The Pink Whisk Brilliant Baking Step-by-Step Cake Making (13 page)

4 Now sift half of the flour into the cake mixture and fold in using a spatula, lifting and turning the mixture gently. Make sure you lift the mixture from the very bottom of the bowl. The flour tends to sit here and refuse to budge if you don’t keep your eye on it. Once pockets of flour aren’t showing up when you fold it sift in the remaining half of the flour and repeat the gentle folding in process.

5 Use two thirds of the cake mixture to fill 2 of the sandwich tins, leaving one third still in the bowl.

TIP

If a pocket of melted butter tricked you and came slooshing out with the cake mixture stir it gently in the tin with the end of a palette knife.

6 Lightly crush the berries for the cake in a small bowl with a fork and fold through the remaining mixture. Fill the final tin and bake straight away in the oven, two on the upper shelf and one just below.

7 After 30 minutes check the cakes – they should be golden on top and springy to the touch, with the sides of the cake shrinking away from the tin. The third cake on the lower shelf may need a further 5 minutes’ baking time.

8 Let the cakes cool in the tins for 5 minutes before removing and transferring carefully to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled it’s time for the assembly.

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If you missed a spot when greasing the edge of the cake will grip to the side of the tin. Free it gently with a sharp knife as soon as it comes out of the oven.

9 Softly whip the double cream and icing sugar. Weigh out 150g (5
¹
⁄
₂
oz) of the fruit and place in a bowl, then lightly crush with a fork. Fold through the whipped cream to create a ripple effect.

10 Remove the paper from the base of each cake and select a serving plate. Place one of the plain sponge layers on the plate and top with a layer of blackcurrant preserve keeping it just shy of the edge of the cake. Either pipe on a layer of summer berry rippled cream or spread with a spatula.

11 Place the fruited cake layer on top and repeat with a layer of jam and cream. Top with the last plain sponge cake. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining cream in a thin, even layer.

12 Scatter the remaining 200g (7oz) of summer berries around the top of the cake. Serve.

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The cream filling means that the cake should be stored in the fridge, so if it isn’t possible to assemble it at the last minute, allow the cake 20 minutes to stand at room temperature before serving.

Choc Cherry Genoise

Chocolate and cherries are a fabulous combination, made all the better here by the contrast of lighter than air cake with juicy whole cherries on top.

Makes one 20 cm (8 in) cake

Prep: 45 minutes

Bake: 30–35 minutes

Oven: 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4

Ingredients

Cake

8 eggs

250g (9oz) caster (superfine) sugar

100g (3
¹
⁄
₂
oz) butter, melted and cooled

120g (4oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

80g (3oz) cocoa powder

100g (3
¹
⁄
₂
oz) cherries, pitted and chopped

Filling and topping

350ml (12fl oz) double (heavy) cream

2 tbsp icing (confectioners) sugar

75g (2
³
⁄
₄
oz) dark chocolate, melted

260g (9oz) cherries

Gold edible glitter for decoration (optional)

Cocoa powder, to dust

Equipment

Electric hand mixer

Silicone spatula

3 × 20cm (8in) sandwich tins (layer cake pans)

TIP

Fresh cherries are ideal but if you don’t fancy the hassle of removing the stones tinned or frozen cherries will do the trick.

1 Follow the method for the Summer Fruit Genoise but replace the 200g (7oz) plain (all-purpose) flour with a mixture of 120g (
³
⁄
₄
oz) plain (all-purpose) flour and 80g (3oz) cocoa powder, sifted together. Fold the chopped cherries into a third of the mixture – this is for the middle layer.

2 For the cream filling softly whip the double cream with the icing sugar. Melt 75g (2
³
⁄
₄
oz) of dark chocolate and set aside to cool a little before stirring through the whipped cream. Set aside 8 whole cherries and roughly chop the remainder.

3 Reserve 100g (3
¹
⁄
₂
oz) of the chopped cherries and fold the remaining through the chocolate cream. Assemble the cakes with the cherry studded cake in the middle, applying the cream filling between each.

4 Spread the remaining cream on top of the cake and dust with cocoa. Position the 8 whole cherries around the edge and sprinkle on the reserved roughly chopped cherries. A sprinkle of gold edible glitter is optional but adds a lovely touch of sparkle! Serve.

Carrot Cake

There are certain cakes that benefit hugely from whisking the egg whites separately and then folding in to the finished mixture – carrot cake is one of those so give this version a try!

Makes one 20cm (8in) cake

Prep: 40 minutes

Bake: 1 hour 10 minutes

Oven: 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4

Ingredients

Cake

200ml (7fl oz) sunflower or vegetable oil

65g (2
¹
⁄
₂
oz) golden (corn) syrup

2 eggs, large, separated

130g (4
¹
⁄
₂
oz) light Muscovado sugar

190g (6
¹
⁄
₂
oz) self-raising (-rising) flour

1
¹
⁄
₂
tsp cinnamon

¹
⁄
₂
tsp ground cloves