Daring Bakers August 2010 Challenge: Ice Cream Petit Fours

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

This month we were required to make a brown butter pound cake and some ice cream of our choice and turn it into either baked alaska or petit fours. I had never had frozen ice cream cake petit fours before and so this was my dessert of choice.

As we experimented with ice cream in last months Daring Bakers challenge I wanted to do something different this month. I remembered a recipe for instant banana ice cream that I read about a few months back and decided now would be the perfect time to test it out, especially as I had yet more overripe bananas in the fruit bowl! The method is surprisingly simple yet yields delicious results. You freeze chunks of banana and then blitz them (still frozen) in a food processor with a little yoghurt and syrup and within seconds – ta da – instant smooth and creamy frozen banana cream that has the taste and texture of ice cream! You can eat it straight out the bowl or freeze it for later. It’s ingenious and fantastically bananary, not to mention healthy. I really recommend you give it a go.

I was also pleased to try out the brown butter cake recipe we were given, as I’d never made one of these myself. It turned out very well and produced a very light, springy and golden coloured cake with a nutty overtone. I also added a mix of cinnamon, ginger and freshly grated nutmeg to mine which I thought would complement the nuttiness as well as the banana ice cream.

Everything was going well until it came to the glaze. Rather than use the recipe provided I decided to make a glaze I have done in the past for profiteroles. I’m not sure what happened but one minute I had smooth glossy sauce and then next it was too thick and gloopy. I used it anyway, but it refused to coat the petit fours properly so instead I just spooned some over the top and let it drizzle over the sides a bit. They still ended up looking pretty, but not the elegant sophisticated petit fours I was hoping for. As a result I’m not giving you the glaze recipe I made, but I have written the glaze recipe provided below for anyone who wants to make these. Note to self: sometimes things are best left un-meddled.

I loved the taste and texture of these little bites. The spiced nutty cake and banana ice cream were a great match and the glossy dark chocolate glaze left you with a rich cocoa taste that tasted delicious as it mingled with the melting banana cream.

Thanks Elissa for choosing such a great challenge. Click to see a list of my fellow Daring Bakers and what they did with their cake and ice cream.

Spiced Brown Butter Pound Cake & Instant Banana Ice Cream Petit Fours

Spiced Brown Butter Pound Cake
275g unsalted butter
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
110g light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
4 large eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
(I also added 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger and ¼ tsp nutmeg)

Method
Preheat the oven to 165C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9inch/23cm square pan.
Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty – but you don’t want black and burnt. Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-20 minutes.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt (and spices if using).
Beat the cooled brown butter, light brown sugar, and caster sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Instant Banana Ice Cream

3 bananas
150g yoghurt
1 tbsp honey, glucose or golden syrup

Method
Ahead of time, peel the bananas and cut them into rough chunks. Place in a plastic bag and freeze them until solid.
Place the chunks of frozen banana in a food processor and blitz to break the bananas into smaller pieces. Add the yoghurt and honey/syrup and blitz again until smooth and creamy. (Adding the syrup helps prevent ice crystals from forming during freezing).
Eat straight away or spread the mixture into a clingfilm lined pan the same size as your cake, if making petit fours and freeze until firm.

Assembly of Ice Cream Petit Fours

Line a 9inch/23cm pan with clingfilm, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides.
Take the brown butter pound cake and level the top with a serrated knife if needed. Then cut the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers. Place one of these layers into the base of the lined pan.
Remove the ice cream from the freezer, lift it out of the pan with the help of the cling film and place it on top of the base layer of cake. Top with the second layer of cake, wrap well in clingfilm and return to the freezer overnight.
Make the chocolate glaze (your own recipe or see below)
While the glaze cools, remove the ice cream cake from the freezer and use a sharp knife to cut it into 4cm squares. You can trim the edges first if needed.
Place the ice cream cake squares on tray lined with a sheet of greaseproof to help clean up later.
Glaze the petit fours one at a time by dipping/coating them in the chocolate glaze. Use a spoon or fork to help you. Place a petit four on the tines of a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
Place the petit fours on the greaseproof lined tray and freezer for an hour. Allow to st at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe Provided
250ml whole milk
A pinch of salt
165g caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise or 2tsp vanilla extract
500ml double cream
5 large egg yolks
1-3 tsp vanilla extract (see method)
Method
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2 litre bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour a quarter of the warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 tsp if you are using a vanilla bean or 3 tsp if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine. Click to see instructions from David Lebovitz.

