Vanilla layer cake with chocolate-mascarpone filling, mascarpone frosting and edible flowers

Last Saturday, I made a cake that felt like spring.

There was lots of vanilla, mascarpone, and a touch of chocolate, because where would I be without chocolate?

But mostly, there were flowers, edible ones.
Pansies, of the yellow and purple kind, that decorated the cake in the most beautiful way.

Two vanilla cakes, aromatic and sweet, dense but not stodgy, separated only by a thick layer of chocolate-mascarpone cream that was light, airy and filled with the deep flavor of good quality cocoa powder.

Covering the cake, a luscious, soft and pillowy mascarpone frosting, whiter than white, the perfect canvas for the yellow and purple flowers to show off their effortless beauty and gorgeous hues.

The cake was just the right amount of sweet, with the intense flavor and aroma of the vanilla being present with every forkful. Light, fluffy, bright, elegant, delicious cake, enjoyed to the fullest. Nothing more we could ask for.

Vanilla layer cake with chocolate-mascarpone filling, mascarpone frosting and edible flowers

I used edible pansies to decorate the cake but any edible flowers will do. Violets would be stunning if you could find some.

This is a fairly easy cake to make for any type of celebration. Everyone will be wowed and you won’t have made a huge mess in the kitchen or spend a huge amount of time preparing it. Win-win.

Yield: 1 layered cake / 12-14 slices

Ingredients

for the vanilla cake
200 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pans
130 g caster sugar
3 medium-sized eggs
45 ml whole fresh milk
1½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract)
225 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt

for the chocolate-mascarpone filling
250 g mascarpone
55 g icing sugar
35 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
240 ml cream, full-fat (35%)

for the mascarpone frosting
250 g mascarpone
55 g icing sugar
100 ml cream, full-fat (35%)
½ tsp pure vanilla extract (I didn’t add paste as I wanted the frosting white without the vanilla seeds showing, but you can add vanilla paste if you like)

Edible flowers, for decorating

Special equipment: two round 18cm springform baking pans, baking paper, stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer, fine sieve, large serrated knife, frosting spatulas (large straight and/or small offset)


Preparation

for the vanilla cake
Butter the bottom and sides of two 18cm springform pans. Line the bottom with baking paper.

Preheat your oven to 175°C.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), add the butter and sugar and beat, using the paddle attachment (or a hand-held mixer), on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt straight into the bowl and beat on medium speed until combined.

Divide the batter between the two baking pans. I weigh the mixture and divide it in half between the two pans, but if you don’t want to use a scale, eyeball it. Smooth the tops with the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula.

Place both pans on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester or knife inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake otherwise the cakes will be dry.

Remove pans from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Then remove cakes from the pans and leave to cool on the wire rack completely.

Take a large serrated knife and cut the tops off the cakes to level them.

for the chocolate-mascarpone filling
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder and add the mascarpone. Beat with the whisk attachment (or a hand-held mixer) on medium speed until creamy. Then add the cream and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to overwhip or the mixture will split.

Choose the plate, stand etc. where you’ll place your cake, cut four thick strips of baking paper and form a square outline on the plate. This will ensure that your plate or stand will not be covered with frosting when you apply it over your cake.

Place the first cake (cut side up) onto the pieces of baking paper and add the chocolate-mascarpone filling on top. Spread the filling over the top of the cake, smoothing it out with the help of a small offset spatula (or a regular spatula). Be careful not to spread too close to the edges, leave some space for the filling to spread out when you add each layer on top.
Carefully place the second cake on top (cut side down) and press down gently to secure.

Put the cake in the fridge in order for the filling and cake to firm up and be ready for the application of the frosting. Leave in the fridge for 10 minutes and make the mascarpone frosting.

for the mascarpone frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), sieve the icing sugar and add the mascarpone, the cream and the vanilla. Beat with the whisk attachment (or a hand-held mixer) on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to overwhip or the mixture will split.

Remove the cake from the fridge and apply the frosting evenly over and around the cake using a small offset spatula or a larger regular one.

Remove the baking paper from around the bottom of the cake carefully and place the cake in the fridge for 40 minutes to set. Right before you serve it, decorate the top with the edible flowers.

