The first thing my husband said when he saw the cake was, “This cake is very expensive”. LOL. Surprisingly he knows the price of raspberries, I never thought he'd remember the price of that punnet that he once bought me (the only time he did). Usually he never remembers the price of groceries.
Raspberries cost a bomb here. Serious. I can eat one week lunch (economy rice) with the $ that I buy one punnet of raspberries. But the other day when I went to KL, I can’t help but buy them because they were cute and small. One punnet seems to contain more than what I will usually get.. Same container but seems to have more simply because they were small. I used almost 2 punnets of raspberries for this cake. (there goes 2 week's lunch) One for the compote, one for garnish.
And when my husband ate the cake, he said, the angel flakes seem to have spoiled the cake, if not it will be very nice. My kids don’t like the coconut too. But I find it ok. I just wanted the cake to look as much as how Dorie made it look like visually. Next time I won’t cover the cake with angels flakes, if I were to make it again.
This shot is taken with bounced flash indoors. Looks better right?
Raspberry Lemon Cake
Recipe source: WendyinKK
General idea derived from Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake found in Baking: From My Home to Yours
Cake
Yolk Batter
4 egg yolks
30gm sugar
40gm milk
80gm cake flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp lemon zest
40gm vegetable oil
Meringue
4 egg whites
50gm sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Other components
Lemon buttercream (recipe below)
Raspberry compote (recipe below)
Garnishing
Angel flakes (sweetened coconut flakes)
Fresh raspberries
1. Preheat oven at 160(fan)/180C. Prepare an 8 inch pan. Line the base only.
2. Prepare yolk batter. Combine all the wet ingredients + sugar + lemon zest. Sift cake flour + baking powder together and combine with everything until a smooth batter forms.
3. Prepare meringue. Beat egg whites with lemon juice until soft peaks and beat in sugar gradually until stiff peaks form (hooked peak).
4. Prepare final batter. Fold ¼ of meringue into yolk batter until well combined. Repeat with another ¼. Pour the yolk batter into remaining meringue and fold until well combined (Fold not stir and it should look very foamy). Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake the cake for 35 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let the cake totally cool before removing cake from pan. (If it’s a springform pan, you can skip lining the base and then invert the pan to cool for better volume)
6. Assemble cake. Slice cake into 3 slices. Place one slice onto cake board/plate and spread ½ the raspberry compote onto the cake slice. Place another slice of cake onto another plate and spread generous amount of buttercream. Place the 2nd slice of cake with buttercream facing down onto the 1st slice. (it will look like a sandwich). Then spread the top of the 2nd slice with balance of raspberry compote. Spread the final slice of cake with buttercream and place it on top of the 2nd slice, buttercream side down.
7. Frost the whole cake with lemon buttercream. Cover cake with angel flakes. Pipe dots of buttercream to form a ring around cake. Place a small raspberry on top of each dot of cream.
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Raspberry Compote
175gm raspberries (frozen or fresh)
50gm sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Place raspberries into a saucepan and put in sugar. Let it sit for 30 minutes or until the raspberries water down. Cook the raspberries until the berries further disintergrate. Turn off the heat and stir in lemon juice. (The final compote should taste slightly tart)
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Lemon Frosting
1.5 portion of Buttercream
4 Tbsp lemon juice
Beat in lemon juice until well combined. Add more lemon juice if you prefer more zing.
this cake is not easy to shoot.. hate it.
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I am submitting this post to
Aspiring Bakers #18 Layers of Love (April 2012)
hosted by Sweet Samsations
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I am submitting this post to
raspberry really very expensive...that why until now i never but it....but your cake look very pretty with the raspberry.....i love the colour..white and red..so romantic and sweet... :)
ReplyDeletewow Wendy!! You're the first to submit your post! I love your enthusiasm and participation in the Aspiring Bakers Challenge!! This is definitely very inspiring to all of us! What a perfect cake!! It looks absolutely soft and delicious!