Chocolate Glaze Recipe Provided
250g dark chocolate, finely chopped
250ml double cream
1½ tbsp light corn syrup/golden syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Stir the cream and syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Daring Bakers July 2010: Chocolate, Raspberry & Hazelnut Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Just reading about this challenge bought a smile to my face. Here was a dessert that I had been meaning to attempt for ages but had been putting off in favour of some easier desserts. As it was this month’s challenge, I knew it was time to take the whisk by the handle and get baking.

When reading the recipe I felt a little uneasy as it consisted of so many components. We had to make a Swiss roll filled with cream and frozen, two different flavours of ice cream, layered inside the Swiss roll slices and around a hidden fudge centre – yikes!

I was most nervous about the ice cream components as I don’t have an ice cream maker and have tried making ice cream by the home freezing, stirring, freezing process before with limited success. However, I soon discovered that this recipe didn’t require the egg based ice cream variety, but relied on freezing flavoured cream to produce the ice cream which is much better behaved for home freezers.

We were provided with recipes for chocolate Swiss roll, chocolate and vanilla ice creams and a chocolate fudge centre, all of which had to be made from scratch. However, we were allowed to choose our own flavour combinations which was great as I love coming up with different flavour combinations.

I decided to stick with the chocolate Swiss roll as the outside layer, as I loved the colour contrast between the chocolate sponge and the white cream filling. My first ice cream flavour choice was raspberry as I have recently found a bottle of pure raspberry syrup which is so intensely raspberry that I knew it would go wonderfully with the chocolate.

To complement both the chocolate and raspberry flavours I decided to make my second ice cream hazelnut. I achieved this by added chopped roasted hazelnuts to a vanilla ice cream base. I also stirred in some Frangelico (an amazing hazelnut liqueur). The resulting ice cream was divine! Silky smooth and creamy, unsurprisingly due to the cream but with the slight crunch from the nibs of toasted hazelnut and the liqueur flooded your senses with hazelnut flavour – just gorgeous. The main thing to take note of is that by adding the alcohol, the ice cream will not set completely solid, which is great for eating but rather tricky when trying to layer it into a dessert!

Finally I stuck with the chocolate fudge centre as both my ice creams where quite pale in colour and I wanted the hidden centre to really stand out and add a wow factor when the finished cake was cut into. The fudgy sauce itself was delicious, so thick and glossy, I bet it would be great drizzled warm over profiteroles.

Making all the components and assembling the cake took time, especially the hourly mixings of the ice creams while they were freezing, but none of it was too tricky and I was able to complete the dish from start to finish in one day. I had plenty of time to get on with my other jobs in-between and the results were definitely worth the effort.

The dessert looked yummy when I unmolded it. The swirls of Swiss roll making it look quite elegant with little streaks of the pink raspberry ice cream peeking out between the gaps. I cut into it using a knife, unsure what to expect but the results were far better than I had hoped!

WOW! I loved how it turned out. The Swiss roll outer layer gave the edge a two toned stripy effect that reminded me of a zebra. Just inside this was the pale pink raspberry ice cream with the paler nutty hazelnut ice cream at the base. The centre of chocolate fudge came out perfectly formed – I’ve no idea how that happened as it sort of sunk into the ice cream when I added it. Magic! I loved how it really stood out against the ice cream layers and yet tied in with the chocolate sponge edge. It really added a wow factor.