Note: Keep the cake in the fridge until it’s time to cut it. Don’t leave it out of the fridge because the frosting will get too soft.

You can keep the cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It’s best if you remove the flowers from the top. They should be super fresh when consumed.

Lemon cake with Greek wild thyme honey glaze and pistachios

Since last week, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it seems that spring is playing hide and seek, which I don’t mind at all. I don’t know why, but I’m not eager for the cold weather to go away just yet.

I’m still in winter mode and the weather conspires in my favor with heavy rain, howling winds and skies that have the most beautiful shades of dark blue and grey. Staying inside, watching movies and cooking was the perfect way to spend the weekend.

A cake felt necessary somehow.

I have baked this one numerous times. It is so good. It’s irresistible, even for a chocoholic like me. It’s a lemon cake with a Greek wild thyme honey glaze and pistachios.

The cake has the full flavor and aroma of the citrus fruit, it’s very moist and buttery, with a soft and dense crumb yet still very light. The glaze has the sweetness and fragrance of the thyme honey and is creamy and smooth, with the chopped pistachios on top adding texture.

It is perfect as a light, low-profile dessert after a big meal, or served thinly sliced with a cup of tea or coffee.

Lemon cake with Greek wild thyme honey glaze and pistachios
Adapted from Patisserie made simple by Edd Kimber

I don’t usually mention it in my recipes, but whenever I use lemon zest, it is from organic, unwaxed lemons. Unless you have picked the lemons yourselves from your backyard lemon tree (I have many of those in my home in Greece – sigh!), then please use unwaxed.

If you don’t have or can’t get hold of lemon extract, grate the zest of one extra lemon.

Yield: 1 cake / 8-10 pieces

Ingredients

for the cake
115 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing the pan
250 g caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons, grated
1 tsp lemon extract
4 large eggs
220 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
125 g sour cream (or full-fat Greek yoghurt)

for the glaze
160 g icing sugar
75 ml (5 Tbsp) cream, full-fat (35%)
1 Tbsp Greek wild thyme honey (or a floral honey if you prefer)
Pinch of salt

A handful of shelled, unsalted pistachios, chopped

Special equipment: stand or hand-held mixer, jug, sieve, loaf pan (23 x 9 x 8 cm), baking paper


Preparation

for the cake
Butter the bottom and sides of your loaf pan with butter and line it with baking paper.
Preheat your oven to 180°C.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl), add the softened butter, the sugar, the lemon zest and lemon extract, and using the paddle attachment (or your hand-held mixer), beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs into a jug and beat them lightly with a fork. Add the beaten eggs to the bowl in four additions, beating well after each addition to fully combine them.

Sieve together in a separate bowl the flour and baking powder. Add half of it into the bowl of the stand mixer and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Add the sour cream (or yoghurt) and beat on medium until fully combined. Then add the rest of the sieved flour and baking powder into the bowl and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Don’t overmix the batter or the cake will be tough.

Empty the cake batter into your prepared loaf pan and straighten the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
Place the pan on the low rack of your oven and bake for 35 minutes. Then transfer it to the middle rack of the oven and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Once ready, take the pan out of the oven and place it on a wire rack. After 15 minutes, remove the cake from the pan, lifting it up from the baking paper and allow it to cool completely on the rack.

for the glaze
In a medium-sized bowl add all the ingredients for the glaze and using a hand whisk, mix them well until you have a smooth glaze.

Take the cooled cake, remove the baking paper from the bottom and place it on the wire rack. Using a spoon or a spatula, glaze the cake and top with the chopped pistachios.

You can keep it at room temperature, covered, for 4-5 days.

Flourless dark chocolate and demerara sugar cake with pomegranate seeds (GF)

Happy New Year, friends. May 2015 be a healthy, joyous and lucky year for all, with lots of fun times and of course, delicious food.

I wanted to start off 2015 with a dessert that combined chocolate, my eternal love, and the pomegranate, a fruit that symbolizes luck, prosperity and good fortune in Greek culture; this one proved to be the ideal one.

It is a flourless cake with the rich, deep flavor of dark chocolate, some bitterness coming from the addition of freshly brewed espresso coffee, a hint of vanilla and the caramel-y flavor of demerara sugar that makes it particularly delicious.

