When it comes to sports or any other arena that requires a competitive spirit, people get diplomatic in talking about victory. We all, for that matter, would agree when one says - "It doesn't matter who wins or looses. What counts is playing a healthy game". So, it was just with this notion in my mind that I baked this 'Bleed Blue' themed Fresh Cream Fruit Cake to support the Indian Cricket Team as they competed for the Cricket World Cup against Sri Lanka. Bleed Blue was the caption/motto of the team (created by Nike? Did I get that right, ardent fans?) which was sported across social networking sites and got my attention. It certainly had my adrenaline running when I got to know my nation was in the finals of a game that's close on the heels of religion in India.
So, a couple of us friends got together with our families to witness what would go down in the pages Indian history. While our team gave their best shot and won the World Cup, it was taking us (still is!) to sink in and digest the heady win it was. Well, what was easier? Sinking our teeth into this sinful fresh cream fruit cake to celebrate victory.
While in most cases fruit cakes are topped off with all kinds of fruit possible, I decided to go with fruit that came closest to the colours of our Indian flag. Saffron (Oranges) and Green (Kiwi) and added blue food colouring to write the very inspiring words.
Team India, we Bleed Blue for you!!
Before I head into sharing the recipe with you, let me share with you a little something. I've been failing miserably at a particular bake. I know that may sound ridiculous coming from a person who is doing so much with the oven. But hey, I am really no professional here. I've had my share of muffins caving in and cakes as dry as the Sahara, too. Still, like I've said umpteen number of times, this blog is ALL about my experiments in the kitchen. Just turns out that some are good and some are bad. Nonetheless, all of them are learning experiences.
Now, here's the thing. Most pastries like this Fresh Cream Fruit Cake, Pineapple Pastry or Black Forest Cake etc. require a fat-less sponge as the base. This is done (according to my understanding) so that the soaking/sugar syrup/juice gets into every molecule of the sponge and heightens the experience of eating the pastry in the end. Well, I tried making fat-less sponge cakes many a times, but failed. And, I just bake a basic vanilla or chocolate or whatever cake I want as the base and proceed from there to make my pastry.
With this Fresh Cream Fruit Cake I've baked a basic cake and then worked my way up to what it looked like in the pictures. This is just my perception of what I'd like to call a Fresh Cream Fruit Cake. Is there any thing I've missed? Let me know!
My thought was I could do away with about 1/2 cup of milk because I felt the cake became too dense (see the picture of the slice to know get I mean). Try both ways and see what works for you if you're in the mood for some serious baking experimentation.
Alright, alright. I've bored you enough. I'm sharing the recipe now. Finally!
Like the other pastries, I'd like to break this procedure into steps, as follows:
STEP I - Baking the Basic (Vanilla) Cake
STEP II - Layering and Basic Assembly
STEP III - Decorating the Cake to a Finished Product
STEP I - Baking the Basic (Vanilla) Cake
This step involves baking a basic cake which acts as a base to the entire finished product. If you intend making a simple cake anytime, save this right now!
Ingredients
1 Cup All purpose flour/Maida
1 Cup Unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 Cup Confectioner's sugar
1 Cup Milk (Reduce to half cup for a less dense cake)
3 Eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Salt
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare baking dish by smearing oil/butter all over the insides. Dust flour to evenly cover all parts of the dish to prevent the cake from sticking to it once baked
- In a large bowl, sift together all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Repeat the sifting process into another large bowl to make sure you have a homogenous mixture of all these dry ingredients
- Cream together butter and sugar in another bowl
- Now, break eggs into the creamed sugar-butter one by one and beat with a hand mixer
- Add the vanilla extract to this wet mixture
- This batter may be thick, so pour in the milk gradually with your hand mixer on low speed
- Now, slowly add flour, a little amount at a time and fold in using a silicone spatula until you have a creamy and luscious batter
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish (I have used a 9" round springform pan) and bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when pierced in the center of the cake
- Once baked, transfer the cake onto a cooling rack to allow the cake to come down to room temperature
If you intend continuing to STEP II, make sure the cake is completely cooled. But if you want to go to STEP II the next day, go ahead and place the cooled cake in the refrigerator overnight if the weather is too warm where you live.
