Today, April 26 2015, Cakeophilia is a whole year old.
Its been a journey, and its nowhere near over. Happily I can report that while my knowledge of the intricacies of website creation has grown infinitesimally, my knowledge of baking has increased exponentially! This blog has been a great reason to research and make so many objects of my heart’s (and stomach’s) desire, like:
But for Cakeophilia’s first birthday, it is time to revisit cakes past – and talk about the “Cakeophilia” cake – the Raspberry Crush cake.
Its so pretty I can hardly stand it… I couldn’t choose just one picture!
This is one of the first cakes which I really had to experiment with before I found what I was looking for, and I still find it amusing to read what I said back then:
But the thing is, how do you get the cake to taste like raspberry? Without cheating and using raspberry essence that is. Essences of obscure flavours often don’t really taste like the real thing, and I wanted a proper raspberry experience.
My first thought was that I didn’t want whole berries in there. First, its obvious. Second, it’s too muffin like. Third, this cake has to last through the layering and icing process which means that it will sit at room temperature for about three days before it is eaten. Whole fruit might disintegrate and make the surrounding cake gooey. Yuk.
Not quite pink!
Instead, I tried the idea of using a raspberry coulis.
I found a recipe which required the addition of water and substituted coulis for water. There was an immediate problem. The pigments in raspberries discolour from red to almost blue when they come in contact with flour. One Bad Colour. Unpinkable, though I did try.
The second issue came once it was baked. It was jam-sweet and super moist, like a dessert cake. It was not the texture, or the flavour, to go in a formal iced cake. It needed a blanket of marscapone and candied slivers of orange zest on it. It was asking very nicely, so I obliged.
Delicious. But not useful.
Heh heh heh. The eureka moment came later…
Jewels of raspberry
Then it occurred that frozen raspberries crumble easily into their separate little seed compartments. I suppose there is a word for that. These wouldn’t suffer from spoilage like a whole berry and have a less seedy texture than a whole berry. They would burst on contact if they were thawed, but frozen, could be folded into the cake mixture if you worked fast (of course the cold berries would quickly stiffen up the cake mixture). The mixture is then left in the cake tin to come back to room temperature prior to baking.
Cakeophilia Cake
Cakeophilia Cake
Cakeophilia Cake
Raspberry Crush Cake
Makes one 15cm square or 20 cm round cake.
ingredients
250g butter
250g caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
5 eggs
245g self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
a little pink food colouring, if desired
250g raspberries, frozen
2 tbsp flour, extra
mixing
Prepare your baking tin, by lining the base and sides with baking paper. The easiest way to do this is to fold up the edges of an oversize sheet, so that the lining is just one piece of paper.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, making sure to scrape down the bowl. Mix in the sifted self raising flour and salt, then add milk and a touch of pink colouring (if you are using it) and beat on high speed 2 minutes until the mixture is light and creamy.
Now work quickly. Tip the raspberries straight from the freezer into a medium bowl, and crush with a meat tenderiser or the bottom of a bottle until the berries look like crumbs (there will be some whole ones still but mostly halves or smaller pieces). Tip the extra flour over the crumbled berries and toss lightly but thoroughly with a spoon until the berries are all coated with flour.
Clockwise from top left: pink batter, crumbling berries, flouring berries, cold batter
Tip the floured berries on top of the cake mixture and using a spatula, fold the berries through the mixture. The mixture will seize up almost immediately because of the cold, but keep folding until the berries are well distributed. Then, tip the lump of mixture into the baking tin, but don’t press down. Let the mixture sit for an hour at room temperature, during which time the mixture will become soft again. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Just before baking, gently press the mixture down into the tin, smoothing the surface. Bake for an 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin.
Cut the cold cake in half, and spread the bottom layer with a thick layer of Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting (about 1cm thick!). Pile the top of the cake with the remainder of the frosting. Chill. When you are ready to serve the cake, dust the sides with icing sugar, and decorate with raspberries and raspberry leaves.
Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting
ingredients
125g unsalted butter, softened
125 g full fat cream cheese, such as Philadelphia (cold, cut into 2cm cubes)
250g icing sugar
1 cup frozen raspberries (fresh won’t work!)
mixing
Beat the butter until smooth, and add the cold cream cheese. Beat well, but don’t worry that there are still flecks of cream cheese in there – that is what this frosting is all about!). Add the icing sugar and beat until well combined. Add the frozen raspberries, and mix until evenly distributed. The frosting will seize a bit because of the cold raspberries, so let it come to room temperature before using.
Left to right: final mix of the frosting, cake ready for layering, the finished cake
No words to describe… So beautiful
Happy first Birthday, Cakeophilia!
enjoy! xxx
