Posts tagged ‘whipped cream frosting’

Apr 14

White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I don’t like using the term copy cat, I prefer to say that is an homage to my favorite cake, actually one of the best cakes I have ever had. I first got this cake many years ago at the Watergate Pastry Shop in Washington DC. I was smitten and it was love at first bite. The softest, lightest and most tender vanilla cake, a creamy white Chocolate mousse filling, frosted in whipped cream. At the time I didn’t know what the subtle flavor was that made it so distinct, after some research I found out it was Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

I have been thinking about this cake and wishing I could make a trip to DC for the express purpose of buying it, well that’s not practical and instead I decided to try my hand at making it. The recipe I always use for a yellow or vanilla cake Tender Yellow Cake, I have posted many times, its super light, a cross between a chiffon and a yellow or vanilla cake, I knew this would work well. Years ago I posted a recipe for white chocolate mousse filling, when I made it then it was pretty seamless, this time not so much, but after some MacGyver like moves it actually came out pretty perfect. I recently received some vanilla beans and powdered vanilla seeds from a company called Native Vanilla and I have to say the beans are far superior to any vanilla beans I have ever used. They are so fresh, plump, loaded with vanilla seeds and so so fragrant. The vanilla seeds made this mousse incredible, additionally it is flavored with Cointreau. The cake is frosted with my go to stabilized whipped cream also flavored with Cointreau and vanilla.

It has been a few years since I had the Watergate cake but I think that this is pretty darn close to my recollection of the flavors and textures.

White Chocolate Mousse

1 1/2 C heavy cream divided

2 scant tsp unflavored gelatin

6 oz white chocolate (chips or bar cut into small pieces)

1 vanilla bean split and seeds scraped (highly recommend Native Vanilla)

1 tbs Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Bloom the gelatin by placing in a small bowl and add 2 tbs cold water, stir and let sit. Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream to scalding. Put the white chocolate into your food processor and pulse to break into very fine pieces, mix the gelatin in the hot cream scrape in the vanilla seeds pour over the chocolate and process until smooth. Scrape into a bowl and let cool. While cooling whip the remaining 1 cup cream until stiff. Whisk into the white chocolate and liquor, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. The mixture was thick and a little lumpy so I spooned it into the food processor and pulsed until smooth.

NOTE:The mousse was really thick so before filling the cake I whipped 1/2 cup heavy cream and folded it in. Judge for yourself how it is. You could decrease the gelatin but I wanted it to have structure so it would hold up in between the cake layers. It was the perfect texture and consistency after folding in the additional whipped cream.

After frosting the cake I decorated the top with shaved white chocolate curls.

Mar 22

134 Comments

Orange Angel Food Cake, Whipped Cream Frosting And Berries For Fiesta Friday #60

This is a very special Fiesta Friday, we have new digs, I mean this is exciting our own space for the party, check it out!! Angie@The Novice Gardener has surprised us all with this gorgeous new home for our party. Thanks so much Angie!!! This weeks co hosts are Tracy @Scratch It Cook and Nancy @Feasting With Friends.

For this special party in our new home I am bringing cake, a light as a feather angel food cake flavored with the zest of a mandarin orange, I frosted the cake with an orange scented whipped cream frosting and loaded the top of the cake with fresh berries sprinkled with some orange scented sugar. Can you tell I am a fan of orange.

Angel Food Cake

James McNair

2 cups egg whites at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar divided
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake flour
zest of 1 orange (I used a mandarin)

Pre heat oven to 325 degree’s. Place egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat the eggs until frothy and add the cream of tartar. Continue beating on medium high until egg whites are billowy, now add 3/4 cup sugar a tabelespoon at a time beating continuously. Beat the whites until they are somewhat stiff and hold shape when you lift the whisk, add the zest and vanilla and beat just until combined.

Place a sieve over a bowl and add the flour, sugar and salt and sieve twice. Sift over the beaten egg whites and gently fold in. Make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed into the whites. Place in your 10 inch tube pan with removable bottom. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and tester comes out clean. Cool the cake upside down the angel food cake pan has feet that it rests on. Let cake cool completely. Run a small flexible offset spatula around the cake the outer edges and around the tube. Gently push the bottom up and then turn cake upside down and run the spatula or a knife around the edges of the bottom of the bottom to release the cake. Store in air tight container until ready to use.

Whipped Cream Frosting

James McNair

generously frosts a 9 in cake

1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups Heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
orange liquor like Grand Marnier or orange extract to taste

Place metal bowl and wire whisk beater or beaters in freezer to chill.
In a small saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature. Make sure it is completely cooled before adding to the heavy cream..Very Important!!!
In the chilled bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla beat with the chilled whisk of your stand mixer or your hand held mixer until the cream begins to hold shape, it will still be rather loose. While still beating add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time. Beat just until the mixture forms stiff peaks when the beater is raised and is spreadable, be careful not to over beat. Use immediately.