STEP II - Layering and Basic Assembly
This step involves cutting the cake into layers, dousing them in sugar syrup and topping them off with whipped cream and sugar doused chopped fruit pieces. Sound's easy breezy, does'nt it? Go ahead and do it!!
For those of you living in hot places, take your cake out of the fridge and place it on your contertop until you grab the ingredients required to layer and frost it. This will allow the cake to come back to a warmer temperature before you flip it over your cake board/plate (The one on which you intend cutting it in the end). Now, get hold of all the following things from around your kitchen/pantry.
Ingredients
1.5 Cups of mixed fresh fruit (I used Kiwis, Oranges, Strawberries and Blueberries)
1/2 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
4 to 5 Cups - Whipped Cream/Topping (I used store bought ready-made whipped cream to save me some time. If you intend making it from scratch, go right ahead. Just whip together, in a chilled bowl, 3 Cups of heavy whipping cream along with 1/2 Cup (or more if needed) of Confectioner's sugar until it forms soft peaks)
1/2 Cup Water and 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar/Regular sugar to make Sugar Syrup.
Method
- Wash and chop all the fruits and set aside in a bowl
- Toss in 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar over the fruit and mix well and place in refrigerator
- In a saucepan, combine the water and granulated sugar and set to a boil
- Once the sugar melts, turn off the heat and set aside to cool
- Now, head back to your cake and flip it over your cake board/plate. If you feel the cake is giving you a hard time flipping over (and if you have used a microwave safe dish to bake it) then toss the cake, prior to struggling to get it out of the baking dish, into the microwave for about 15-30 seconds. This will warm up the cake and allow for it to be easily lifted off (by slowly tugging at the sides using a broad off-set spatula) and flipped over onto your cake board. Yet, be careful as you do this so that you dont end up with a broken cake!
- If your cake seems to wobble, turn it back onto original position and smooth away any bulging parts (using the serrated/ridged knife) and flip again onto your cake board so you have a sturdy base to work with. You could place a paper towel below your work area for all the (yummy) mess that follows
- Using a serrated/ridged knife cut the cake horizontally to form a two layered cake. Separate the layers. Remember in which order and direction you have placed them, lest you end up placing them back in the opposite/wrong way leading to an odd shaped cake after its all done!
- Now place one layer (the lowest one for the final cake) on your cake board. Mount it on your turn-table (Or put together a make-shift turn-table like I do - I just flip a large steel plate to place the cake, and then I mount this on my round chapati rolling stand. Works just perfectly!)
- Lightly drizzle the sugar syrup over this layer of the cake, covering the entire surface area. This step is what gives the final cake that super moist texture!
- Now, scoop about 1 to 1.5 Cups of the whipped cream and drop the humongous dollop on this layer using a frosting spatula
- Spread all over the layer covering it completely such that you have a thick layer of whipped cream on it. Add more cream if you think your cream layer is not too thick since this is dependant on what size of a baking dish you used/size of your cake. A 1/2 to 3/4th inch thick layers of cream seem fine to me, but indulge if you like more!
- Now, take out the sugar doused fruit pieces and drain away any water content
- Spread fruit pieces evenly over the whipped cream
- Place the top layer of the cake on this. Smooth out any cream that seems to be seeping out between the layers and place in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes to set
- Pull out and mount the cake back on the turn-table. Repeat application of the the sugar syrup
- Now, using the frosting spatula pick up about 1 Cup whipped cream and roughly smear it all over the cake (both on top and around the sides). Smooth out rough parts and pop the semi-finished cake back in the refrigerator to allow the flavours to marry overnight before you finish up the main finishing with whipped cream and final decoration
STEP III - Decorating the Cake to a Finished Product
This step involves coating the cake with a smooth layer of whipped cream and topping it up with all that you desire. Go ahead and get creative!
