HCB Free Choice: Whipped Cream Cake

It took me 25 tries, but I finally got this shot

This is another RHC cakes that I have made before but forgot to take pictures. Part of me wanted to kick myself for forgetting but the other part is glad that I had to redo the cake, because now I can try to take the photo like the one in the book.

The photo of this cake is one of my favorites in the book. I love the simplicity of it, and love the rain of powdered sugar coming down on the cake.

HCB: Coffee Chiffonlets with Dulce de Leche Whipped Cream

I have a confession to make.

I have no idea what Dulce de Leche is.

Don't get me wrong. I have had it. Mostly in ice cream. Haagen Daaz comes to mind.

I know it's sweet and caramel-y.

But I have no idea what's in it.

Until today.

HCB: Lemon Canadian Crown

I have been looking forward to this cake for a while. I love lemon curd and ladyfingers and the combination sounded so yummy.

I made the ladyfingers on Sunday before going to the farmer's market. It came together pretty easily. I made 1/2 recipe and it took me about 1/2 hour to prep and mix everything. They finished baking in 8 minutes, giving me just enough time to wash the dishes.

HCB: Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

Moist Chocolate Genoise used to be my favorite chocolate cake. It has since been replaced by Miette Tomboy. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to this trifle. What's not to love? Chocolate genoise + chambord infused sugar syrup + creme anglaise + fresh raspberries = yummyness (this is a new word I made up.) And just when you think it could not possibly get any better, add raspberry flavored whipped cream to it = heavenly yummyness.

This trifle - like the Saint Honore Trifle, feeds 16-20 people. I don't have that many people to feed, so naturally I want to halve the recipe. But there's still the question of what to use as a serving dish. When I made the Saint Honore Trifle, I baked the cake in a cupcake pan and used wine glasses. It worked pretty well. But we have since then broken almost all our wine glasses, except for one. So I went to Walmart over the weekend to get more wine glasses. I found a set of 4 goblets for $5. As I walked away from the aisle, I saw some small plates and stuff that caught my attention. I stopped to check them out, and then I saw these cute mini trifle dish for less than $2. SCORE! I grabbed two of them and abandoned the goblets.

HCB: Tortas de las Tres Leches

I have never heard of this cake before and was very curious as to what it would taste like. The idea of a cake that is soaked in 4 different kinds of dairy mixture sounds so odd. I was so intrigued that I made the cake a week ahead :).

The cake itself is easy to put together. Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk over simmering water. The eggs was already at room temperature so it didn't take long for it to get warm to the touch - as Rose suggested. Then beat the eggs mixture on high until it tripled in volume. Then sifted flour and fold until everything is well mixed. I have to admit that this time my arm got tired folding the flour in! It feels like forever until everything is mixed, and I was afraid that my slow arm caused the batter to lose volume and ended up destroying the cake. Well about 1/2 hour later, I found out that everything's fine. The cake turned out looking so nice that I had to take a picture of it. It did rose a bit in the center, but it became flat right away after I flip it out of the pan.


Oh did I also mention my kitchen smells like egg heaven when this cake is baking. YUM!

Rewind a little bit, while the cake was baking I made the leche mixture. I should've planned better and made this before I started the cake because it took about an hour for the the milk mixture to reduced by half. Once it's reduced, I added the heavy cream and condensed milk. After both the cake and the milk mixture cooled - I put the cake inside a small trash bag. I figured using a trash bag is easier then using 2 sheets of plastic wrap. I placed the cake back inside the cake pan, then poured the milk mixture over the cake. Then everything is refrigerated for 8 hours.

8 hours later...
I took the cake out of the fridge. Then lifted the trash bag. I've decided I was not about to attempt to flip this heavily soaked cake. I was too afraid that my hands would slip and the whole thing would be splattered all over the floor. So using a really long metal spatula, I lifted the middle of the cake a bit and pulled the trash bag away. It worked :)!

At this point it was already 8 PM. So I didn't bother with fancy decorations and just decorated the cake simply - like in the book. Here's the result.



I found it funny that you can see some milk oozing out of the bottom of the cake.



Tasting impressions: I love this cake and so did everyone. It's very moist (with all those milk) and lightly sweet. The taste is better than I had anticipated, so I was glad I made it :).

HCB: Almond Shamah Chiffon

This cake is pretty easy to make. Sure, there are a lot of steps, but it's not that hard. First you have to blanch the almonds, then toast them. Wait until they cool and then grind them (I love my food processor). Mix the ground almonds with the dry ingredients.

Then, whip the yolks for 5 minutes until thick and ribbony (it takes 9 yolks to get the prescribed weight), add to it oil, water, almond extract, and vanilla extract - beat again to mix everything together. Then sprinkle the dry ingredients mixture on top. Since I only have 1 mixer bowl and 1 whip, I have to wash and dry them really well before proceeding to whip the egg whites (I don't like to do this).

Next, whip the egg whites. Pretty standard steps, whip on low until foamy, add cream of tartar, whip until soft peaks, then gradually add sugar until stiff peaks form. I have to say that cream of tartar does help stabilize the egg whites - can't tell you how many times I "broke" whipped egg whites in the past (easy to do in high altitude) and have to start over. Doesn't seem to have this problem now with cream of tartar in the mix!

After the egg whites achieved stiff peak, mix 1/3 of it into the flour/almond/egg yolks mixture until incorporated (this is called "sacrifice" in chef terms). Then fold in the remaining egg whites in 2 addition. I use a big spatula and my arm got tired at the end since it's a heavy batter. Then divide the batter into 2 pans (I actually weigh them to make sure I distribute them evenly). Into the oven it goes.

The cake smells so good coming out of the oven. I let it cool. Then using a serrated knife, trim off the top of the cakes. Apply the syrup (water and sugar boiled, cool to room temperature, and combined with amaretto disarono liquor). Since the cake become really fragile after being syruped, I syrup the bottom layer first, then proceeded to make the raspberry jam whipped cream before I continue with the syruping. I did this because I want to apply the whipped cream between the layers - so I don't have to move the cake after syruping.

For the whipped cream, I bought raspberry preserve and it has seeds on them. So I push the whole thing through a strainer to get rid of the seeds. I was hesitating about this, I though it was gonna be a pain to do, but it's actually not bad (can you tell that I'm in a baking mood, all these steps and I was still a cheerful bird!). I whip the cream in the pre-chilled mixer bowl & whisks - slowly increasing the speed until it's stiff peak, then incorporate the strained raspberry preserve. The result is this creamy heavenly raspberry whipped cream with a hint of pink color.

Continuing on with the recipe, I put a huge dollop of the cream between the layers, syruped the top layer of the cake, then apply the rest of the cream all over the cake. I started off using an offset spatula, this works pretty well for the top of the cake. For the sides, I use the bench scraper. It is sooooo much easier using bench scraper (whoever invented bench scraper should get some sort of award, if that person hasn't already!).

Now full disclosure: I was going to skip this week's cake selection. I'm not sure I like chiffon and this cake sounded too plain. Again, I was wrong. This cake is so moist and so yummy. I think I am changing my opinion on white cakes!

Lesson to be learnt: NEVER doubt Rose, if the recipe is lucky enough to make it to her book, it must be worth it, and this cake is anything but!!!