Fruit:

Blackberries

Raspberries

Strawberries Blended into a coulis.

Orange sugar- orange zest and sugar to sprinkle on fruit

The strawberries were just not good enough to put on the cake so I made a coulis by blending the strawberries with a little orange sugar and 2 tbs mandarin orange juice.

Apr 7

104 Comments

Coconut Pineapple Layer Cake

Coconut on the cake

I guess you could call this a pina colada cake or a pineapple coconut layer cake, yellow cake, pineapple filling and a coconut whipped cream frosting generously covered in flaked coconut. I use my Tender Yellow Cake recipe, adapted James McNair’s whipped cream frosting and made a simple pineapple filling using crushed pineapple. I have been making this cake for years and it’s requested all the time.

The Yellow cake is a very old recipe penned by my Mom after years of research and IMHO it’s the best yellow cake ever. Tender, fine crumb and very moist. It contains vegetable oil, not butter and the egg whites are separated and whipped making this cake light and it has a great rise. Click here for the recipe, I have published it several times.

Unflrosted

Pineapple filling

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple, unsweetened in it’s own juice (or use fresh pineapple if you prefer)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

1 tsp lemon zest

pinch of salt

1 tbs butter

Place contents of the can of pineapple in a medium saucepan, add the sugar, cornstarch,lemon zest and salt and whisk or mix to combine making sure there are no lumps.

Turn heat to medium high and cook stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat, add the butter and stir until it’s melted. Spoon into heat proof bowl, cover with plastic wrap that sits directly on the mixture. Let come to room temperature and then refrigerate until completely cooled or over night.

Coconut Whipped Cream Frosting

adapted from James McNair’s whipped cream frosting

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

3 tsp corn starch

1/4 cup + 1 tbs powdered sugar

1 1/2 cup heavy cream very cold

1 tsp vanilla

Place coconut milk, cornstarch and powdered sugar in small saucepan, whisk to remove any lumps. Turn heat to medium high and cook until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and spoon into a bowl, let come to room temperature stirring frequently to keep skin from forming or cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the mixture and let sit until cool.

Coconut milk stabiizer

Chill the whisk attachment or beaters of your mixer along with the bowl. Add the heavy cream, beat until it begins to hold shape, now add the coconut milk mixture and vanilla extract and continue beating until it becomes thick and is a spreading consistency. Use immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

Just whipped

To assemble:

Frost the cake with the whipped cream frosting, I start from the center and work the frosting down the sides of the cake doing a crumb layer first then finishing if off nice and smooth.

Frosting in the center

I like to mix sweetened regular flaked coconut with unsweetened large flakes, it looks nice but it also is a bit less sweet. using all one kind is either too sweet or not sweet enough and a mix I find to be perfect.

Mixed flakes of coconut

Mar 12

55 Comments

Genoise With Strawberries And Whipped Cream Frosting

The cake

The Genoise I made the other day was for a special event, it was made for a very special girl who turned 9 years old today. She wanted colored icing and strawberries. I wanted to try and make the frosting pink without the use of food color. I thought the genoise lent itself to a whipped cream frosting rather than a buttercream because of the addition of fresh strawberries. I have posted here on the blog the recipe I use for a stable whipped cream frosting, it’s a recipe by James McNair from his book Cakes.

It’s an excellent recipe, and makes a very stable frosting that will not turn watery or dissolve. Here is the basic recipe:

Whipped Cream Frosting:

From James Mcnair’s Cakes

1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups Heavy whipping cream Divided
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

Place metal bowl and wire whisk beater or beaters in freezer to chill.
In a small saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature.
In the chilled bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla beat with the chilled whisk of your stand mixer or your hand held mixer until the cream begins to hold shape. While still beating add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time. Beat just until the mixture forms stiff peaks when the beater is raised and is spreadable, be careful not to over beat. Use immediately.

I took the basic recipe ad changed it a bit since I wanted my frosting to be pink. First I made a strawberry syrup by simply boiling strawberries with a little sugar, strain, smash and bottle. Super easy. I did this the day before and refrigerated the syrup. It’s a beautiful red.

strawberry syrup

Here is the recipe for the pink whipped cream frosting using James McNair’s whipped cream frosting as a base:

1/2 cup strawberry syrup

2 1/2 tsp corn starch

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

In small saucepan add the strawberry syrup, cornstarch and confectioners sugar. Cook on medium heat until it thickens, immediately remove from the burner and spoon into a bowl . Let come to room temperature stirring occasionally.