How did it taste? Only one word needed – Divine! Silky smooth and creamy, fruity and nutty with the occasionally crunch texture from the chopped hazelnuts. The Swiss roll had stayed surprisingly soft and the fudge centre was rich and sticky.

Yes it is completely cream and calorie laden but for a dessert this good I don’t care! Just what you need on a hot summer day and it’s sure to impress any guests you might have over for a BBQ. Thanks Sunita for choosing such a fabulous dessert. Click to see the Daring Bakers blogroll.

Chocolate, Raspberry & Hazelnut Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake
(Inspired by the recipe of the same name from the Taste of Home website)

Chocolate Swiss Roll
3 eggs
110g caster sugar
25g plain flour
20g natural unsweetened cocoa powder
15ml boiling water
A little oil for brushing the pans
For the filling-
250ml whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
30g icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C. Brush a Swiss roll tin (11x9 inches) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick, about 10 minutes. When the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface.
Mix the flour and cocoa powder together and sift it over the whisked egg mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula, making sure to reach down to the base and around the sides. Finally fold in the hot water.
Spread the mixture into the baking pans and spread it out evenly.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch. It will still be quite soft and squishy due to the nature of the cake.
Spread a tea towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. Flip the cake out of the pan and onto the tea towel. Carefully peel off the greaseproof paper and leave the cake to cool.
Starting from one of the longer sides, start to make a roll with the towel rolled inside. Leave until cool.

To make the Filling
In a large bowl, add the cream, vanilla and icing sugar. Beat until quite thick.
Unroll the cake from the tea towel and spread it evenly with the cream, leaving a ½ inch border around the edge to allow for spreading when re-rolled.
Roll the cake up again, using the towel to help you but don’t roll the towel into the sponge. Transfer the roll to a sheet of clingfilm and wrap it up well. Transfer the roll to a plate or tray and place in the fridge to chill until firm.

Raspberry Ice Cream

300ml whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
55g caster sugar
3 tbsp raspberry syrup/coulis

Method
In a mixing bowl, add the cream, vanilla and sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is blended together. Add the raspberry syrup or coulis and mix in well.
Pour into a freezer friendly container (I used a small tupperware box) and freeze till firm around the edges, about an hour. Remove from the freezer, mix well so it all becomes incorporated and smooth. Return to the freezer for a further hour before repeating the process. It may need a third hour depending on your freezer and container used. (You could use an ice cream maker if you are lucky enough to have one).

Hazelnut Ice Cream

250ml whipping cream
30g caster sugar
1½ tbsp Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
25g roasted hazelnuts

Method
Chop the roasted hazelnuts until quite fine. Place the cream, sugar and Frangelico into a large bowl and beat until slightly thick. Add the chopped hazelnuts and fold in to mix.
Pour the mixture into another freezable container or ice cream maker. Freeze for an hour, stir it together again and freeze for another hour. Repeat until the mixture is very thick and nearly solid. (The added alcohol will prevent it from freezing completely solid)

Chocolate Fudge Sauce Centre

50g caster sugar
10g natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp cornflour
170ml water
7g butter
½ tsp vanilla extract

Method
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder and cornflour until no lumps are visible. Slowly whisk in the water until combined and to prevent lumps from forming.
Place the pan over the heat and stir constantly until it begins to thicken, about 2 minutes.
Remove from heat, beat in the butter and vanilla and set aside to cool.

Assembly

Line a pudding basin or deep bowl with a large sheet of clingfilm.
Cut the Swiss roll into 10-12 equal slices, approximately 2cms each. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the bowl, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the sides of the bowl, right to the top. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and freeze until the slices are firm, about 30 minutes.
Take your nearly frozen raspberry ice cream out of the freezer and spread it over the base and up the sides of the Swiss roll lined bowl.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
Once set, add the cooled fudge sauce over the raspberry ice cream, in the base only, not up the sides. Return to the freezer for another hour.
Soften the hazelnut ice cream (if needed) and spread it over the fudge sauce, filling the bowl completely to the top in line with the top of the Swiss roll slices. Cover with clingfilm and freeze for at least 4-5 hours until completely firm and well set.

