Whipped Cream Cake

Here's my submission for this week's Heavenly Cake Bakers baking group - the Whipped Cream Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.

I have to confess - I flubbed this recipe straight out of the gate. Not having read the recipe directions very carefully, I accidentally added the vanilla extract and slightly beaten eggs to the heavy cream before I whipped the cream. If I hadn't beaten the eggs I might have been able to separate them from the cream, but I had to stick a fork in there and give it a whirl. Sigh.

Not wanting to throw away 1 1/2 cups of cream, I decided to proceed with the recipe. The cream/egg combo took a bit longer to whip, but it eventually did... although I suspect the final volume suffered a bit.

I sprayed this bundt pan well with Baker's Joy, which enabled the finished cake to release from the pan perfectly.

This recipe was an absolute breeze to put together. I baked the cake in a Bundt pan with a dark finish, so I lowered the baking temp by 25F as suggested by Rose. The finished baking time was exactly 30 minutes.

I served the cake with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream, a spoonful of Meyer lemon curd (Meyer lemons have a gentle, less acidic lemon flavor than more traditional Eureka lemons), and a drizzle of raspberry puree, but it's also delicious served with a simple sprinkling of powdered sugar.  The recipe for the cake can be found in Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Items used to make this recipe:

• bundt pan https://amzn.to/3tQLGj0

• baker’s joy https://amzn.to/3GYmdHT

• Rose’s Heavenly Cakes https://amzn.to/3rNhORV

Easy Meyer Lemon Curd

Makes approx 1 1/2 cups

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed juice from 3-4 small Meyer lemons

• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar (3/4 cup if using regular lemons)

• 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

• 2 teaspoons finely grated zest (optional)

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan over med to med-high heat; whisking constantly until the butter melts and the mixture starts to thicken, about 5 minutes (the temperature should reach 160F).

2. Strain hot mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove zest and any cooked egg bits that may have formed.

3. Serve warm or refrigerate for later use. Warm curd is pourable. Cold curd thickens to a spreadable consistency. Refrigerate leftovers.

Note

• If you don't have a heavy bottomed sauce pan, you can cook the curd in a heat-proof glass or stainless steel bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water. Proceed as directed above.

Death by Chocolate Cake

Requested by my hubby, who is indeed a serious chocolate lover, for his 40th birthday.

Believe me when I say this cake is extremely rich and a little goes a long way. We first had it at the The Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg, Va. There they serve gigantic slices of this cake - enough for two. At home, this 9" cake can easily serve 16. Anything more than a 1 to 1 1/2-inch slice is too much.

Anyway, Hubby always orders this cake for dessert, and the last time we ate there, he purchased the Death by Chocolate Cookbook for me (hint-hint). He was a happy birthday boy when he sank his teeth into his beloved Death by Chocolate Cake.

If you plan to tackle this cake, devote several hours of uninterrupted time. I won't go into all the details of making the various components, but before you can assemble the cake, you'll need two (2) brownie layers, chocolate ganache (made several hours ahead), cocoa meringue (bakes for 2 hours), mocha mousse, and chocolate mousse - all simple to make individually, but together they are quite involved.

Start by topping the first brownie layer with some of the ganache.

Next you add the cocoa meringue that has been trimmed to fit. I found the recipe made an extremely generous amount of meringue. I trimmed 1/3 to 1/2 of it away to fit nicely on the 9" brownie layer.

Next you add the Mocha Mousse - again, there was way more than I needed. Will use the extra in some sort of parfait or something. Also, I didn't have the right size springform pan to use as a barrier (to hold the loose mocha mousse in place), so I made one from a strip of wax paper that I folded in half and glued together with a bit of ganache. Then you top with the second brownie layer and pop it into the freezer.

After about an hour in the freezer, this is what the cake looks like without the wax paper collar. I smoothed the mocha mousse with a spatula (wiped away the excess), but didn't get a photo - sorry.

Then I filled in any gaps and covered the top and sides of the cake with the remaining ganache. I made this casual swirl pattern by moving my spatula up the sides of the cake while spinning my turntable.

The last step is to pipe the chocolate mousse on in a decortive fashion.

Death by Chocolate Cake ButterYum

I was able to find the recipe on this blog. Also, here at The Washington Post.