Cakes........

[HollyElise]

Anyone ever make a cake that was layered with whipped cream? I just tried one because i'd seen it in a magazine a long time ago.... but it went wrong.... TASTES FANTASTIC!.... but looks terrible! HAHAHHAHA. A layered chocolate cake, i wanted to cut the sweetness just a little, so i layered it with whipped cream and strawberries, and planned the frosting for the outside (strawberry/lemon). Only the whipped cream melted into the cake (of course! DUH!)... and the strawberries kept shooting out the sides like wet bars of soap, making it impossible to frost!

Anyone ever use whipped cream in cakes before? How do you work it?

[Polwarth]

Sounds like you didn't whip the cream for long enough - it should be just THIS side of butter, ie really thick. Addition of one tablespoon of caster sugar can help - oh and I usually beat in a couple of drops of almond extract.

Another way to stop the seepage is to put a thin layer of jam (apricot works best- just heat it a little and then spread the thinned jam) on the sponge layer before putting on the cream. This acts as a barrier to the cream.

BTW I think frosting (we call it icing!) the outside of the cake sounds like overkill. I'd be inclined to 'mask' the cake with more of the beaten cream mix.

[HollyElise]

ahhhhhh! that explains it! I will try it out on a smaller "test" cake. We unfortunately don't get the range of creams you get in europe, but we do get a heavy cream that should do the trick. I agree about the overkill... but my friend was insistant about it being colorful and i had something planned for the outside before i made the changes. hahhaha.... alas, i should have planned it better!

my ex-mother-in-law used to make a very lovely icing.... so simple, too! Just even amounts of melted milk chocolate and whipping cream whipped together.... mmmmmmmmmm it was so good and light! (the cake had to be refridgerated thereafter, though). I've never tried it, but i want to try that one, too. And i bet you could use dark chocolate and white chocolate as well.

How have you been, Polwarth? Is it looking like spring there?

[Polwarth]

Yes, spring has sprung - some days hot, other days almost wintry.... about par for the course here.

What you call 'frosting' I believe we call 'butter icing' - icing sugar beaten into butter until it is a soft consistency that can coat a cake or gateau. Don't like it myself, as I prefer to use our thick double cream, flavoured with various things, including choc or cocoa or coffee or lemon zest or orange zest (well, you get the picture, there are many options!), as the 'masking' cream.

[HollyElise]

We sometimes call it icing, too... though icing could extend to what my mom used to put on angelfood cakes... powdered sugar and lemon juice in a thin mixture that's dripped on the cake but doesn't cover it.

Icing or frosting can also mean a spreadable butter-cream mixture much like what you described, that can be piped as well, or it can be the icky stuff with artificial ingredients... LOL!... or it could be any of the old fashioned cooked frostings, it could be "royal frosting" which is eggwhites and powdered sugar which dries hard and i sometimes use for cookies (you can PAINT with proffessional food colors on it as detailed as a miniature watercolor painting!), it could be just about anything but fondant, which professionals sometimes use for wedding cakes and other special events.

Yeah, we've got weather like yours this year, only we're not used to it!... it's very cold today, i'll need my winter coat!

[whiskynudel]

I hear you got problems with the cream?

We got a powder over here in Germany It's called "Sahnesteif". There is no translation word for it, but it means, that it helps to make the the whip cream very stiff and holds it that way. If you mix it under, like with chocolate, quark or anything else, use gelatine.

If you ain't got the powder, mail me your adress and I'll send you some. It's not very expensive. Just a couple of cents a pack.

[HollyElise]

Maybe i'll make a cake today just for the fun of it.

Last weekend i bought a gorgeous looking Coconut layer cake from the West Side Market. The icing was the whipped cream type and very good.... but WOW the cake was pricy and the cake itself was completely without flavor, dry, and very disappointing. Usually i buy cake just to sleuth it out and see if i can learn something new. I don't think i'll buy from that bakery again!