To Serve
Remove the bowl from the freezer and place a serving plate on top. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl with the help of the clingfilm. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water and try again.
Leave the cake for 10 minutes to soften slightly and then cut slices using a sharp knife, warmed by dipping it in hot water first.
Eat and enjoy. Serves 6-8

The Cake Slice July 2010: Key West Cake with Mango Mousse and Ginger Lime Cream

I was really excited when this cake got chosen as this months Cake Slice cake. It’s one I had been longing to bake for ages, the ingredients sounded so fresh and tropical – mango, fresh ginger and lime – and yet it is not a combination I have together in a cake before. The cake also called for a rum syrup to be drizzled over the cake layers before assembly which just made it appeal even more.

The cake requires quite a bit of work due to its many components – cake, rum syrup, mango mousse and ginger lime cream. The ginger lime cream also calls for you to make your own ginger lime curd which may sound a bit of a nuisance but I can assure you the results are completely worth the extra effort. In fact this curd turned out to be my favourite part of the cake, so much so that I plan on making it again and eating it just as curd. It was so fresh and zingy with the lime zest and juice and the ginger was just subtly there in the background, delicious. We were meant to pass the curd through a fine sieve to remove the zest once cooked, but I decided to skip this step as I liked seeing the green zest speckled through the curd, so pretty. Plus, I’m sure it added to the flavour.

The cake layers contain very little butter and the main volume of the cake comes from whisking eggs and sugar over a pan of hot water until ribbons form. This produces and very light and airy cake which has a springy bounce when pressed. The batter was quite thick and sticky and reminded me strongly of choux pastry dough.

Using rum syrup to soak the cake layers kept them wonderfully moist and added a lovely tropical flavour against the mango and lime. If you didn’t want to use alcohol I’m sure replacing this with pineapple juice would be equally tasty.

The mango mousse called for gelatine to help it set firm. Being a vegetarian I left this out completely and just replied on chilling the whipped cream mixture to help my cake set. I know you can get vegetarian style gelatine, but when you have lots of whipped cream I always think this is unnecessary. Plus, I don’t like the jellied texture it gives. Setting the cake in the fridge for a while does the same sort of job, as the cream firms up as it cools.

Overall I adored this cake. It was light, fresh and fruity, perfect for this time of year and I had fun learning some new techniques along the way. Click here to see my fellow Cake Slice bakers and their cakes.

Key West Cake with Mango Mousse and Ginger Lime Cream

Recipe from Sky High Irresistible Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Cake

6 eggs

225g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g plain flour

45g unsalted butter, melted and slightly warm

Rum Syrup

55g caster sugar

110ml water

55ml rum

Mango Mousse

350g finely diced mango (use tinned if fresh is not available)

75ml water

75g plus a separate 20g caster sugar
2 tsp unflavoured gelatine powder
2 tbsp light rum
225ml double cream

Ginger Lime Cream
4 egg yolks
110g caster sugar
Zest of 1 lime
55ml freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
330ml cold double cream

Cake Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base of three 8inch round pans with parchment or waxed paper.
Place the eggs in a large heatproof bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar and the vanilla. Set over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until all the sugar dissolves and the eggs are warmer than body temperature. Remove from the heat and, with the mixer on medium high, whip the eggs until very fluffy and stiff enough so that a slowly dissolving ribbon forms from the dripping batter when the beaters are lifted.
Sift the flour and return to the sifter. Carefully sift about a third of the flour over the top of the eggs. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold it in. Repeat with the remaining flour, folding just until blended evenly. Finally, drizzle the butter over the batter and carefully fold it in. Divide the batter among the 3 cake pans.
Bake the layers for 12 to 14 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cakes cool completely in their pans. To unmold, run a blunt knife around the rims to carefully release the edges of the cakes and tap them out gently. Carefully remove the paper on the bottom of each layer.