Yup, yup! We're almost done and I am SO proud that you've read this far. Keep going...your divine dessert awaits you at the end of all this.
Ingredients
Left over whipped cream (Or about 1.5 Cups)
Fresh Fruit (I used Kiwis and Oranges, as you can see)
Method to finish the cake with whipped cream
-Take small dollops of whipped cream and apply a layer of cream over the sides of the cake as you simultanuously rotate your turntable. Use smooth back and forth motions to cover the entire cake (sides) evenly. Dont worry too much about tiny peaks and valleys. We'll work on them in a few steps.
- Drop about 3/4 Cup of whipped cream on top of the cake and spread out evenly using a flat spatula
- Run your spatula against the top edge to remove any excess cream between the sides and the top of the cake
- Now dip a steel frosting spatula in cold water (Yup I had said hot water in my Black Forest Cake but I tried cold water and it works much better). Wipe dry with a towel and spread out any uneven parts of the frosted cake as you rotate the turntable, to get a smooth finished look
Method to decorate the cake the way I have
- Use a fork to make the combed effect on the sides of the cake
- Prep kiwis and oranges and make equal sized semi-circular slices
- Starting with one point on the cake place one piece of each fruit adjacent to each other
- Now, imagine your cake to be a clock and keeping that point as say the 12 o'clock mark, place fruit at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions
- Fill out the remaining positions of the imaginary clock
- Mix a small quantity of whipped cream with blue food colouring
- Fill a plastic zip-top bag with the same
- Snap a small portion of a corner of the blue cream bag and pipe whatever you want on the cake. I piped lines on the sides of my cake to add some drama.
Serves 12 - 14
Before I head into sharing the recipe with you, let me share with you a little something. I've been failing miserably at a particular bake. I know that may sound ridiculous coming from a person who is doing so much with the oven. But hey, I am really no professional here. I've had my share of muffins caving in and cakes as dry as the Sahara, too. Still, like I've said umpteen number of times, this blog is ALL about my experiments in the kitchen. Just turns out that some are good and some are bad. Nonetheless, all of them are learning experiences.
Now, here's the thing. Most pastries like this Fresh Cream Fruit Cake, Pineapple Pastry or Black Forest Cake etc. require a fat-less sponge as the base. This is done (according to my understanding) so that the soaking/sugar syrup/juice gets into every molecule of the sponge and heightens the experience of eating the pastry in the end. Well, I tried making fat-less sponge cakes many a times, but failed. And, I just bake a basic vanilla or chocolate or whatever cake I want as the base and proceed from there to make my pastry.
With this Fresh Cream Fruit Cake I've baked a basic cake and then worked my way up to what it looked like in the pictures. This is just my perception of what I'd like to call a Fresh Cream Fruit Cake. Is there any thing I've missed? Let me know!
My thought was I could do away with about 1/2 cup of milk because I felt the cake became too dense (see the picture of the slice to know get I mean). Try both ways and see what works for you if you're in the mood for some serious baking experimentation.
Alright, alright. I've bored you enough. I'm sharing the recipe now. Finally!
Like the other pastries, I'd like to break this procedure into steps, as follows:
STEP I - Baking the Basic (Vanilla) Cake
STEP II - Layering and Basic Assembly
STEP III - Decorating the Cake to a Finished Product
STEP I - Baking the Basic (Vanilla) Cake
This step involves baking a basic cake which acts as a base to the entire finished product. If you intend making a simple cake anytime, save this right now!
