Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry

While I enjoy writing my blog, I also enjoy reading other blogs. One that I follow regularly is High Tea with Dragons. A while ago, the author wrote about a recipe book called Sprinkle Bakes, written by the author of the Sprinkle Bakes blog, Heather Baird. Loving the public library as I do, I requested a copy to check it out. The author is an artist who uses the medium of baking/desserts. The book is incredible; some people have so much talent! The instructions are also really good, taking you through every step so you can achieve so same results yourself (hopefully).

See the resemblance?

So inspired by Wayne Thiebaud’s ‘Neapolitan Meringue’ and armed with a copy of Sprinkle Bakes, I set about making a Neapolitan Cake for my Mum’s birthday. And I was fairly impressed with the results. My icing was a little softer than I would have liked, so it didn’t hold together as well as I would have like, but I put it in the fridge straight after icing which helped a little bit. I also had a few issues with the cake layers sliding around while I was icing the final cake, next time I would put skewers into the cake to keep it all steady. I also had a few issues with our standing mixer, this may be because it is quite an old one, but in future I think I would make the cakes separately to make it easier to handle. This would take a bit longer but for me would make the large amount of cake batter a little more manageable. But overall, it turned out well, the cakes were moist and tasted really good. Plus the three colours were really effective when the cake was sliced.

 Neapolitan Cake

Ingredients

Cakes

375 grams butter

3 cups sugar

6 cups cake flour, sifted

2 Tbsp baking powder

12 egg whites, at room temperature

2 cups milk, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup hot water

85g pkt of strawberry jelly crystals

¼ cup cocoa powder

Icing

500g cream cheese

250 grams butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 cups icing sugar

The Cakes

1.     Heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line and spray three 9-inch cakes tins.

2.     Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in a stand mixer.

3.     Sift together flour and baking powder.

4.     Beat the egg whites with a handheld electric mixer until stiff peaks form – do not over-beat.

5.     With the stand mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

6.     Gently fold the eggs whites and vanilla essence into the batter.

7.     Divide the batter into three equal parts in three separate bowls. One portion will remain. Pour the white portion into a prepared tin.

8.     Mix ¼ cup of the hot water and the strawberry jelly together in a small bowl/jug. Stir until the gelatin is almost dissolved. It is okay if a few grains of gelatin remain. Pour the gelatin mixture into a bowl of batter and mix until consistently pink. Pour into the second prepared tin.

9.     Mix the cocoa powder and remaining ¼ cup of hot water until dissolved. Combine with the remaining batter and mix until no white streaks remain. Pour into the third prepared tin.

10.  Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. (Check chocolate layer after 25 minutes as it will bake more quickly due to the added cocoa).

11.  Cool the cakes in the tins for 10 minutes and then remove onto racks to cool completely.

12.  Level the cakes with a serrated knife or cake leveler (cut the top off so you have a flat surface).

The Icing

1.     With a hand mixer in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth.

2.     With the mixer on low, gradually pour in the icing sugar and mix until incorporated.

3.     Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. If the mixture is too thick, add a little milk to loosen it. If it is too thin, add additional icing sugar or put in the fridge to firm up.

4.     Ice and stack the cake layers.

Recipe adapted from Sprinke Bakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist, by Heather Baird.

So if you’re up for a bit of a challenge, give this cake a go, and check out the Sprinkle Bakes cookbook or blog to find some more inspiration.

H xo