I first saw a nude cake some years ago, reading an article that showed it was being requested for modern weddings. Then my sister, who has a catering service, talked me about it too. But all these info remained only in my mind.
Some weeks ago – to tell the truth it was during San Remo music festival, as I wasn’t able to concentrate myself on the TV and kept surfing on the Internet – I saw a wonderful nude cake on Trattoria da Martina great blog and I saved it.
I don’t know if it happens to you too, but if I could do all the recipes I’ve saved I’d spend years and years cooking with no stop ;-).
And, while thinking about a cake to prepare to my daughter’s birthday, the nude cake came to my mind. I was inspired by the one I saved, but for the dough I used an old recipe of orange cake. I didn’t want a rich dough, nor too sweet or fat, and this orange one really satisfied my expectations. It matches the fresh cream and fruits of the decoration in a great way.
The ones who ate this nude cake were very satisfied, what about you ;-)?
- [u]important tips:[/u]
- I doubled a regular recipe. If you want to make a regular one layer cake, consider half of the recipe.
- I divided the dough (trying to have the same height in all stamps) in:
- 1 springform 9.8in
- 1 springform 7.8in
- 1 springform 3.9 (I used a pasta portioner of this size)
- p.s.- it is not important to have the stamps exactly like mine, but it is mandatory to have a similar difference between them to give the pyramid effect.
- [u]for the cake:[/u]
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 8 eggs
- grated zest of 1 orange
- 1 cup orange juice
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup Maizena (corn starch)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- [u]for the cream:[/u]
- 1.1 pound fresh cream
- 1.1 pound mascarpone cheese
- 0.39 pound icing sugar
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- [u]for decoration:[/u]
- 15/20 strawberries
- 0.44 pounds blackcerries
- 0.44 pounds raspberries
- icing sugar
- Grease the molds with cooking spray (or grease them with butter and sprinkle some flour). It is better to use the cooking spray here as the cake is…nude, and it has to come out of the mold entirely as it is not going to be covered by any topping.
- Turn on the oven 356°F/180°C.
- Beat sugar and butter until creamy.
- Add yolks, one at a time, orange juice, and, slowly, all other ingredients except the eggwhites.
- Beat the dough until smooth and well combined.
- Beat the eggwhites until stiff and slowly add them to the dough, mixing with care, from bottom to top.
- Pour the dough into the molds trying to have the same height in all of them.
- Bake for about half an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when you insere it in the cake.
- Take them out of the oven, wait 10 minutes and take them out of the molds.
- As soon as the cakes are cooled, cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge, better if for a whole night.
- You can decorate it hours before serving, don’t worry.
- Take each cake and cut it in the horizontal way, trying to have 2 equal disks.
- Wash the fruit and dry them with a kitchen cloth or paper.
- Eliminate the strawberries leaves and cut them in halves.
- Beat the cream with mascarpone until stiff. Add the lemon zest to the icing sugar and slowly add it to the cream, always beating.
- Put the cream inside a sac a poche and cut a hole of about 0.8in – you will have to do it in two batches.
- Put the first disk of cake on the serving plate. Make some cream balls on it, covering the whole surface.
- Carefully add the second half of the cake.
- Repeat the cream balls for the surface of the next cake (smaller).
- Carefully add the lower disk of the second cake.
- Repeat with the cream and the second layer of the second cake.
- Again for the last 2 disks.
- Separate some blackberries, strawberries and raspberries for the top and divide the others along the cake, using some cream, if needed, as glue
- Add the fruits to the top and sprinkle some icing sugar all over the cake.
- Buon appetito!
No Comments