don’t have to be a baking pro to pull off showcasing such a beautiful cake to your family and friends. I got this recipe from the recipe book “The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book” and only made minor changes to the original recipe. The mix of raspberries, custard on a sponge cake iced with a light cream topping is heavenly! Its such a yummy treat and perfect for a hot summer day or a spring day too 🙂

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

3 tablespoon milk

11/2 cups all purpose flour

11/2 tablespoon corn starch

11/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fresh raspberries to decorate

For the custard filling:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon corn starch

11/2 cups milk

For the cream topping: Makes such a great whipped cream!

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup of confectioners sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the raspberry filling:

2 cups of raspberry

sugar to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Lightly grease and flour 3, 8 inch cake pans and attach a parchment paper on the prepared pan.

Using a mixer hand or standing mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Stir in the milk and vanilla extract until blended. In a separate bowl, sift all the dry ingredients flour and corn starch. Beat the flour mixture to your egg mixture. Put the egg whites in a dry bowl and whisk until they form still peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake mixture. Divide the batter evenly between the tins and bake for 12 minutes or until a stick comes out clean. Cool down on a rack for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

To make the custard, whisk together the eggs and sugar in a pan. Whisk in the corn starch and the milk. Cook over low heat, stirring for about 6 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the stove and leave to cool.

To make the topping, beat the cream in a bowl until soft peaks form. Stir in the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat until stiff.

To make the raspberry filling, crush(do not use a processor) the raspberries in a bowl and add a little sugar to taste.

To assemble the cake, place one layer on a serving place and spread with the raspberry filling. Place a second cake layer over the first and spread with the cooled custard. Top with the final layer. Spread whipped cream over the sides and top of the cake.

Chill the cake until ready to serve and decorate with raspberries. Total bake time and assemble time is about 1 to 1.5 hours. You can even make this in parts. Bake the cake one day ahead, seal in plastic wrap or Ziploc at room temperature. Also you can make the custard and raspberry fillings ahead. Only the whipped cream has to be made on the day of assemble. Please leave a comment if you have any questions about the recipe. Here are a few pictures.