Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. We enjoyed a lovely two days of hanging out with friends and breaking New Years resolutions (oops!) I was asked to make a cake for a friends birthday party on Saturday evening.I knew there was a surprise proposal happening that night (she said yes!) so I wanted to add a touch of extra special-ness, with a wedding inspired feel to it.
The recipe I used is from my favorite blog for cooking and baking, Smitten Kitchen. The cake was an almond raspberry cake with an almond swiss meringue buttercream. I ended up making the almond paste myself instead of using the prepared paste, which was actually really easy to make and tasted great. The recipe I used for the paste didn't call for adding extract so I will need to experiment next time to see which I like better. I thought the cake had a good almond flavor, not too overwhelming. For the buttercream I used an organic almond extract to flavor it and made an assortment of fondant flowers dusted with luster dust to adorn the cake. I torted each of the three cake layers and filled with buttercream and then every other layer a combination of buttercream and raspberry jam.
Almond Raspberry Layer Cake
Adapted from Sky High.
Makes a 9-inch triple layer cake that serves 16 to 20 people
4 1/2 cups cake flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup prepared almond paste (7 ounces) *see below on how I made the paste
2 2/3 cups sugar
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon almond extract
10 egg whites
1 1/2 cups whole milk
For assembly:
1 cup simple syrup (to keep cake moist)(optional) *I did this, I would recommend
1 cup seedless raspberry preserves *I couldn't find a seedless jam at my neighborhood market so I used Stonewall Kitchen's Raspberry Jam and heated it on the stove and then strained it through a sieve to remove the seeds and let it cool before filling cake
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch (but 9-inch will work just fine) round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside.
3. Place the almond paste and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in another large bowl if using a handheld mixer. Begin to cream the mixture on low speed to break up the almond paste, then increase the speed to medium for about 2 minutes, or until the paste is broken into fine particles.
4. Add the butter and almond extract and beat it well, then the egg whites, two or three at a time, beating just long enough to incorperate after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to make sure it is evenly mixed.
5. Dust about a third of the dry ingredients over the batter and fold in with a large rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in about half the milk. Fold in half the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk. Finally, fold in the last of the dry ingredients just until no streaks of white remain. Use a light hand and do not over mix. Divide the batter among the three prepared cake pans.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out on to wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners and let them cool completely, about one hour.
*Almond Paste:
8 oz blanched almonds
8 oz confectioner sugar
1 egg white
Of course you can buy almonds already blanched but I had a big bag of raw almonds at home so I simply put them in a bowl and poured boiling water over them to blanch them. Let them sit for no longer than one minute and then drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry and you will be able to remove the skins. It is strangely satisfying.
Once you have the skins removed then put the almonds into a food processor and grind. Add the sugar and grind again. Once it is a powder I put it into the kitchen aid and then gradually added the egg white. I used a dough hook but found that since it was a small amount it was better to knead it until firm and smooth.
This worked well in the cake but since it was my first time making the paste if anyone out there has a recipe or method they use, feel free to share!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Toba Garrett
12 oz (336 g) egg whites (10 large egg whites or about 1 1/2 cups)
3 cups (680 g) granulated sugar
3 lbs (1.36 kg) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp almond extract (or flavor of your choosing)
1. Lightly whisk egg whites and sugar together over simmering water until egg-white mixture is hot to touch or a candy thermometer reads 140°F (60°C).
2. Pour hot whites into a room-temperature bowl and whip with a wire whip until double in volume on MEDIUM-HIGH speed. When the mixer stops, the meringue should not move around in the bowl. Meanwhile cut up butter into 2-inch pieces. (The butter should be slightly moist on the outside but cold inside.)
3. On your mixer, remove the whip and attach the paddle. Add half the butter (1 1/2 lbs or 680 g) into the bowl immediately and pulsate the mixer several times until the meringue has covered the butter completely. To pulsate the mixer, turn it on and off in a jerky motion. This forces the butter on the top to the bottom of the bowl. Add the balance of the butter (1 1/2 lbs or 680 g) and pulsate mixer several times. Slowly increase the mixer's speed, starting with the lowest speed and increase the speed every 10 seconds until you reach a MEDIUM-HIGH speed.
4. Continue beating until the mixture begins to look light and fluffy. Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl. Reduce speed to LOW. Add flavoring and continue to beat on LOW speed for 45 seconds. Then beat on MEDIUM-HIGH speed for an additional 45 to 60 seconds.
5. Leftover buttercream can be placed in plastic containers with lids and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost completely (several hours) and rewhip before using.
Happy Birthday Amy and congratulations Amy and Erica!!!