Ingredients
1 Cup All purpose flour/Maida
1 Cup Unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 Cup Confectioner's sugar
1 Cup Milk (Reduce to half cup for a less dense cake)
3 Eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Salt
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare baking dish by smearing oil/butter all over the insides. Dust flour to evenly cover all parts of the dish to prevent the cake from sticking to it once baked
- In a large bowl, sift together all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Repeat the sifting process into another large bowl to make sure you have a homogenous mixture of all these dry ingredients
- Cream together butter and sugar in another bowl
- Now, break eggs into the creamed sugar-butter one by one and beat with a hand mixer
- Add the vanilla extract to this wet mixture
- This batter may be thick, so pour in the milk gradually with your hand mixer on low speed
- Now, slowly add flour, a little amount at a time and fold in using a silicone spatula until you have a creamy and luscious batter
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish (I have used a 9" round springform pan) and bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when pierced in the center of the cake
- Once baked, transfer the cake onto a cooling rack to allow the cake to come down to room temperature
If you intend continuing to STEP II, make sure the cake is completely cooled. But if you want to go to STEP II the next day, go ahead and place the cooled cake in the refrigerator overnight if the weather is too warm where you live.
STEP II - Layering and Basic Assembly
This step involves cutting the cake into layers, dousing them in sugar syrup and topping them off with whipped cream and sugar doused chopped fruit pieces. Sound's easy breezy, does'nt it? Go ahead and do it!!
For those of you living in hot places, take your cake out of the fridge and place it on your contertop until you grab the ingredients required to layer and frost it. This will allow the cake to come back to a warmer temperature before you flip it over your cake board/plate (The one on which you intend cutting it in the end). Now, get hold of all the following things from around your kitchen/pantry.
Ingredients
1.5 Cups of mixed fresh fruit (I used Kiwis, Oranges, Strawberries and Blueberries)
1/2 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
4 to 5 Cups - Whipped Cream/Topping (I used store bought ready-made whipped cream to save me some time. If you intend making it from scratch, go right ahead. Just whip together, in a chilled bowl, 3 Cups of heavy whipping cream along with 1/2 Cup (or more if needed) of Confectioner's sugar until it forms soft peaks)
1/2 Cup Water and 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar/Regular sugar to make Sugar Syrup.
Method
- Wash and chop all the fruits and set aside in a bowl
- Toss in 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar over the fruit and mix well and place in refrigerator
- In a saucepan, combine the water and granulated sugar and set to a boil
- Once the sugar melts, turn off the heat and set aside to cool
- Now, head back to your cake and flip it over your cake board/plate. If you feel the cake is giving you a hard time flipping over (and if you have used a microwave safe dish to bake it) then toss the cake, prior to struggling to get it out of the baking dish, into the microwave for about 15-30 seconds. This will warm up the cake and allow for it to be easily lifted off (by slowly tugging at the sides using a broad off-set spatula) and flipped over onto your cake board. Yet, be careful as you do this so that you dont end up with a broken cake!
- If your cake seems to wobble, turn it back onto original position and smooth away any bulging parts (using the serrated/ridged knife) and flip again onto your cake board so you have a sturdy base to work with. You could place a paper towel below your work area for all the (yummy) mess that follows
- Using a serrated/ridged knife cut the cake horizontally to form a two layered cake. Separate the layers. Remember in which order and direction you have placed them, lest you end up placing them back in the opposite/wrong way leading to an odd shaped cake after its all done!
- Now place one layer (the lowest one for the final cake) on your cake board. Mount it on your turn-table (Or put together a make-shift turn-table like I do - I just flip a large steel plate to place the cake, and then I mount this on my round chapati rolling stand. Works just perfectly!)
- Lightly drizzle the sugar syrup over this layer of the cake, covering the entire surface area. This step is what gives the final cake that super moist texture!
- Now, scoop about 1 to 1.5 Cups of the whipped cream and drop the humongous dollop on this layer using a frosting spatula
- Spread all over the layer covering it completely such that you have a thick layer of whipped cream on it. Add more cream if you think your cream layer is not too thick since this is dependant on what size of a baking dish you used/size of your cake. A 1/2 to 3/4th inch thick layers of cream seem fine to me, but indulge if you like more!