Rum Syrup
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil until the syrup is reduced by half, about 110ml. Remove from the heat and add the rum.

Mango Mousse

Place the mango chunks in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Add the water, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Transfer the cooled mangoes, along with any liquid, to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Remove 120ml of the mango puree, stir in 20g of sugar and set aside to use as garnish. Place the remaining mango puree (about 220-250ml) in a large bowl.
Put the gelatine in a small glass or ceramic dish. Add the rum and let soften for about 5 minutes. With a microwave on low, heat the gelatine until dissolved, about 10 seconds.
Whisk the gelatine and remaining 75g sugar into the mango puree until all the sugar dissolves.
In another large chilled bowl, whip the cram until stiff. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cream into the sweetened mango puree.

Ginger Lime Cream

Whisk the egg yolks in a small, heavy nonreactive saucepan. Gradually whisk in the sugar, then the lime zest, juice and ginger. Cook over a medium low heat, stirring and scraping the base of the pot with a spatula, until the yolks visibly thicken, about 3-5 minutes.
Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest and ginger chunks. Cover the ginger lime curd with plastic wrap, pressing it directly into the surface and refrigerate until very cold, about 1 hour.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the ream until stiff. Fold the whipped cream into the ginger lime curd.

To Assemble

Place one cake layer on a cake stand, flat side up. Soak it with 55ml of the rum syrup. Spread half the mango mousse over the layer evenly. Repeat with the second cake layer using another 55ml syrup and the remaining mousse. Add the last cake layer, soak with the last of the rum syrup and chill the cake for about 1 hour.
Once firm, frost the cake with the ginger lime cream. Use a pastry bag fitted with a star nozzle to decorate the cake with the remaining cream. Serve the cake with a spoonful of the reserved mango puree from earlier.

The Cake Slice June 2010: Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake

After my doubt of salads it is high time I return to the main source of recipe inspiration on this blog – cakes, bakes and other sweet treats! To welcome me back to my love affair with baking I have for you this months Cake Slice cake.

The winning cake this month is Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake. A simple yet delicious tray bake cake studded with blueberries – originally made with blueberries from the Shenandoah Valley in America, but blueberries from anywhere – fresh or frozen will work equally well. I used some lovely fresh blueberries I picked up in a local Bedford market so really I should call it Bedford Blueberry Cake – it’s got a good ring to it anyway.

This cake is quite plain and simple to look at, is syrup and frosting-less and contains no vanilla, lemon or other flavouring in the cake itself, relying on blueberries for its stand alone flavour. While I applaud this simplistic approach I was slightly disappointed in the finished cake. If you got a mouthful compete with a big juicy blueberry then the flavour was wonderful, but on its own it seemed to lack that extra something special. I felt it was crying out for a bit of lemon zest or vanilla in the cake and could have done with being served with a blob of yoghurt and a drizzle of lemon curd to bring it alive. However, the author suggests eating this cake for breakfast or even as a midnight snack(!!) so maybe a plain cake is appropriate in this case.

The batter for this cake is very thick and dense and I was worried I was going to end up with a heavy, thin cake so I was very happy when it rose well and baked into a lightly textured cake. It was also one of the quickest cake to put together I have ever made. I should think it was in the oven and baking in under 20 minutes and as its recommended to eat it while still warm it’s the ideal cake to have up your sleeve for any unexpected guests who might suddenly phone to ask if “it would be alright if they just popped by to say hello” You could have this baked and ready for them when they arrived and leave them feeling you are the ultimate domestic goddess. Served with a little lemon curd, a few extra berries and a dusting of icing sugar this cake could easily be a winner.

It’s also Fathers Day today and as I knew this post was coming up today, after baking and sampling a small slice I gave this cake to my Dad as a sort of early treat. He said it was great with a cuppa and a blog of cream. Happy Fathers Day Dad!

Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake
(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Ingredients
200g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
65g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
1 egg
75ml milk
100g fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)

Method
Heat the oven to 170C and generously grease a 9 inch square or round pan.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer at high speed until well combined. Add the egg and beat well for 1 to 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl until the mixture is smooth and light.
Stir in half the flour mixture then half the milk, mixing just enough to keep the batter fairly smooth and well combined. Add the remaining flour, then the rest of the milk, mixing gently. Stir in the blueberries.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the cake is golden, springs back when touched gently in the centre and is pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then turn it out to cool, top side up. Serve a slice of cake right from the pan, warm or at room temperature.

Makes 1 x 9inch single layer cake

The Cake Slice May 2010: Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Almond Frosting

This month, The Cake Slice group decided we wanted a tall and exciting cake to welcome the start of the warmer weather and voted to bake a cake from last years cake book: Sky High Triple Layer Cakes. The cake in question was a delicious sounding three layers of lemon poppy seed cake, soaked in lemon syrup and frosted with almond infused cream cheese icing. As a lemon and almond lover, I knew before I even heated the oven that this cake was going to be a winner.

The cake was very quick to put together and produced a wonderfully light and creamy batter thanks to it being made solely with egg whites and lots of buttermilk. The poppy seeds looked very pretty scattered throughout the cake layers and added a little texture without being obviously crunchy or full of ‘bits’ as they are so teeny tiny.

The lemon syrup kept the layers lovely and moist and added a real lemon zing. Don’t be tempted to leave this stage out as it’s the syrup that adds most of the lemon flavour, the cake itself is quite subtlety lemony. The lemon syrup really brings it alive.

Almond cream cheese frosting. Mmmmmm it really was as good as it sounds. This was the best bit of the cake for me, normally I’m not a big frosting fan but this smooth and creamy frosting packed a real punch of almond flavour and worked so well with the zingy lemon and slight tanginess of the cream cheese. Just divine. I even kept the leftover frosting and ate it on bread – it really was that good!

I was also thrilled at how thick and creamy the frosting was, I’ve often attempted to make creamy cheese frosting in the past and had it collapse into a liquidly mess, but not this time – it was just perfect.

My only criticism of the cake is that because it was an egg white cake the layers were a very pale white colour and the poppy seeds gave it a bit of a grey appearance, but I’m nitpicking. I decorated the cake with a ring of toasted flaked almonds around the top edge. Simple yet effective.

Overall I loved the combination of lemon and poppy seed, but it is the almond cream cheese frosting that made this cake for me. Click here to see my fellow Cake Slice bakers and their cakes.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Almond Frosting
(Recipe from Sky High Irresistible Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne)

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
360g plain flour
300g caster sugar (I only used 200g)
4½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp poppy seeds
200g unsalted butter
1 large lemon, zest only
275ml buttermilk
5 egg whites
Poppy seeds or flaked almonds to decorate

Lemon Syrup
100g caster sugar
75ml water
1 lemon, juice only

Almond Frosting (I only used two-thirds of this)
225g cream cheese
200g unsalted butter
600g icing sugar
1 tbsp almond extract

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease three 8 inch cake pans and line the bases with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix gently to combine.
Add the butter, lemon zest and 200ml of buttermilk to the flour. Beat on low until completely mixed. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1-2 minutes until lighter in colour.
In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites with the remaining 75ml buttermilk, whisk to blend thoroughly. Add the egg white mixture to the batter in 2-3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only enough to incorporate the mix. Divide the batter between the three pans.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out. While the cake layers are cooling, make the lemon syrup.

Lemon Syrup
In a small pan combine the sugar, water and lemon juice. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Generously brush the cakes with the lemon syrup while they are still warm. Then allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, about a quarter at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the almond extract and then continue to beat well for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about a fifth of the frosting over the cake to cover evenly. Repeat with the second layer and place the third layer on top. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Garnish with your choice of flaked almonds or poppy seeds.
Makes 1 x 8inch triple layer cake. Serves 12-16