To chilled mixing bowl add the heavy cream and vanilla, with a chilled beater or whisk attachment start whipping the cream, when it begins to hold it’s shape add the cooled strawberry pudding, whip until it becomes a spreading consistency. Spread on your cake and refrigerate. This was enough to generously frost a 3 layer 8 inch cake.

Mar 30

46 Comments

An Easter Dessert- Yellow Cake,Lemon Cream,Whipped Cream Frosting

Lemon filled yellow cake with whipped cream frosting

Growing up one of my favorite cakes was a simple yellow cake with lemon filling and whipped cream frosting. The tender cake filled with a bright, tangy lemon filling and topped with whipped cream is delicious and makes me think of Spring. This Easter I decided to make this cake and it brings back such wonderful memories of my Mother and childhood. My Mom used lemon pie filling, you know the kind that came in a box like pudding and had that yellow hard candy type thing, I guess it was lemon flavoring. I amped this cake up a bit by using the genius recipe on Food52 from Tartine bakery’s cookbook for lemon cream. This lemon cream or curd is wonderful, and is made in your blender. I love it, it’s so creamy, easy and delicious. The whipped cream frosting is from James McNair’s Cakes, what I love about it is that the whipped cream is stabilized using a cornstarch pudding. If you have ever made whipped cream frosting you know it can break down after a short time, this will not. This recipe was a revelation and I use it all the time. The cake recipe is from my Mom, it is the best yellow cake recipe IMHO, it took her quite some time and a lot of testing to finally come up with this recipe and it’s a keeper. The cake is like a cross between a regular yellow cake and chiffon, there is no butter used in the cake only vegetable oil and to make the cake light and airy you fold in the whipped egg whites, it’s so light and the crumb is just perfect. Thanks Mom for a great recipe. Happy Easter to all of you, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Lemon Cream

Recipe for Tartine Bakery’s Lemon Cream

Makes about 2 1/2 cups (625 ml)

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (5 oz/155 ml) lemon juice (Meyer or regular)

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

3/4 cup (6 oz/170 g) sugar

Pinch of salt

1 cup (8 oz/225 g) unsalted butter

Pour water to a depth of about 2 inches into a saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a simmer.

Combine the lemon juice, whole eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt in a stainless steel bowl that will rest securely in the rim of a saucepan over, not touching, the water. (Never let the egg yolks and sugar sit together for more than a moment without stirring; the sugar will cook the yolks and turn them granular.) Place the bowl over the saucepan and continue to whisk until the mixture becomes very thick and registers 180° F on a thermometer. This will take 10 to 12 minutes. If you don’t have or trust your thermometer, don’t worry. It should thicken to the point that your whisk leaves a trail through the curd. NOTE: I don’t use a thermometer, the lemon mixture will thicken and coat the back of the spoon, draw a line on the back of the spoon with your finger, the line will stay intact. It took about 11 minutes for mine to thicken properly.

Remove the bowl from over the water and let cool to 140° F, stirring from time to time to release the heat.

Meanwhile, cut butter into 1-tablespoon (15-ml) pieces. When the cream is ready, leave it in the bowl if using an immersion blender, or pour it into a countertop blender. With the blender running, add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, blending after each addition until incorporated before adding the next piece. The cream will be pale yellow and opaque and quite thick.

You can use the cream immediately, or pour it into a storage container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate for up to 5 days. To use after refrigeration, if necessary, gently heat in a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water until it has softened, whisking constantly.

photo courtesy Food52!

Tender Yellow Cake

3 large eggs separated and at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar divided
2 1/4 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup + 1 tbs vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 cup whole milk (1 or 2% work also)
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Line your pans with a parchment round, butter the bottom of the pan, lay the parchment then butter again on bottom and sides and then flour the pans.

Beat egg whites until frothy then add 1/2 cup of the sugar (reserving the rest) a tablespoon at a time until egg whites are stiff and glossy

Sift flour, remaining 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt into large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. If using a stand mixer use the paddle attachment.I actually prefer to use my hand held mixer for this recipe. Add the oil, 1/2 cup of the milk and the vanilla. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed, mixture will be quite thick.

Add the egg yolks and remaining milk and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Fold in the egg whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans dividing evenly, bake for 30-35 minutes. Cake will be golden brown. Be careful not to overbake start checking the cake at 25 minutes. Cake tester will come out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out onto cooling rack remove parchment and cool completely before frosting.

Whipped Cream Frosting:

From James Mcnair’s Cakes

1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups Heavy whipping cream Divided
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

Place metal bowl and wire whisk beater or beaters in freezer to chill.
In a small saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature.
In the chilled bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla beat with the chilled whisk of your stand mixer or your hand held mixer until the cream begins to hold shape. While still beating add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time. Beat just until the mixture forms stiff peaks when the beater is raised and is spreadable, be careful not to over beat. Use immediately.