“Birthday Cake? Yes, this surely an impressive piece to make!”
Wanted to make my usual mango cake with the packet of Optima sponge cake premix given by a friend. However, wasn’t really content with baking a cake with premix this time, also had an urge to decorate my cake with mango roses, this would make my cake top heavier than usual, I do not want my cake to collapse. Thus, here I had this idea to make a denser cake so that it could hold my elaborated decoration/ topping well. I used the premix to make my own recipe this time.
Yes, cake might be dense, but neither hard nor dry, though it’s not really the soft and fluffy kind. It was still moist enough. But at least, for sure, taste of this cake was great. Stronger flavor and more aromatic, too. And most of all, no worries of toppling cake. :)
Yield a 8″ cake
Ingredients
350 gram of Optima premix (I used Bake King brand)
4 large eggs (of 2 eggs with yolk and whites separated), room temperature
60ml of milk, room temperature
20 grams of butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon of condensed milk
Frosting and Filling:
200ml of non-dairy whipped cream
1 teaspoon of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 ripe mangoes, half diced and half thinly sliced
1/2 punnet of large strawberries, trimmed and diced
Method
(1) Preheat oven at 180deg Celsius (top and bottom heat). Combine premix flour, milk, condensed milk, butter, 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks (only) in a large mixing bowl. Mix them with electrical mixer at low speed or just a hand/ balloon whisk until all combined. Do not over beat the cake batter.
(2) In a clean dry bowl, beat egg whites at medium speed till soft peak. Again, do not over beat it. Immediately fold in egg white meringue into cake batter. Pour combined batter into a greased round baking tin. Drop the filled baking tin from a distance onto the counter top a few times to eliminate bubbles forming in the bake.
(3) Place baking tin at low rack and bake for 15 minutes. Then, reduce temperature to 160deg Celsius and continue baking for another 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool cake on metal rack.
(4) While waiting for the cake to cool, pour whipping cream into a dry (chilled) mixing bowl to beat till soft peak. Drizzle icing sugar and vanilla essence to continue beating till stiff peak.
(5) Divide whipped cream into two bowls. Keep one bowl of whipped cream in the refrigerator. In the other bowl of whipped cream, add diced mangoes and strawberries. Mix well to make mixed fruits cream filling. Chill in the refrigerator.
(6) When cake is completely cool, remove from baking tin. Slice cake into 2 or 3 layers. Lay 1 layer on a flat top. Remove mixed fruits cream filling to spread on the layer. Then, top another layer. If more than 2 layers, repeat step.
(7) Now, take out the whipped cream from refrigerator to do the frosting. When done, decorate cake top by arranging mangoes roses (see below steps) around the edges, and then, strawberries in the middle. Or, any desired decorative ideas. Chill before serve.
Mango Rose Making:
(1) Peel and slice mango halves off the pit. Then, place mango flesh flat and slice thinly at an angle. First, make the centre (most inner) of the rose. Roll the first piece of mango slice tightly and place it on the designated place on the cake top.
(2) Wrap the second piece of mango slice around the center piece, followed by third piece, and so on. Work the rose petals outward till a rose formed.
(3) Use the smaller pieces for the center and the larger pieces as you work outward.
Tips: King Bake brand Optima Premix is available at major hypermarkets eg NTUC Xtra, Giant and Carrerfour. May find it at Cold Storage, too.
* Egg, butter, eggs and milk must be at room temperature to avoid cake from being too dense.