Fruity Cream Cake for Shavuos

This Recipe Series is brought to you by community news service COLlive.com and Kettle & Cord, the home essentials store in Crown Heights. Today’s presenter is Chaya Rapoport, a gourmet baker and pastry chef.

Shavuos is a baker’s dream of a holiday. The Yom tov presents so many opportunities for trying new recipes and creating delightful delicacies. This year, try this new fruity cream cake from Chaya Rapoport.

Here’s Chaya on why she loves this recipe:

“Eggs and oil give this cake its richness, and its signature yellow color and cake flour ensures that it’s soft and sponge-y. The summery filling of cold whipped cream and sweet, tart, colorful berries is beautiful and delicious, and the romantic flower topping elevates this cake from simple summer afternoon treat to a bona-fide showstopper.”

Watch below as Chaya demonstrates her Cream Cake recipe.

You will need:

For the Sponge Cake:

1 1/4 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

6 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 cup canola oil

For the whipped cream:

3 cups heavy cream, chilled

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the berries and flowers:

4 cups mixed berries, washed and dried

A selection of unsprayed romantic, pink and pale flowers and leaves (ranunculus, peonies, ivy leaves, garden roses)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans and set aside.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high for about 5 minutes or until the batter resembles pale ribbons.

Stop the mixing and remove the mixing bowl form the stand. Sift the dry ingredients over the top of the batter. Whisk gently by hand until just barely combined.

Pour in the lemon juice and oil and whisk by hand until combined (taking care to not deflate the batter as much as possible).

Evenly distribute the batter between the two pans and bake for about 35 to 38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile, work on the berries and cream. Thinly slice some strawberries and some blackberries in half. Now, whip the cream.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream on medium-high until it begins to thicken slightly.

Gradually add in the sugar and vanilla and bump mixer up to high.

Continue to whip the cream until medium-soft peaks.

Remove the cakes from the oven when they are baked. Let cool on a wire rack before removing the cakes from their pans.

Once the cakes have cooled, carefully slice them in half (horizontally) using a long serrated knife.

Now, assemble the cake: place a bottom layer of cake on a cake plate or serving dish. Spread on 1/4 of the whipped cream.

Top the cream with the mixed berries. Top with the next layer of cake and repeat until all cake layers are used.

On the very top of the cake, spread on the remaining whipped cream. Top with berries on one side and arrange flowers artfully on the other side. Decorate the sides with ivy leaves and a few rogue berries, if desired.

Dig in!

Notes:

When mixing in the dry ingredients and then adding in the wet, take care not to deflate the eggs, which give the batter lift and structure.

Mix thoroughly but gently, taking care not to leave oily or floury streaks in the batter.

Let the cake cool sufficiently before assembling, or the whipped cream may melt.

Choose berries that are fresh and seasonal, and when picking flowers, make sure they are organic and unsprayed, so you don’t end up ingesting harmful pesticides and chemicals.

This cake is best shortly or after assemblage, or on the same day.