About three weeks ago, I was flipping through my baking books deciding what to bake for my elder daughter's birthday. I wanted to try out something different because I was tired of repeating my cakes.
I came across a rather attractive picture of a 'celebration' cake'(termed by Dorie Greenspan from "Baking"). It is a cake that is white with a tight crumb(no fear of crumbly cake falling apart during assembling). I shan't go into boring details but get down to business!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
1½ cups caster sugar (I reduced to 1¼ cups)
2 teaspoons lemon zest ( I used 3 teaspoons)
4 large egg whites
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 stick(113.4g) unsalted butter, at room temperatur
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract (I used Nielsen Massey's)
2¼ cups cake flour, sifted with baking powder and salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1. Whisk egg whites and buttermilk until it foams. Set aside.
2. Place sugar and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and rub with fingers to mix well.
3. Add butter and cream at medium speed till light and fluffy and add in vanilla extract.
4. Add one-third of flour and beat at medium speed to mix and then add half of the egg mixture.
5. Alternate flour with egg mixture and end with flour. Beat to ensure the batter is thoroughly mixed.
6. Divide batter into greased and lined 9-inch / 23-cm round tins and bake in preheated oven 170deg C for 30 to 35 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean.
7. Remove cake and cool on rack.
For the Swiss meringue buttercream:
1 cup sugar (I used ½ cup)
4 large egg whites
3 sticks(340g) unsalted butter, at roomtemperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup seedless raspberry jam, warmed and stirred, for sandwiching between cake layers
1 ½ cup sweetened grated coconut, for coating the side of cake and topping
1. Put egg whites and sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl and place it over a pot of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture feels hot to touch. It takes about 3 minutes. The sugar should have dissolved and the mixture looks lke shiny marshmallow.
2. Remove from heat and whisk at medium speed until mixture is cool. It takes about 5 minutes.
3.Change whisk to paddle and add a few cubed butter at a time and cream till thick and smooth.
4.Gradually beat in lemon juice and then vaanilla extract.
5. Cover the surface of buttercream with clingwrap. Set aside.
To assemble cake:
1. Slice each cake into half horizontally (optional).
2. Spread a layer of raspberry jam and then a layer of buttercream on each cake layer.
3. Sandwich the cake layers and cover the cake with buttercream and coat the sides and top with grated coconut.
This post is linked to Cook-Your-Books #3 at http://mycookinggallery.blogspot.com/2013/08/cook-your-books-3.html
