Fresh Fruit Flower Naked Cake
Bake this lovely fresh fruit flower naked cake especially if you love the pairing of soft, airy sponge cake with the lightness and fluffiness of whipped fresh cream and the sweetness from fresh fruits. Look no more. It’s literally a piece of cake!
Fresh Fruit Flower Naked Cake
Makes 1 x 20 cm cake using the Sakura Chiffon Tin (3 layers) or 1 x 6 inch round cake (4 layers)
This recipe uses the Sakura Chiffon Cake Tin.
You may use a 6 inch (15cm) tin and achieve 4 layers.
INGREDIENTS
Vanilla Sponge
3 Egg Yolks (from large eggs ~60g each)
60g Cake Flour
30g Caster Sugar
25g Unsalted Butter (melted)
5ml Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Essence
Meringue
3 Egg Whites (from large eggs, 60g each)
30g Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Fillings & Decoration
50ml Sugar Syrup (optional) from dissolving 50ml water & 30g sugar
150ml Whipping Cream
15g Icing Sugar
Mango or Peach for Orange/Yellow colours
Kiwii for Green colour
Strawberry or Raspberries for Red colours
(Fruit amount – as you like)
Method:
Preheat overn at 170 degrees Celcius
Prepare baking paper and line cake tin if you’re using a regular round pan.
1) Melt butter using a microwave or over a hot water bath. Add in Vanilla extract or vanilla essence once the butter has melted. Set aside but keep it mildly warm.
2) Beat egg yolks and sugar until it turns pale and increases in volume.
3) Make the meringue in another bowl. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until foams formed and resemble beer bubbles. Add in cream of tartar and then add the sugar in 3 batches, at high speed. Beat until stiff peaks forms. Then on low speed, slowly move the beater around the bowl to stabilise the size of the air bubbles. Do this for 30 sec 1 min on the lowest speed
4) Gently fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture. Sift in half of the cake flour and gently fold using a whisk. Add in the rest of the meringue and fold with a whisk, lastly, add in the remaining flour and fold until flour disappears. Do not overfold.
5) Scoop a little cake batter into the melted butter and vanilla mixture and mix it. This is to dilute the fat content and make it easier when adding to the rest of the cake batter.
Then lightly pour in the melted butter and vanilla mixture into the batter. use a spatula to gently fold making sure you get to the bottom as well. Once the butter is combined, stop folding.
6) Pour the batter into the cake tin and lightly tap it on the surface of the work table to bring any big bubbles to the top. Bake for about 30 minutes at 170 degrees Celcius.
7) Once done, invert the cake and let it cool before removing it from the mould. Wrap it or cover and let it rest overnight if you’re not decorating it immediately.
8) Decoration:
Slice up the fruits.
Cut strawberries in halves for the top decoration. Do not remove the stalk and leave some green leaves on the strawberry.
In a cold bowl, whip up 150ml of whipping cream with 15g powdered sugar. You may put your bowl of whipping cream into another bowl with ice and water to keep the whipped cream cool so that it whips up fluffier.
9) Slice the cake into about 1 cm thickness. Apply simple syrup (optional) on the cake layer. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on the sponge and arrange the yellow/orange fruit on it. Place a little more whipped cream on the fruit and cover it. It does not need to cover entirely. Repeat the same step for the rest of the fruits.
10) To finish off the decoration, smooth any whipped cream that came over the edge of the cake with an offset pallet knife. Spread the last bit of whipped cream on the surface / top part of the cake and place the strawberry halves on the top.
ENJOY!
