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Recipe Detail Page
Raspberry & Cream Cheese Ombre Cake
Early Summer 2013
This stunning cake will no doubt elicit oohs and aahs for both its gorgeous exterior and its scrumptious layers of delicately spiced cake and tart raspberry filling. While cream cheese icings tend to be quite soft and not suitable for fanciful decorating, replacing some of the usual butter with a little shortening ensures the icing is firm enough to use in much the same way as a buttercream frosting.
Serves 10 to 12
RASPBERRY FILLING
4 cups (1 L) raspberries, divided
½ cup (125 mL) sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
¼ cup (60 mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup (60 mL) cornstarch
¼ cup (60 mL) water
CAKE
3 cups (750 mL) cake and pastry flour
1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder
½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
¼ tsp (1 mL) salt
½ tsp (2 mL) allspice
¼ tsp (1 mL) cinnamon
1 lb (500 g) unsalted butter, 4 sticks
2 cups (500 mL) sugar
1½ tsp (7 mL) pure vanilla extract
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk
8 large egg whites
Pinch cream of tartar
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
½ lb (250 g) unsalted butter, softened, 2 sticks
½ cup (125 mL) all-vegetable shortening
8 oz (250 g) cream cheese, softened
1½ tsp (7 mL) vanilla extract
½ tsp (2 mL) salt
2½ to 3 cups (625 to 750 mL) icing sugar
Liquid food colouring in preferred colour
1 To make raspberry filling, combine 2 cups (500 mL) raspberries, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes or until raspberries have broken apart.
2 In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with ¼ cup (60 mL) water. Add to pot along with remaining 2 cups (500 mL) raspberries. Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for an additional 2 minutes; remove from heat. Pour into a heatproof bowl, cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 2 hours.
3 Butter and flour sides of two 9-inch (23‑cm) springform pans. Line bottoms with parchment.
4 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
5 In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice and cinnamon. Set aside.
6 Combine butter and sugar in a separate large bowl; using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture in 4 parts, alternating with buttermilk in 3 parts.
7 In a separate large bowl, using cleaned electric mixer, whip egg whites with cream of tartar until medium stiff. Fold ⅓ of egg whites into flour mixture. Fold in remaining egg whites.
8 Divide mixture between prepared pans. Smooth tops, and bake until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove pans to a baking rack to cool for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and allow to cool to room temperature on racks. Peel off parchment.
9 While cakes are cooling, prepare frosting. Combine butter, shortening and cream cheese in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla and salt. Continue to beat on low and add 2½ cups (625 mL) icing sugar, ½ cup (125 mL) at a time. Frosting should be stiff enough to hold peaks. Add additional ½ cup (125 mL) icing sugar only if necessary.
10 To assemble, slice each cake horizontally. Place 1 cake layer, cut-side down, on a flat serving plate. Spread with one-third chilled raspberry filling. Top with another cake layer, cut-side down. Repeat with remaining filling and cake layers to form a 7-layer cake (counting filling as layers). Using ½ cup (125 mL)frosting, spread a thin crumb layer over entire cake using an offset spatula and refrigerate until firmed, about 30 minutes.
11 To decorate, divide remaining frosting equally between 5 small bowls. Using liquid food colouring, tint 4 bowls with increasing amounts of colouring to create 4 intensities of tint. Leave fifth portion of frosting white.
12 Starting with the darkest colour, use a small offset spatula to frost bottom quarter of sides of cake. Follow with the next lightest colour and frost another quarter, above quarter already frosted. Repeat with remaining coloured frosting ending with the lightest colour next to the top. Ice top with white frosting. Using a large offset spatula, smooth frosting on sides, blending colours somewhat to soften transitions between colours. Use large spatula to decoratively smooth top. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving.
Serves 10 to 12
