Put lemon, raspberry and white chocolate together, you’re 50% on the way to a delicious cake!

In my previous post of the dessert table for my friend’s bridal shower, I did a Ombre cake. Ya I know I know everyone is doing ombre and all, but have u found one that uses real fruit instead? Ok la I’m not lying, u know it’s impossible to achieve perfect pink just by using raspberry alone. I still had to use some colouring. But hey at least, I’m not using as much ??

In Crave Malay Mail’s 1st issue a couple of months back, I was asked to tryout the Raspberry Velvet Ombre cake recipe. The original recipe is there, if you would like to do it. I borrowed the idea of adding raspberry into the layers, and used it on my own butter cake recipe that I always use. Then tweaked a little here and there to fit the description of the cake. You can check out CRAVE Malay Mail’s FB page here. It’s a great change to the usual baking / pastry stuffs on adding a little more creativity to classical or traditional stuffs

The cake was actually for another friend who’s birthday was just the following day. So, what a better timing! Knowing that the theme of the dessert table was green / earthy tone, I decided to use this cake, as a focal point (or whatever u may call it) by making it pink. Initially I wanted to do pandan gula melaka ombre, but green on green on more green just doesn’t seem too appealing to me. Having a little pink would make the cake pop! So a raspberry ombre cake would be great!

My tips on making a high ombre cake.

1. Weigh all the batter for each layer making sure it’s the same so all the cake layers are the same height.

2. Start with the lightest colour and gradually add on so you don’t have to wash so many bowls. What I do is, I usually add up the batter amount from the recipe and divide. Then from the mixing bowl, I use 2 bowls for pouring batter and mixing colour (instead of 5 or 7, depending on how many layers u have) I use 2 cause I have 2 baking tins, 1 for each.

3. Use double action baking powder if you have 1 or 2 baking tins. Usually for omber layer cakes that are more than 5 layers, the last few layers would have to be put out while waiting for the first few layers to bake. Normal BP activates when comes in contact with liquid, but if it’s not baked immediately, it tends to lose its effectiveness. So Double action BP, activates like normal, when in contact with liquid, then again when there’s heat. But it does not mean 1 tsp normal baking powder = 1/2 tsp double action bp. I use the same amount.

4. For pink colouring, use paste if possible. I use Wilton’s Rose Petal Pink and Americolour’s Mauve and Fuschia for the darker layers. Get 2 colours that are similar shade but different tone, so you can achieve the darker hues without adding too much colour.

5. Usually when the cake is low, it doesn’t rise that high. But if it does, trim off the top so it’s flat.

6. When frosting, spread a thin layer in between cakes. If diameter of cake is 6″ or smaller, it’s advisable to use a bamboo / satay stick and secure all the layers while frosting so the cake doesn’t ‘run off’. Once you’re done frosting, you can remove the stick.

Lemon Raspberry Ombre Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream

 

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Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

2 hours

 

Author: Swee San

Recipe type: Cake

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Cake

• 250g unsalted butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 1 lemon, zested
• 4 eggs
• 300g cake flour (or all purpose flour)
• 1½ tsp double action baking powder* (see tips above)
• ½ tsp sodium bicarb
• 180ml milk
• 120g raspberry puree
• 1 tsp vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
• pinch of salt

Buttercream

• 250g unsalted butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 100g white chocolate, melted
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• *may need 1-2 tbsp of milk, depending on the consistency of the BC.

Instructions

Cake

1. Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest in a mixing bowl till creamy and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time at a 30 seconds interval.
2. Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sodium bicarb) in a bowl. Squeeze lemon juice into milk. Add in vanilla extract.
3. Fold in ⅓ of the dry ingredients. Add in ½ of milk and mix well. Repeat by alternating flour and milk till u end with flour.
4. Separate batter into 5 bowls, making sure each pan has the same amount of batter. For the 1st layer, as it is cream in colour, bake as it is.
5. For 2nd layer, add in 15g raspberry puree. 3rd layer, add 25g raspberry puree into the cake batter. 4th layer, add 35g raspberry puree and 5th layer, add 45g. Add the colouring to achive more ombre tones. (After adding raspberry, it tends to become grey)
6. Bake each layer for 20 minutes or till skewer comes out clean in a oven temperature of 175 C.
7. Remove tray from oven, let it cool and invert it out to a wire rack.

Buttercream

1. Cream butter till creamy. Add in icing sugar, salt and vanilla and continue to beat.
2. Melt white chocolate and add into mixture. Stir well.

Assembly

1. Lay the darkest coloured cake on a cake board. Spread a thin layer of buttercream. Then lay the 2nd layer. Continue till you're done with all the layers. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake if it moves (see tips above)
2. Spread and cover the cake with buttercream.

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3.1.07

I guess that’s about it! The addition of raspberry and lemon to the cake makes it more flavourful. Don’t forget, you have 5 layers of cake to eat. If it’s all just vanilla, it can get a little boring. (To me, at least) Next I shall make a pandan ombre.