Being not overly sweet, it welcomes the generous sprinkling of icing sugar that transforms its crackly top into a snowy landscape. The addition of the small, burgundy, sparkly jewels in the form of pomegranate seeds that decorate the top, adds another level of sweetness as well as an acidic undertone.

It is dense but not stodgy, almost like a fudgy brownie but much lighter, softer and far tastier, very moist with crackly, crispy top and edges, and with the plump pomegranate seeds giving extra crunchiness. Served with a generous dollop of freshly whipped cream sweetened with a little icing sugar, it is utterly scrumptious.

Chocolate and pomegranate is a beautiful combination and starting the New Year with these flavors was a choice that proved to be absolutely brilliant.

Let’s make this year a good one by being kind, generous and loving to ourselves and others. Let this be the year that all of our dreams come true.

Flourless dark chocolate and demerara sugar cake with pomegranate seeds (Gluten-free)

Demerara sugar is raw, cane sugar that gives desserts and cakes a special flavor and it is also healthier than white, refined sugar.

Use chocolate whose flavor you enjoy because the cake will taste very much like that chocolate. Make sure it is of good quality and I would suggest you don’t use a chocolate that has less than 70% cocoa solids.

If you don’t have an espresso machine, you can use a one-serving packet of espresso powder dissolved in 100ml boiling water.

I would strongly suggest you make the cake a day before you want to serve it as it is most delicious the next day.

Yield: 1 cake / 8-10 pieces

Ingredients
250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing the pan
250 g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), cut into pieces
100 ml freshly brewed strong espresso coffee
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
180 g demerara sugar (raw cane sugar)
4 large eggs

Icing sugar, for dusting the cake
The seeds of 1 pomegranate

for the chantilly cream (to serve with the cake)
250 ml cream, full-fat (35%)
1 Tbsp icing sugar

Special equipment: stand mixer or hand-held mixer, springform round pan 22-23 cm, baking paper, baking tray


Preparation
Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (bain-marie) and melt, stirring often with a spatula. The bottom of the bowl must not come in contact with the simmering water otherwise the chocolate will burn.
Remove the bowl from the top of the pan and add the espresso coffee, the vanilla and the salt and mix using a spatula. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl), add the sugar and eggs and beat using the whisk attachment (or with a hand-held electric mixer) on high speed, for 4-5 minutes, until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage (when you lift up the beater and let the mixture drip inside the bowl, you can see a ribbon forming on the surface and it stays for a few seconds before it disappears inside the rest of the mixture). The mixture should triple in volume and should be very light and fluffy.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 175°C.
Butter the bottom and sides of the springform pan very well and line the base with a piece of baking paper (click here to see how to make a baking paper circle).

Pour slowly the chocolate mixture in the egg mixture and fold it in using a spatula, being careful not to deflate the eggs.
Empty the batter gently into the prepared baking pan. Place the pan inside a square baking tray to prevent any liquid (or butter) spilling out into your oven (you may want to line the baking tray with a piece of aluminum foil) and place on the low rack of the preheated oven.

Bake cake for 30 minutes, and then transfer it to the middle rack of the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
You will notice that during baking the cake will puff up and once you take it out of the oven it will sink and crack on top. That is perfectly okay, that’s how it should be.

Remove it from the oven and transfer the baking pan on a wire rack so that the cake cools completely. Don’t remove the sides of the pan while the cake is still hot, otherwise the sides will collapse. Run a knife around the edges of the cake to ensure that the cake is not stuck and then remove the sides of the pan carefully. You may serve the cake on the base of the pan or remove it. Be careful though because it may break.

Prepare the chantilly cream by whipping the cream and the icing sugar with a hand-held mixer or in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form. You can keep it in the fridge for 2 days, covered with plastic wrap.

When you want to serve the cake, dust it with icing sugar and decorate with the pomegranate seeds. Serve cut into pieces with a dollop of chantilly cream.

In case you have leftover cake, remove the pomegranate seeds from the top because they will make it soggy. Place seeds in a bowl and refrigerate them.
You can keep the cake covered, at room temperature, for 3 days.