Sometimes you feel like cake, and when you do, you should absolutely have some. I already touched on that in a separate post, but I think it's important enough that it bears repeating. If you want cake, make some cake. In good times and bad, cake can make any day a celebration. Just the simple act of cutting a cake is a beautiful gesture of community. It says what's mine is yours, and I'm happy to share. In general, cake is just very friendly, and who couldn't use another friend? This cake, my Berry Good Layer Cake, is just the kind of friend anyone would be lucky to have. Sweet and fruity and beautiful in its simplicity, it is endearing and lovely and not at all cloying. It's always welcome at any gathering, and is guaranteed to make a bad day better.
Isn't she lovely?
This effortless cake makes the most out of the season's abundant produce. A simple compote of fresh mixed berries combined with American buttercream frosting fills a basic vanilla-almond sponge cake and is topped with more vanilla buttercream. The compote is actually a refrigerator jam - what you don't use to fill the cake you can enjoy atop your morning toast or pancakes.
This pretty cake is the essence of summer
What makes this recipe so great is that you don't need any fancy ingredients - just the usual suspects of the baking aisle and some fresh fruit. Prepare your compote a day ahead to ensure it it completely cool and set up. I did not do this, and as you can see it was still a bit runny and tried to escape. It did make a pretty purple ring outside the cake that wasn't supposed to be there, so let's s just call it a happy accident.
Fresh fruit on top hints at what's inside
Berry Good Layer Cake (serves 8-10)
Ingredients:
For the cake:
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
For the mixed berry compote:
3 cups assorted mixed berries (I used fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
zest of 1 lemon
For the American buttercream frosting:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 lb confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Make the compote: Add berries and sugar to a saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about five minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in water. Add to berries and stir. Cook for another 5 minutes until thickened and glossy. Remove from heat. Add lemon zest. Cool completely in refrigerator, overnight is best.
Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two eight-inch round cake pans with butter or cooking spray all around pans, and parchment disks on the bottom of pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs on medium high speed for three minutes until light yellow. Add sugar and beat for an additional three minutes.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Add flour mixture to egg mixture slowly and mix on low. Combine milk and butter and add to batter, mixing on low. Add extracts and mix to combine.
Divide batter evenly in both pans and bake for 22-27 minutes until a light golden color and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans for 15 minutes, then carefully remove from pans (run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the pan before turning out) and cool on racks completely.
Make the frosting: Beat butter in an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment for three minutes until smooth, on high speed. Carefully add sugar, cream and vanilla and beat slowly to combine, then on high speed for three additional minutes.
Make filling: Combine 1 cup frosting with 1/2 cup berry compote. Stir to combine completely.
Assemble the cake: Add a dab of frosting to your cake plate or board to keep cake stable while you frost it. Add bottom layer cake layer. Pipe a ring of frosting around the outside of the cake. Fill in with berry filling. Add top layer. Frost the whole cake with remaining buttercream. Garnish with fresh berries.
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