Read Rose's Heavenly Cakes Online
Authors: Rose Levy Beranbaum
Rose's Heavenly Cakes (5 page)
Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake at once onto a serving plate. Leave the pan in place for 1 to 2 minutes before lifting it off. If any apple slices have stuck to the pan, use a small metal spatula to place them back on the cake. Scatter the toasted walnuts on top. Serve warm or room temperature. If warm, serve the bourbon whipped cream, if using, on the side instead of on top of the apples.
1 1/3
cups/4 ounces/116 grams
Volume | Ounce | Gram | |
heavy cream, cold | ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) | 4 | 116 |
bourbon, such as Maker's Mark | 1 tablespoon | 0.5 | 14 |
Make the Bourbon Whipped Cream
In a mixing bowl, combine the cream and bourbon and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. (Chill the mixer's beaters alongside the bowl.) Whip the mixture, starting on low speed, gradually raising the speed to medium-high as it thickens, until the cream mounds softly when dropped from a spoon. If not serving it at once, cover and refrigerate for up to 6 hours.
Caramelized peaches offer a delicious variation to the classic apple upside-down cake.
Replace the apples with about 4 medium ripe peaches/1 pound 2 ounces/510 grams (peeled and sliced, 2¾ cups/15.7 ounces/450 grams). To peel the peaches, set them in a medium bowl and pour boiling water on top to cover them. Allow them to sit for about 1 minute and then transfer them with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water. If they don't peel easily, repeat the process. Peel the peaches and slice them ¼ inch thick. As you slice them, add them to a medium bowl containing the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar. Toss occasionally to prevent browning. Proceed as for the apple cake, but replace the walnuts with almonds, and the vanilla extract with ½ teaspoon pure almond extract.
12 to 16
40 to 50 minutes
This special recipe comes from Darina Allen of the famed Ballymaloe cooking school in County Cork, Ireland. Darina also likes to use other fruits in season, such as apricots, peaches, or other varieties of plums, but I adore the greengage plums, which are tart and perfumed; the blueberries, when baked, lend their deep purple color to the fruit topping. The torte is firmer and less sweet than most because it has no added liquid: The fruit's juices moisten it. Making this torte a day ahead allows it to moisten evenly.
Volume | Ounce | Gram | |
sugar | 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons | 8 | 225 |
water | ¼ cup (2 fluid ounces) | 2 | 59 |
Special Equipment
One 10 by 2-inch round cake or sauté pan (11 cups; see
Note
), coated with nonstick cooking spray
Preheat the Oven
Twenty minutes or more before baking, set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
Make the Caramel Sauce
Have ready the prepared pan. In a small saucepan, preferably nonstick, stir together the sugar and water and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and comes to a boil. Continue boiling, without stirring, until the syrup caramelizes to deep amber (about 370°F/188°C or a few degrees lower because its temperature will continue to rise). Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the caramel (do not scrape) into the prepared pan, tilting it to coat evenly. Don't worry if it hardens, it will melt during baking.
Volume | Ounce | Gram | |
greengage or purple plums, rinsed and dried | 3 cups | 1 pound | 454 |
blueberries, rinsed and dried | 2½ cups | 12.3 | 350 |
Make the Plum Blueberry Topping
Cut the plums in half and remove the pits. If using purple plums, cut the pitted plums in half. Arrange them cut side down in a single layer over the caramel. Tumble the blueberries evenly over the top.
Volume | Ounce | Gram | |
bleached all-purpose flour | 1¾ cups (sifted into the cup and leveled off) | 7 | 200 |
superfine sugar | ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons | 6.2 | 175 |
baking powder | 2½ teaspoons | . | . |
salt | ¼ teaspoon | . | . |
unsalted butter (65° to 75°F/19° to 23°C) | 10½ tablespoons (1 stick plus 2½ tablespoons) | 5.3 | 150 |
3 large eggs, at room temperature | ½ cup plus 1½ tablespoons (4.7 fluid ounces) | 5.3 | 150 |
pure vanilla extract | 1½ teaspoons | . | . |
Make the Batter
In a food processor, process the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and process for a few seconds until the dry ingredients are moistened and clumpy. Add the eggs and vanilla and process for a few seconds just until the mixture comes together.
