I will start with a summary of what awaits you in this recipe: 2 layers of sponge vanilla cake and two more layers of an exquisite sponge cake with a subtle chocolate flavor. All of them soaked in blackberry jam and dressed with a tremendously soft and fresh yogurt mascarpone cream with touches of fresh blackberries. Listen to what I tell you, scandalously delicious is not enough to describe it!
I am so in love with this cake. I find it one of the most beautiful I have done. I have made them bigger, more decorated and more sophisticated for some of the orderings I get. But I personally like cakes more like this style, something simpler, naked (god! I adore naked cake), decorated with flowers and natural elements and, of course, what else? With purple tones. It is an obsession what I have with purple! I also think that the “ombré” effect that it has with the different shades of purple in the cream and the gradient of the sponge cake is absolutely pretty. And what do you say about that cascade of cream roses?
And now I will tell you the little story behind this cake, I’m not crazy (well yes I am but not so much) and I do not bake such kind of huge cakes without any reason or celebration behind them. The reason in this case was the celebration of the 1st of May in the small village where I moved recently. In Bavaria, the 1st of May is celebrated by placing the trunk of a tree painted with blue and white stripes as a mast in the center of the village. The trunk is called “Maibaum”, literally means May tree. And it is renewed every year on the first of May, a new one is planted and a popular party is celebrated around it and also, because any excuse is good for Germans to drink beer. I copy you here the wiki link where it is better explained and I will put a few photos of this year’s celebration at Geisenbrunn.
And now you must be wondering, what do local parties and planting tree trunks have to do with cakes? Well, as I said Geisenbrunn is a very small village and so is the celebration. Everything is as well as very local, craft and touching, and part of the program of the celebration included selling homemade cakes prepared by the residents of the town. And there, at that precise moment in which I read that the neighbors can bake cakes for the party, my eyes lit up and I began to conceive this preciousness with the sole intention of take the best out of my work and impress everybody. I do not sound like arrogant, but it was a great success followed by a great “ooohhh” of all those present when they saw me approaching the cake table with it.
I also baked some cupcakes, because you know that many times there is plenty of dough and cream and you can make them at almost no extra effort. These were devoured (and when I say devoured, I mean scoffed!) by my neighbors who were sharing table with us and who did not let me take them to the cake bar. Well, and I loved seeing them enjoying like that!
And how did the party end? Well, with me becoming famous for being the new neighbor who bakes the most spectacular cakes in the village (surely the region … muahahaha) And the same me, drunk at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, falling asleep on the couch and waking up at 7 o’clock in the afternoon with a hangover (at 7 o’clock in the afternoon with a hangover !!!!!!!!!!! I still cannot explain how it happened …). I think I had never been drunk so early, but that’s what you get when you start the day eating sausages with beer for breakfast, continue with more beers and, when from time to time your funny neighbors give you prosecco glasses and shots of a delicious but dangerous brew of homemade straw liquor.
Conclusion, German celebrations 1 – Raquel 0. Hey! But cheers to their parties, to their beer and to my new hilarious neighbors!
Ombré Layer Cake with yogurt blackberry cream
Ingredients
- BISCUITS:
- 6 eggs
- 250 g sugar
- 150 g flour
- 100 g cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 Tbsp of pure cocoa powder
- CREAM:
- 200 g whipping cream
- 300 g Greek yogurt (it must be Greek for the amount of fat)
- 250 g mascarpone
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g of fresh or frozen blackberries
- DECORATION / ASSEMBLY:
- 75 g blackberry jam
- A handful of fresh blackberries
- Fresh flowers (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Grease two molds about 18 cm in diameter. In the bowl of the mixer, whisk the eggs with the sugar with the rod attachment for about 5 minutes until you get a whitish mixture.
In another bowl sift the flour with cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the egg mixture by mixing only until the ingredients have been integrated and no lumps of flour remain.
Divide the batter into two equal parts and one of the halves of the batter adds the sifted cocoa powder to make the layers of chocolate sponge cake. Pour the two mixtures into the pans and bake for about 40 minutes or until you stick the biscuits with a stick, it comes out dry.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a rack. When they are completely cold, cut the cakes in half so that you have two layers of each.
To prepare the cream, in a bowl whip the cream. In another bowl, mix the mascarpone with the yogurt, sugar and vanilla until it is creamy. Add the whipping cream by mixing in enveloping movements. Reserve the cream in the fridge while you blend the berries until you have a puree.
To make the ombré effect of the cream, divide it into 4 bowls in equal parts. One of the bowls will not have blackberry purée, the cream will be white. To the other 3 add blackberry puree in different amounts from more to less so that you have 3 different purple tones.
The assembly of the cake is very simple, start by placing a layer of chocolate sponge cake as a base and spread it with blackberry jam. Cover with the darkest blackberry cream. Cover with the second layer of chocolate sponge cake and repeat the process until you finish covering the cake with the white cream.
Refrigerate the cake for about 30 minutes so that the cream hardens a little. If you see it a little unstable, you can put it in the freezer for 30 more minutes.
Before serving decorate with fresh flowers and blackberries.
Sweet dreams,
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