- Now, take out the sugar doused fruit pieces and drain away any water content
- Spread fruit pieces evenly over the whipped cream
- Place the top layer of the cake on this. Smooth out any cream that seems to be seeping out between the layers and place in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes to set
- Pull out and mount the cake back on the turn-table. Repeat application of the the sugar syrup
- Now, using the frosting spatula pick up about 1 Cup whipped cream and roughly smear it all over the cake (both on top and around the sides). Smooth out rough parts and pop the semi-finished cake back in the refrigerator to allow the flavours to marry overnight before you finish up the main finishing with whipped cream and final decoration
STEP III - Decorating the Cake to a Finished Product
This step involves coating the cake with a smooth layer of whipped cream and topping it up with all that you desire. Go ahead and get creative!
Yup, yup! We're almost done and I am SO proud that you've read this far. Keep going...your divine dessert awaits you at the end of all this.
Ingredients
Left over whipped cream (Or about 1.5 Cups)
Fresh Fruit (I used Kiwis and Oranges, as you can see)
Method to finish the cake with whipped cream
-Take small dollops of whipped cream and apply a layer of cream over the sides of the cake as you simultanuously rotate your turntable. Use smooth back and forth motions to cover the entire cake (sides) evenly. Dont worry too much about tiny peaks and valleys. We'll work on them in a few steps.
- Drop about 3/4 Cup of whipped cream on top of the cake and spread out evenly using a flat spatula
- Run your spatula against the top edge to remove any excess cream between the sides and the top of the cake
- Now dip a steel frosting spatula in cold water (Yup I had said hot water in my Black Forest Cake but I tried cold water and it works much better). Wipe dry with a towel and spread out any uneven parts of the frosted cake as you rotate the turntable, to get a smooth finished look
Method to decorate the cake the way I have
- Use a fork to make the combed effect on the sides of the cake
- Prep kiwis and oranges and make equal sized semi-circular slices
- Starting with one point on the cake place one piece of each fruit adjacent to each other
- Now, imagine your cake to be a clock and keeping that point as say the 12 o'clock mark, place fruit at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions
- Fill out the remaining positions of the imaginary clock
- Mix a small quantity of whipped cream with blue food colouring
- Fill a plastic zip-top bag with the same
- Snap a small portion of a corner of the blue cream bag and pipe whatever you want on the cake. I piped lines on the sides of my cake to add some drama.
Serves 12 - 14
Lovely cake and thought for the Indian team Deepthi! I am sure it tasted as wonderful as it looks!
ReplyDeleteOf course , we are not perfect and can't not fail in our attempts. Its just that some can admit it and some can't... do keep at it, you will get there with the fatless sponge. It certainly is one of the best,best base for a fresh cream cake..
Woww gorgeous cake, love that frosting...
ReplyDeleteDelicious! Mouthwatering! Wonderful Ran out of compliments!:)
ReplyDeleteUS Masala
Thanks for sharing the recipe! My mom and I love to try new things in the kitchen so this will be a delight to her! Thanks again and happy baking! :)
ReplyDelete@ Winterwonder9300 - I am glad you hopped by. Enjoy the fruit cake and do let me know how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteHi, which store bough cream can I use? I saw Kraft brand cream in frozen section, is that good? Also can I prepare the cake and keep it in fridge previous day and cut it next day evening? Thanks
ReplyDeleteHi Pradnya!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thank you for dropping by.
Yes, you can use store bought cream. But, you need to purchase whipping cream and not fresh cream. You get it easily in most supermarkets aborad.
ANd yes, you can prepare the cake the previous evening. DO NOT place in the fridge. It will last you for a day without goign bad for sure. In fact, if its not hot you can keep any unfrosted cake outside for a couple days. I believe refridgeration spoils the taste of cakes. But in case of fresh cream pastries, once you slather the cream, no choice but to keep in the fridge.
Hope this helps!
Enjoy your fruit cake!
Deepti
Also Pradnya, YOu can buy readily available frozen whipped cream and thaw it for a few hours in the fridge and use that as well to save time.
ReplyDelete