ReplyDeleteThis cake look so lovely and beautiful with those raspberries on top! Raspberries are expensive but they look so "seductive", isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWendy,
ReplyDelete"Ley Ker Jong Leang"...... ho ho sek thim! Yum Yum!
Red and white , this cake is so beautiful and looks elegant.
ReplyDeleteRasberry is also expensive here over in Singapore as compared to other berries.
Beautiful, pure white and red raspberries. Just in time for aspiring bakers eh? :)
ReplyDeleteWendy...you mean the cake did not turn out well for you using Dorie's method ? I have yet to try out Dorie recipes from that book. Yours definitely looks good, no wonder your hubby say " the cake looks expensive " I think the way you present it not just the fruits :) Yea, the raspberries are darn expensive in Jusco RM22 per punnet
ReplyDeleteHody,
ReplyDeleteIt's a once off thing.. i've been wanting to make a cake that looks like this for ages
sweetsamsations,
It's an old post, just in time :)
Mel,
Lei dou mou sek dou, lei dim chee hou hou sek?
Angel,
No matter how expensive over there, I'm sure this cake won't cost you 2 week's lunch.
Sharon,
Yeah, AB announced it last 3 weeks already, so I queued it for this event :)
Elin,
Even Rose Levy uses this method for her butter/oil cakes. It never finds favour with me, don't know why.
He didn't say it looks, he said, "It is very expensive" becos he really knows the price, LOL.
REcently came down a bit, 19 something I think.
really want to try the recipe... thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderfull pearly white cake. Despite of the rasberries, it really looks classy and expensive cake to me. I wanted to asked you where you got those lil red berries...after reading your post...u get it from KL. so no chance to get it here at Ipoh Jusco?
ReplyDeleteTo tell the truth, I don't like baking cakes and cookies with coconut.
Eny,
ReplyDeleteHope you like this
Angeline,
Got la, Jusco Ipoh, but Jaya Grocer in Subang is cheaper. That time, I ngam ngam saw them (I go to KL few times in a year), plus the size of the berries is smaller than those in Ipoh, so, more worth the price right, get more berries for garnish. If I use the big ones, I might need 1.5 punnets to get it done this way.
Tesco got ma. I buy there most of the time.
I noticed you like to use chiffon cakes a lot. I like chiffon cakes too but in reality, chiffon cake cannot take icing and any decorating. Hence, I noticed that your cake looked "squashed".. The cut up photo also showed the cake is very compressed. That dont do justice to the cake. Perhaps a good sponge cake would be better. Anyway, these are just my suggestions and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFood so delicious,
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out.
This chiffon is a low liquid content chiffon of which has the same ingredients as sponge cakes, just that the the chiffon method is being employed here. I could just call this a sponge if I want, that is made with egg separation method. I could use the same ingredients and use the whole eggs method, it will be almost the same.
The cake is not squashed up, the middle piece was actually my cake's base. It was actually dense because it was slightly underbaked. My fault. I made the replacement cake just 2 hours before serving time. I can't be petty with that limited time. It was supposed to be my FIL's birthday cake. I put the dense part in the middle so that the moisture from the compote can help soften it. Just a rescue method to a not so perfect cake.
.
Wendy, your cake looks so beautiful. Match the theme perfectly.
ReplyDeleteFresh raspberries are very expensive here in Perth too... 1 punnet is selling AUD8.90 here as well. Your husband is right ..the cake is very expensive ..hehe...
Li Shuan,
ReplyDeleteGASP! Yeah, very expensive too over there.
Wendy, you so good in making cake!! every cakes of yours look so professional *thumbs*
ReplyDeleteI I like the contrast between red and white (hehe, sounds like red and white wine here).
ReplyDeleteSo, this is chiffon cake made to look like high-class 5-star hotel buffet one :D Impressive!!
Shelly,
ReplyDeletethanks, but not pro yet.
Yvonne,
This type of deco usually will look good, because it is simple. I have always dreamed of making a cake that looks this way red and white :)
wendy you truly are amazing. that looks even more impressive than any cake I've seen in a hih-end bakery. coconut is one of my favourite flavours too, yum! the red and white looks gorgeous, would be perfect for valentine's day actually (or singapore's national day haha).
