BAVARIAN FRUIT CAKE

BAVARIAN FRUIT CAKE

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE
100 g flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs, whites and yolk separated
70 g sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

FOR THE CREAM
300 ml milk
3 egg yolks
100 g sugar
2 tbsp. corn starch
 1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. granulated gelatine
2 tbsp. cold water for gelatine
375 ml heavy cream

FOR THE DECORATION
500 g puff pastry
50 g brown sugar
60 ml fruit liqueur
fresh seasonal fruit
powdered sugar for dusting

TO MAKE THE SPONGE
1. Preheat oven 190 degrees C. Grease and line pan (23cm) with loose base.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar in thick creamy foam till the amount triples.
3. Beat the egg whites and salt into thick foam.
4. Add flour to egg yolks, then add egg whites.
5. Pour the mix in the pan. Bake for 20-25 min, till the top in golden brown and firm.
6. When ready, let it rest in the pan for 5 min, then remove and rest it on a wire rack. Remove baking paper. Let it rest for an hour.

TO MAKE THE CREAM
1. In a small bowl, stir together the gelatin and cold water. Set aside to soften.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In a hot water bath beat the egg yolks, sugar, starch, vanilla and milk. Stir the mix with a wooden spoon till it gets thicker and sticks to the back of the spoon. Take of the heat and stir till the cream is has cooled down.
3. Melt the gelatine in hot water bath. Add to the egg mix. When the cream starts to thicken, mix in whipped cream.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE
Part 1
1. Cut the sponge cake in two layers. Sprinkle them with the liqueur.
2. Put one of the layers in a pan with loose base (23 cm). Pour half of the cream on the top of the sponge. Place the other layer of sponge and the rest of the cream on the top.
3. Put the cake in the fridge for 8 hours.

Part 2
1. Preheat  the oven 200 degrees C. Grease pans. Roll out puff pastry. Put on the pan, sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 10-12 min, till golden brown. Cool down.
2. Cut two rounds of puff pastry as big as the cake you are making. Place one of the puff pastry rounds on a plate.
3. Take carefully the cake out of the pan and place  on the puff pastry. Top with the another round of puff pastry and fruit. Dust with powdered sugar.

P.S. This was the second cake I made for my party on Friday. It was nice, smooth and not very sweet. When looking at the recipe seems like a lot of work, but everything was easy to make, so it was not so bad. As you can see instead of puff pastry I used baked and broken filo pastry and pomegranate. Looked quite nice and was definitely easier to cut. 

Enjoy, k.

recipe from “Kūkas” by M. Neri