So, the reason why I created this cake was a party, of course. You have to know that, since the beginning of December 2014, I started a Finnish language and culture course at Oulun Aikuiskoulutuskeskus. I happened to be in a marvelous class with marvelous classmates and teachers. So, the thing was that the first module (this course is divided in three modules) is going to end very soon and our Finnish language teacher is going to change. Hence, we decided as a class to make a yllätys juhla, a surprise party for her. Everyone would bring something; I was the one who was going to bake the cake.
I started thinking in advance what should I bake and then quite soon realizing that I wanted to make up my own recipe. I wanted it to be tasty, but not heavy. So then the idea of a raspberry chocolate layer cake started developing.
Now, you have to know something: I have never made a layer cake before. I’ve always used to bake a lot, but never thought about layering.
Once, a week in advance, I started trying to figure out the actual dosages for the cake. Of course it didn’t totally succeed, but I could already see in which direction the recipe was heading. For the base I didn’t use butter and I substituted it with full fat coconut milk. The raspberry cream came out too heavy the first time. The main ingredient was cream cheese and its taste was too predominant over the others. Then it came into my mind to add some mascarpone cheese and the flavors started to be perfectly balanced!
Now some practical advices. Prepare the bases one day in advance, so that they will have time to cool down and compact completely. If you have a springform pan, use it opening it, placing the baking paper only at the bottom and closing it. In this way the cakes will have a regular outlook. Don’t worry if the cakes are going to be little bit puffier in the middle than on the sides. Everything can be repaired!
The next day, cut away the cambers from both cakes and cut them in half horizontally. In this way you’ll have two perfectly flat disks and two little bit irregular ones. When it comes to assemble the cake, use a flat disk at first, then use the two irregular ones with the irregular sides facing down and, eventually place the last disk at the top.
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[col1]Preparation time: 1 hour[/col1]
[col2]Cooking time: 50 min[/col2]
[col3]Total time: 1 hour and 50 min[/col3]
Serves: 12 people
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INGREDIENTS:
For two bottoms (21 cm diameters)
- 6 eggs
- 100 g of sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 200 g of all purpose flour
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon and a half of baking soda
- 200 g of chocolate (60%)
- 1 can of full fat coconut milk
For the cream:
- 200 g raspberries
- Juice of half a lemon
- Zest of one lemon
- 10 g brown sugar
- 400 g cream cheese
- 400 g mascarpone cheese
- 200 ml heavy cream
- 100 g powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla powder
For assembly and decoration:
- Milk
- White chocolate
- Frozen rapberries
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat the oven at 180°C
- With a mixer, whip the eggs together with the sugar and a pinch of salt. It will have to reach a frothy texture.
- Put the coconut milk and the chocolate in a kettle and warm with low heater
- When they’ll be melted, add them slowly to the mixture of eggs and sugar, continuing to mix or whip at low speed
- Add cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and soda sieving them so that lumps will be avoided
- Mix the dough till homogeneous texture
- Put half of the dough in the springform pan and cook for 25 min (make the toothptick test: if the toothptick will come out from the dough dry, then the cake is ready)
- When the first cake will be ready, take it out of the oven and put the second one
- In the meantime, boil the raspberries with brown sugar and lemon juice and zest. Blend in order to make it sauce-like and leave it to cool down
- Whip the cream cheese, the mascarpone, the powder sugar and the vanilla sugar
- Add the raspberry sauce and the heavy cream and continue to whip until the cream reach a firm texture
ASSEMBLY:
- When the cakes will be cooled down, even up the possible camber with a bread knife
- Cut the two cakes in half horizontally. Now you’ll have 4 disks
- Put the first disk in your platter or cake stand and moist it with milk, helping yourself with a cook brush
- Spread and even up 3 tablespoons of cream as a first layer
- Repeat the process for all the layers spreading the cream from the center to the sides
(of should I say circumference, since the cake is round?) - With the cream you have left, cover first the top of the cake with a thin layer and then continue toward the sides, filling the possible empty holes between the layers. Even up with the help of a kitchen spatula
- Grate the white chocolate and scatter it at the top of the cake
- Before serving, place the frozen raspberries all around the base of your super cake
Bon apetit!