ReplyDeleteI still think the pics of the cakes are pretty!
ReplyDeleteand yes, I also cut down cos raspberries are so expensive and the coconut does make the cake really pretty plus cover up cos my technique in frosting is not good... =)
raspberries and lemon... yum... one of my favorite combination! looks so delicious and that alone worth the price.
ReplyDeleteWendy Wendy, I go agree with your hubby, when I look at the 1st picture, I keep saying this is expensive & I'm really curious now as to how much to cost for a punnet of this beautiful raspberries? I hardly buy these though we can get them all the time here, only becoz, they are expensive but I'm going to make a cake that I've seen from Jane's corner so I really hope that a punnet of it will cost no more than aud$8!
ReplyDeleteThe cake looks very pretty!
Wow..an impressive looking cake, Wendy. Well done. It does look expensive. Too bad the berries are sold very expensive here as they are imported fruits. Imagine what you can do with them if they sold very cheaply. Compliments to the photographer too!
ReplyDeleteShu Han,
ReplyDeleteYou tickled me pink, Yeah, if you arrange the rasps on the cake like how Sg's flag is.
Food Dreams,
when you pat on things like coconut, or nuts, it could cover up any frosting mishaps.
that's what I advise new bakers, cover up :)
Fong's kitchen journal,
Thanks :)
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteBad days and they cost RM24, good days, RM 16
Dollar to Dollar, it's very very expensive with the amount that we earn here. I can have 2 week's lunch with RM 40!!!
What's Baking,
Haha.... I still bake with raspberries whenever I could, but just use them moderately, it's only with this cake I splurged.
Very sweet looking cake! Like an angel. :)) but I can understand when ur hubby and girls didn't like the flakes...I too don't fancy those flakes. But nevertheless, still a great job done!
ReplyDeleteSuch an Angelic looking cake. White and red. They look good to me. I see that the method of making the cake is like chiffon cake. While cooling down in the oven, do the cake shrink a bit since you didn't invert the cake right after baking?
ReplyDeletewow! that's beautiful!! i like the flakes that you used for decor, though i think not many people fancy eating coconut flakes but they really make the cake looks outstanding, like the frills of a wedding dress! I see that your berries are so fresh, not a sight of condensation, next time do a post how to keep berries fresh, ok?
ReplyDeleteBee,
ReplyDeleteBut when toasted, those flakes smell heavenly and my kids love them. LOL.
Gert,
slightly. I've seen in Alex Goh's books and some other places using this method to make sponge, even Aunty Yochana's recipes.
Lena,
Then the rasps mai look like a sapphire necklace??
Turn on the aircond lor, LOL, then when the air is dry, not much vapour in the air, mai no condensation lor, kekekekeke.
I quickly made this cake because I don't want to spoil the rasps, I've been spoiling too much of them, that's why they look fresh this time.
So beautiful! I love the colors and the raspberries is so fresh! The coconut flakes do make the cake looks so gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteYour cake look gorgeous and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy, wow... your cake look awesome, very pro. 2 thumbs up for you. Love the texture of the cake.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice day.
lovely cake! all white and all black stuff are always the hardest to shoot!
ReplyDeleteI made this cake as part of daring bakers back in 2008 and I had the same problem!! I thought I did something wrong because there were others that got a good rise out of it!! I don't feel so bad now! =)
ReplyDeleteSimply gorgeous!! You did a great job with the cake AND the photography! I love coconut anything and raspberries, so this is the perfect cake!! Must try it someday... when I'm feeling rich... raspies also not cheap here :( Love the way you decorated the cake. So simple yet so stunning!!
ReplyDeleteSonia,
ReplyDeletethanks
Amelis,
you ahve a good day too
Alan,
I ahve better luck with black :(
kk,
I think if I used buttermilk it would've been better. Just like making pancakes, buttermilk makes it extra fluffy.
NEL,
Haha... I feel rich all the time, but pocket not rich.
hi sis wendy..