Using a silicone spatula, drop the batter in big blobs on top of the plums. Then smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula, keeping the fruit in an attractive pattern. The pan will be almost three-quarters full (about ½ inch from the top).
Bake the Cake
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center.
Cool and Unmold the Cake
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake at once onto a serving plate. Leave the pan in place for 1 to 2 minutes before lifting it off. If any fruit has stuck to the pan, use a small metal spatula to place it back on the cake.
Note
If using a sauté pan instead of a cake pan, you can prepare the caramel in the pan, but be sure to remove it from the heat as soon as the syrup begins to caramelize in order to stop it from getting darker.
12 to 14
40 to 45 minutes; 45 to 55 minutes in a fluted tube pan
I adapted this cake from one of the most popular cakes in
The Cake Bible
: the All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake. I adore the beauty of a daisy pan as well as its rectangular shape, which makes serving a dream, but the cake also bakes perfectly in a fluted tube pan. Either way, the crumb is velvety soft, tender, and imbued with the flavor of butter and vanilla.
Volume | Ounce | Gram | |
about 5 large egg yolks, at room temperature | ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 fluid ounces) | 3.2 | 93 |
milk | ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (6.5 fluid ounces), divided | 7 | 200 |
pure vanilla extract | 2 teaspoons | . | . |
cake flour (or bleached all-purpose flour) | 2½ cups (or 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons), sifted into the cup and leveled off | 8.7 | 250 |
superfine sugar | 1¼ cups | 8.7 | 250 |
baking powder | 3 1/8 | . | . |
salt | ¾ teaspoon | . | . |
unsalted butter (65° to 75°F/19° to 23°C) | 10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) | 5 | 142 |
Special Equipment
One 10-cup Nordic Ware Daisy Cake Pan or metal fluted tube pan, coated with baking spray with flour
Preheat the Oven
Twenty minutes or more before baking, set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C (325°F/160°C if using a dark pan).
Mix the Liquid Ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks, ¼ cup of the milk, and the vanilla just until lightly combined.
Make the Batter
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and the remaining milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1½ minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Starting on low speed, gradually add the egg mixture in two parts, beating on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula.
Bake the Cake
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the rectangular pan, 45 to 55 minutes in the fluted tube pan, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
Cool and Unmold the Cake
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert it onto a wire rack and cool completely. Meanwhile, wash and dry the pan. Place it on top of the cake and invert the cake into the pan. Place a serving plate on top and reinvert the cake onto the plate. The texture of the cake is best eaten at room temperature the day it is baked, and it is still good 1 day later. Unfilled it can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
When it is completely cool, split the cake in half horizontally and spread one half with one recipe
Lemon Curd
and 1½ cups small fresh blueberries. Place the other half on top and press down lightly to bring the lemon curd to the edge or a little past. For special celebrations, you may opt to paint the daisy petals with thin royal icing and pipe a dollop of lemon curd in the middle of each flower.
Use any berries of your choice, such as raspberries or sliced strawberries. Replace the lemon curd with 1½ cups heavy cream processed in a food processor with 3 tablespoons/1.3 ounces/38 grams superfine sugar just until thick enough to hold a soft peak. (Check every few seconds once the cream starts thickening as overprocessing will turn it to butter.) If using the whipped cream filling, it will keep at cool room temperature for up to 6 hours.
8 to 10
30 to 40 minutes
With just minor modifications of the baking powder, this recipe works in just about any size or shape pan—from cupcakes to wedding cakes. With its fine soft crumb, the cake remains one of the most popular and useful in
The Cake Bible.
Marrying it here with the milk chocolate ganache doesn't overwhelm its delicate buttery flavor as would a bittersweet ganache.