Berries & Cream Cake

This would have made a great cake for the 4th of July.  But berries are still in season, and it'll taste just as good on the 4th of September, or the 21st of August; well, you get the idea.  As far as layer cakes go, this is on the lower end of the difficulty level - the filling and frosting are the same, and you can whip the cream in just a few minutes.  The white cream is a great backdrop for all sorts of berry decorations, so have fun!

Berries & Cream Cake

Cake (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake)

Makes 2 8" round layers (or 2 thinner 9" layers)

2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
5 egg whites (large)
1 7/8 (=1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons or 2 cups - 2 tablespoons) cups sugar
2-3 teaspoons lemon zest
10 tablespoons (1 stick + 2 tablespoons or 5 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray 2 8" (or 9" for thinner layers) cake pans with baking spray, line with parchment, and spray again.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.


In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites and buttermilk.


In your mixer bowl, rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your hands until it's even distributed.  This technique gets more out of your zest than simply stirring it into the batter later.  Add the butter, and beat on medium-high for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.  Beat in the lemon extract.


Beat in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the egg/milk mixture in 2 additions.

Pour the batter into the cake pans, and smooth the batter.  Drop from a height of 3-4 inches to remove any air bubbles.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  The cake should start to pull away from the sides after you remove it from the oven.  Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto parchment.  Cool the cake right-side up.

Cakes made with egg whites like this one tend to dry out faster than some other cakes.  It's best to make this cake the day you'll be serving it, or the night before (refrigerate well-wrapped overnight).

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy cream
3/8 cup (=1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

When you're ready to assemble the cake, prepare the frosting:  whip the cream until soft peaks begin to form.  Gradually add the sugar while beating; add the vanilla.  Continue to whip until the cream holds firm peaks.  Cover and refrigerate.

Assembly

Raspberry Jam (I'm sure strawberry or blueberry jam would taste great as well.)
Berries and Mint Leaves, optional

Place one cake layer on a cake board, and top with a thin layer of jam, whipped cream, and berries.  Top with the second cake layer, and spread the whipped cream frosting generously over the entire cake.  Decorate with berries and mint leaves, and piped whipped cream, if desired.

Refrigerate the cake until soon before serving.  Ideally, the cake should be served at room temperature, but in the summer, you'll need to be careful that the whipped cream doesn't melt.

Healthy Berry Cake

The food I tend to cook is definitely on the healthy side.  I love vegetables, avoid processed foods, don’t eat any meat, use only whole grain bread and pasta, avoid recipes with cream. My own personal definition of healthy definitely excludes all things labeled “low-fat”, “low-calorie”, and “reduced-sugar.” If you could somehow trick me into drinking a diet coke, you’d be treated to all sorts of strange facial contortions if not a big soda shower as I rid my mouth of  the offensive liquid.

Does that philosophy seem strange given the abundance of decadent treats on this blog?  I hope not.  I’d trade a small piece of Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake for plate full of sugar free cookies any day.  So it’s no surprise that I haven’t really baked with Splenda, and most of my recipes don’t call for applesauce or yogurt to replace the butter. 

This recipe, however, is a little different.  There’s applesauce and yogurt, and whole wheat flour (still no Splenda or anything else of that ilk).  And lots of berries.  But I promise, it won’t taste “healthy.”  Sure, it’s not as decadent as this Chocolate Cake with Brown Butter & Frangelico Frosting, but it’s perfect as a humble mid-week 9x13 pan cake that you sneak a square of  for your daily sweet tooth fix.  Or you can even dress it up a little in a 9” round cake pan and serve it at your next dinner party.  I've served it to lots of college students with fancier and more outrageous desserts at dessert parties, and it holds its own.

There are a lot of bowls to clean with this recipe, but it's very easy - you don't even need a mixer!
Also, I'm not quite sure where the recipe originally came from, my mom has been making it for a few years now.

Mixed Berry Coffee Cake

        
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1/4 cup raspberry fruit spread

Topping (before baking):

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar


Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a 9x13 pan with baking spray.  

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate, large bowl, whisk together the egg and sugar.  Add the yogurt, applesauce, oil and
vanilla.

Make a well in the flour, and add the egg mixture.  Mix just until moist.  Set aside 1 cup batter in a separate bowl, and spread the rest of the batter in the prepared pan.
 
Mix together the fruit and fruit spread in a clean bowl.  Spoon over the batter in the pan, then drop mounds of reserved batter on top.  Stir together the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl, and sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture all over the cake.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick just comes out clean.  

Let cool for 30 minutes before adding the glaze.

Glaze

1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons warm milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Stir together the vanilla and warm milk, then pour over the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.  Warming the milk helps make the glaze smoother.  Drizzle over cake.

You may want to use only 2/3-3/4 of the glaze for the round cake, since there's less surface area.

A rectangular version of the cake; simply bake the cake in a 9 x 13 pan.