It seems that I tend to celebrate the arrival of each season with them.
Somehow, it always works.
To welcome this year’s spring and Easter, I decided to go for a wonderful, fresh and invigorating citrus flavor.
And here it is.
In fact, the big clever books of baking would call this cake a chiffon cake.
Chiffon cakes are light and moist cakes that use vegetable oil instead of butter. That is the main reason why these cakes do not tend to harden or dry out as traditional butter cakes might.
That is positive, I think.
Frankly, this cake tastes just lovely.
Plus, there’s this delicious citrus glaze that increases the whole fresh experience immensely.
Here’s how you can make it too…
These are the ingredients that will come in handy.
1. First, preheat the oven to 325 °F (165 °C).
2. Wash one tangerine under running water thoroughly.
Pat it dry with a kitchen towel.
Then grate one tablespoon plus one teaspoon peel. We are going to need one tablespoon for the cake and the remaining teaspoon for the glaze.
When I was a kid my Mom used to make wonderful sweet treats for me and my sister.
One of the desserts she used to prepare most often was this strawberry roulade. I guess she liked to make it because it is amazingly simple and easy.
Hm, who doesn’t like that?
As I’m spending time here in my Mom’s house these day, it’s no surprise there’s been a lot of remembering the old, sweet days of my childhood …which magically gave me the idea to prepare this delicious cake, since, to my surprise, I’ve never made it myself.
Oh, and was that a good idea…
These are the ingredients you need in case you want to prepare this delicious cake, too.
Which I highly recommend.
1. First, preheat the oven to 356 F (180 C).
2. Then, separate the eggs.
3. Now, play with the yolks a little.
Add 1 cup (115 grams) confectioner’s sugar to the bowl with the egg yolks.
4. Using your hand mixer, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy.
5. Add the flour and mix again shortly, just until incorporated.
6. Then, in a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm (stiff peaks) and add them to the egg-yolk mixture.
Did you know that when you whisk egg whites there have to be no remains of egg yolk on your whisk attachment? Otherwise the whites wouldn’t just get firm. Trust me! Been there, done that…
7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter.
This is basically the main and most important trick about the sponge cakes – to have the batter as light and air-filled as you can manage.
And it’s definitely not difficult, no matter what they say.
8. I am using a 12 x 15 inch (30 x 38 cm) baking pan here. Just try to use something similar.
Line your baking pan with parchment paper, and (to stay on the safe side) spray it with some vegetable oil and flour it lightly.
9. Pour the batter into the pan.
10. And using an offset spatula or a knife, spread the batter evenly.
11. Bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown.
12. In the meantime, prepare a nice, welcoming home for your cake.
Place a clean dish towel on your working surface. Then put a piece of parchment paper over the towel and sprinkle it with a little of confectioner’s sugar.
13. Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, invert it onto the towel and the paper you have prepared.
So now you have the dish towel and the paper underneath the cake and there’s also a piece of paper on top of the cake (the one it was baking with).
(Oh, how I’ll miss those crazily yellow eggs from my Grandma.)
14. Carefully, remove the top paper.
15. And, while still hot, roll it up.
This way we are making the sponge to get used to being rolled up. If we rolled it up when cooled it might break.
16. Let cool.
17. When cooled, unroll the sponge and spread with the preserves (or jam).
18. Then whip up the cream.
First, beat the cream until soft peaks form, then add 4 tablespoons (30 grams) sugar and continue beating until firm peaks form when the beater is raised.
19. Spread the cream over the preserves.
20. Reroll the cake.
21. And sprinkle with some more sugar if you wish to.
22. Slice the cake into even 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) pieces.
Just until last week when I was sitting in my kitchen munching on my two all-time favorite delights – a bundt cake and a strawberry smoothie.
And that was when it happened.
That was when the idea struck me…
“What if… ?”
“What if I merged these two things so that they become one somehow?”
“What if it was possible?”
And right then – at that very precious moment – this strawberry cake was born.
I think my life is complete now.
These are the lovely ingredients that I used.
And these are canned strawberries.
I love the way they look and the way they taste.
It’s unbelievable how great the relationship between strawberries and light sugar syrup can become.
Yum!
Of course, you can use fresh strawberries, if you prefer those.
1. Throw the strawberries into the blender.
2. Add the cream cheese and the sugar (1 cup – 115 grams confectioner’s) and let all these ingredients dance around in perfect, happy and devoted harmony.
Sorry.
I got carried away for awhile.
What I mean is that you blend them together.
3. Then, in a separate bowl, whip the cream.
4. Pour the strawberry mixture into the whipped cream…
… and fold lightly.
(I used just half the amount of whipped cream I should have. So when you make this cake, your frosting will be much firmer.)
5. Place this heavenly frosting into the fridge for at least 1 hour.
The mixture will get firmer and much easier to work with.
6. Meanwhile, we can prepare the cake batter.
Start by placing two medium bowls in front of you.
Separate the eggs (the egg yolks into one bowl and the egg whites into the other).
7. This is the bowl with the egg yolks.
Pour in the sugar (1 1/4 cup – 250 grams) and the vegetable oil.
8. Combine the ingredients a little with a rubber spatula.
9. After that, mix with a hand mixer for about 3-5 minutes.
10. Then let the milk join the party and mix for another 3 minutes.
The oil and the milk will make the batter wonderfully moist.
And that is a great advantage in the world of cakes.
Many cakes would envy this one its gorgeous structure.
They might be writing their tiny petitions right now.
11. Add the flour and mix shortly.
12. Add the baking powder and give it all one short mix again.
13. Then, redirect your attention to the bowl containing the egg whites.
Whip them and fold them lightly into the yellow, egg-yolk mixture.
14. And here we go – the greased and floured 9-inch (23 cm) spring-form pan meets the heavenly batter.
They like each other.
I can tell by the first look.
15. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean).
Hello baby.
I like you.
Very much.
16. Place the cake (still in the pan) onto a cooling rack and let cool for about 30 minutes.
17. Then remove it from the pan and – AND (!) this is a great trick which keeps amazing me time after time – INVERT the cake.
If you’ve ever wondered – like I did for majority of my life – how some cakes can be so perfectly even on top, then this how (or at least one of the ways how).
Just try it.
You’ll be truly amazed.
18. Let the cake cool completely (this is very important – otherwise the heat could melt the frosting).
19. Using a knife, cut the cake into three layers.
20. Place one layer onto a serving platter.
21. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.
22. Place another layer on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers.
23. Frost the top and the sides of the cake and garnish it with some strawberries.
Then cut one slice, close your eyes and enjoy a very special, overwhelming experience.
And this is the end of the love story called ‘How Bundt Cake met Smoothie’.
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