As I write this I’ve just made this cake the first time, and wow, not to tute my own horn but it really blew my socks off!!
This is a 3 layer angel food cake with a blueberry filling, and finished with a ermine-buttermilk-vanilla bean-frosting. An original recipe, and by that I mean simply combining 3 common recipes, but none the less a wonderful combination of flavors.
If I had to pick the real star out of the harmony so to speak, it’d be the frosting. Its lightly sweet and soft texture, compliment the subtle sweetness of angelfood cake so well you’d think it stolen from Mt. Olympus.
Equipment
- Stand mixer or electric wisk
- 3 9in round cake pans
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
Cake
- 12 Egg whites - use carton at your own risk The whites will need to be room temperature, however eggs separate better when cold so its best to do the separating ahead of time
- 1 + 3/4 cups Bakers Sugar set 1 cup aside
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract for this i do actually use the expensive stuff
Filling
- 2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup of sugar
Frosting
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1 cup Butter i prefer salted, it does make a difference in this recipe
- 5 Tablespoons AP flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract the real stuff
- 1 - 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Your egg whites need to be room temp by the time you start on the cake batter, however eggs separate best when cold, so what id advise is to take eggs out of the fridge and go ahead and separate them. Have 2 bowls at the ready, maybe 3, one bowl is your mixing bowl, which you will make the cake in, the next is an intermediary bowl that you should separate the whites into one at a time. This is incase of a yolk rupture, as a single drop of egg yolk will contaminate the whole batch and prevent the whites from whipping. So its best to crack and separate one at a time only adding the white to the mixing bowl once the yolk is discarded and verified that there is no contaminate. Your 3rd bowl can be a bowl or personally I used an ice cube tray to freeze the yolks for later. Now set your mixing bowl aside and allow to come to room temperature.
During this time I advise you to get a start on the filling and the frosting.
For the frosting paste
In A medium saucepan combine the dry and whisk together until incorporated. Place on medium heat and add buttermilk - DO NOT ADD VANILLA YET, whisk until smooth. Whisk continuously until mixture thickens akin to pudding. Set aside and allow to cool, also set butter aside to warm to room temp.
For the filling
Add all ingredients in a medium saucepan mixing until incorporated, add to medium heat occasionally stirring gently to prevent sticking. Once thickened remove from heat and allow to cool.
Finally the cake!
Sift the dry ingredients minus the 1 cup of sugar we set aside earlier note: the sugar used is bakers sugar, ie regular sugar that’s a fine grain, similar to powdered sugar but without any cornstarch, you can make and approximation by pulsing regular sugar in a food processor, i do not know if the fineness of the grain will be sufficient for this recipe In your mixing bowl add the cream of tartar and whisk and until foamy, on medium low speed. Once foamy slowly add the 1 cup bakers sugar we set aside earlier once fully added, turn mixer on medium high and whisk until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Once you’ve got stiff peaks add vanilla and slowly sift the dry mix while folding into the whites, careful to not add too much at a time.
Prepare your round pans by HEAVILY crinkling 3 sheets of parchment paper a bit bigger than your pans into balls, the paper needs to be really worked so I crinkled each paper 7-10 times. This is because the batter is so light its not gonna be able to weigh the paper down into the crease of the pan. next place the paper into each UNGREASED pan, filling no more than 3/4 full, be sure to poke the paper down into the crease once you’ve added the batter. After youve done all 3 trim excess paper and add to top rack of your preheated oven and allow to bake for 40 minutes, at the 20 minute mark be sure to turn the pans.
After they’re nice and golden remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans and place on a wire rack for another 10 minutes.
Completing the frosting
Cream the 1 cup butter and slowly whisk the frosting paste in. Once fully mixed add as much vanilla extract and bean paste to your taste, I use about the amounts listed above. Its important that the vanilla is added here as much of real vanilla’s flavor is lost once cooked, so if you add it earlier it wouldn’t taste like the real stuff, it’d come out closer to the imitation.
Assembly
After everything has cooled to room temp you can begin to assemble your cake! Place each layer upside down on a plate, carefully removing the parchment, and cover with the filling. Finish the top layer and sides with icing and Boom your Done!!
Best served chilled!! (if you can stand to wait that long)
L #Cooking