Cake | Cream Frostings and Fresh Fruits

I love whipped cream frosted cakes. It's my ultimate cake frosting favorite and the chocolate with condensed milk frosting would be my second. You probably have a bakery close to you that sells one but the bakeries where I’m at hardly ever make cakes like this since most of them either make buttercreams or overly sweet powdered sugar icings.

Luckily, all the ingredients for making any kinds of cakes are much easier to acquire at a very cheap price in any groceries here. So everytime there’s an occasion, I make my own cake rather than to serve a store bought one. So what's the occasion this time? Well....it's my birthday! I've been thinking about making fresh fruits topping for my cake for a long time and now I'm all for it. 

I didn't have much time to bake and prepare everything in one day since I was also busy making French Macarons that whole morning. So I baked the cake a day ahead and frosted it the next day, right on my birthday.

The cake recipe will be listed below as well as the rest of the frosting recipes. I have been making whipped cream frosting for my sponge cake but this time I wanted to try something else. I guess you could compare it with the sponge cake too although this one turned out more dense. It holds up really well which makes it great for fondant icing and cake decorating. 

FYI, I hardly ever make perfect made-from-scratch cakes but I'm pleased to say that this recipe turned out really well...and delicious too! So since this is my cake, it didn't scare me to try mixing and incorporating different frosting on it. I will be the one eating it anyway. Hah! 

The cake recipe was a White Wedding Cake shared by Heather Baird of Sprinkle Bakes. I was going to try her Swiss Meringue Buttercream too but I ran out of butter. 

White Wedding Cake Recipe

For a 6 x 2-inch round double layer test cake:
1 3/4 cups cake flour (such as Swan's down, do not substitute homemade cake flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 large egg whites, room temp
3/4 cup whole milk, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For a 9 x 2- inch round double layer cake:
3 1/2 cups cake flour (such as Swan's down, do not substitute homemade cake flour)
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 large egg whites, room temp
1 1/2 cups whole milk, room temp
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

For a 14 x 2 inch round double layer cake:
Note: A stand mixer is recommended for large quantity batters

8 2/3 cups cake flour (such as Swan's down, do not substitute homemade cake flour)
2 Tbsp plus 4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
15 large egg whites, room temp
3 1/2 cups whole milk, room temp
2 1/2 cups (5 sticks)  unsalted butter, softened
4 cups sugar
5 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease pans and line with parchment. I suggest using Wilton's Cake Release to grease the pans.  You don't have to use parchment with this product, and there are far less crumbs on the outside of the cake when it is turned out.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Whisk together egg whites and milk in a separate bowl; set aside.
3. Beat butter using the paddle attachment until soft and creamy. Add sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Beat in vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture alternately with the egg white/milk mixture.  Begin and end with flour mixture and beat until smooth on medium-low speed after each addition.
5. Divide batter between pans.  Bake 6-inch cake at 350 for 25 minutes; bake 9-inch cakes at 350 for about 35 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees for 14-inch cakes, bake for about 45 minutes.  Let cool  slightly in pan, then turn out and cool completely.

Whipped Cream Frosting
(Recipe from Food Pusher )

• 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup whipping cream (regular or heavy--I always use heavy cream)
• 2 tbsp confectioner's sugar

1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl to soften. 
2. Scald 2 tablespoon of the cream (this means you put the cream in a pan and bring it to a simmer on the stove); pour over gelatin, stirring till dissolved.
3. Refrigerate until consistency of unbeaten egg white. (This takes about 10-15 minutes.) Then, with a whisk, beat until smooth. 
4. In a stand mixer with a whip attachment, or with a hand beater, whip remaining cream and sugar just until soft peaks form; whip in the smoothed gelatin mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl twice. Whip until stiff peaks start to form, but be careful not to over beat. You will probably only need to whip it another 10-20 seconds before it's done.

Fills and frosts top of 2 8" or 9" cake layers; or frosts 10" angel cake or spongecake. Tops one standard 9" pie with some left over to enjoy from a spoon.  Stands up well, even in warm weather. Keep leftover frosting and any product topped with it in the refrigerator until ready to eat. 

Custard Filling
(Recipe from Adora's Box)

1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 can condensed milk
5 egg yolks
2 tbsps butter
1 tsp vanilla 

1. Mix the sugar and flour in a heavy bottomed saucepan. 
2. Add the milk while whisking. 
3. Add the condensed milk and egg yolks. 
4. Cook on low heat until thick. 
5. Take off the heat and add the butter and the flavouring. 
6. Transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with a disc of baking paper to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate when cooled. 

Enjoy your glamorously simple cake!