ReplyDeletekombinasi yang amat baik..menarik dan cantikkkk..
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteCan you advise the place where you purchase the Angel flakes? Regards Joelyn
Joelyn,
ReplyDeleteBaking supplies store
Wendy, would you advise which one? I have been to a number of baking supplies stores but they only sell dessicated coconut and not angel flakes.
ReplyDeleteJoelyn,
ReplyDeleteI need to know your location first
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI stay in Klang. Normally shop for my cake stuff in BS Bakery Klang, BWY/ Chang Tung in PJ and Kota Damansara. Recently I have been looking for angel flakes but could only find dessicated coconut until I saw your post and now I am hopeful again.....
Joelyn,
ReplyDeleteHave you checked their fridge?
I bought from BWY/Puchong before.
It's always in the fridge.
Wendy, thank you. I went to BWY Taman Megah as Puchong was kinda out of reach for me. I will go check their fridge again, maybe it's hidden. Thank you soo much :)
ReplyDeleteLove the cake pictures Wendy. I LOVE coconut, I would have gladly helped :o) Your layers look so perfect. Hope your FIL enjoyed it. Thnx for linking up to the event
ReplyDeleteoh wow....such a lovely cake..im sure everyone loved it ;)
ReplyDeleteThis cake looks simply beautiful :D
ReplyDeleteWhat could possibly beat coconut and berries!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the raspberries. Did you wash them before using, especially those on top of the cake?
2 years ago, I bought 2 punnets of raspberries to make a birthday cake for my girl. At first the raspberries looked fresh and nice, after washing, they became soggy. I just puréed all to add to the cake and did not decorate the cake with any berries. :(
Mind to tell me how you handle the berries? Btw, the 2 punnets of berries cost me a bomb at that time.
TIA!
Regards,
Yan
Yan,
ReplyDeleteI don't think I washed it this time, If I remembered correctly, because I was in rush and had no time to air dry them.
If I have the time, I will rinse them and let them air dry a bit.
My raspberries never have problem with rinsing, just a light rinse (I fill a bowl with water, throw them in, and pour away the water). But they can be really fragile, especially if they got frost bite in the fridge.
your description mentions adding cream of tartar, but it isn't in your ingredients list. forgive me if this was already addressed.
ReplyDeleteDigital Legerdemain ::,
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know.
It should be lemon juice in the recipe.
I could have wrongly copied and pasted the instructions without proper ammendments from my other recipes.
I will have to try this..wished the recipe measurements wasnt in Grams..hate converting!!
ReplyDeleteYour recipe calls for 40mg of milk. Did you mean 40ml? Trying to convert to US baking measurements :)
ReplyDeleteCaitlin,
ReplyDeleteyup, almost the same. You can measure it as 40ml
:)
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteI would like to try your recipe. Could you please tell me the weight of the eggs you used, without shell? Or with shell, if you prefer. I trust the raspberry compote can tolerate tropical room temperature without melting too much, since you didn't say that's a problem? Many thanks.
Katie
Katie,
ReplyDelete63gm with shells on. Locally known as grade b.
Raspberry compote won't melt, not that I know of.
Looks like an absolutely stunning and delicious cake! I would like to try and bake it myself. I am a baker in the USA, however, and measurements are a little different. Any idea how above measurements would translate into American system, or know of a good on-line source to answer that? In the past, I've google-searched answers for converting various ingredients into American measurements, but often find conflicting results. Love your posts!
ReplyDeleteHello Wendy,
ReplyDeleteA stunning looking cake! I can understand why you hate shooting this cake as its too pale in color and lacking in contrast. Still, you did a very good 'photo' job presenting it tastefully on prints. I am also new to blogging and still in at the infant stage of experimenting, photograping and sharing tested recipes. Thank you for sharing such wonderful, delicious and eye pleasing food. Your recioes have given me lots of inspiration towards my blog and greatly widen my knowledge towards baking.
Cheers!
Trace
Beautiful cake. Any chance you can convert measurements into US. Not familiar with metric measurements.
ReplyDelete