A huge ordeal to make but a refreshing decadent slice of love

It was recently my birthday. And so I decided to bake myself a cake! Haha. I don’t know many people who bake their own birthday cakes. You might not know many either. But now, you know me! :D

While I was thinking about what cake to make, I spent a lot of time brainstorming different components. I wanted to make something with raspberries since they’re delicious and wanted to add pastry cream since I love pastry cream. haha. But I also want to challenge myself with things I have never done before. And so I decided to try out a different cake making method (reverse creaming) and try a cake decorating method I always wanted to try (mirror glazing).

When you reverse cream, you mix the butter into the dry ingredients for a while which seems outrageous! Apparently, the butter coats the flour and that prevents the build up of gluten? I’m not so sure but King Arthur Baking has a great article on it that you can find here:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2022/03/09/what-is-reverse-creaming-and-why-does-it-make-great-cake

I referenced many recipes for this raspberry cake recipe and so I will link to all of the recipes I used at the bottom.

Ingredients
12 ounces raspberries

Vanilla Butter Cake
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
8 ounces (1 cup) sour cream, room temperature, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
12 ounces (1.5 cups) sugar, divided
9 ounces (2 cups) cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Tartine’s Pastry Cream
2 cups (16oz) whole milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup (115g) sugar
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Raspberry Cake Filling
12 ounces frozen raspberries
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water, separated
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Ermine Icing
5 tablespoons (40g) flour
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 cup (235ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened

Simple Syrup
1/2 cup (4oz) water
1/3 cup (3oz) sugar
2 tablespoons orange liquor

Berry puree
570 grams frozen raspberries
1/4 cup (50g) sugar

Berry Mirror Glaze
1 1/3 cups (300g) berry puree
3 tablespoons (45g) water
2 envelopes (15g) unflavored gelatin, powdered
1/2 cup (113g) heavy cream
1 1/3 cups plus 2 teaspoons (270g) sugar
2 tablespoons (39g) corn syrup

Directions

Vanilla Cake
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and cut out two parchment papers into circles to fit into the bottom of two round cake pans.
-Combine 6 egg yolks, half of the sour cream (4oz), and 1 tbsp vanilla extract. Whisk everything together.
-In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 9oz cake flour, 10oz sugar, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 3/4 tsp salt. Whisk everything together. Then add 8oz unsalted butter to the flour mixer and mix with a paddle attachment on low until the butter coats the flour and becomes like a paste. Add the rest of the sour cream (4oz) to the butter flour mixture and increase the speed to medium. Mix for around 3 minutes until the batter becomes much lighter and fluffier. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Then add half of the egg mixture and mix on low until it is mostly incorporated. Repeat with the rest of the egg mixture and mix until incorporated.
-In another bowl, whip the 3 egg whites with 1/4 tsp cream of tartar with a hand mixer on medium high until you reach soft peaks. Then while the hand mixer is on medium, slowly add 2oz (1/4 cup) sugar. Increase the speed to medium high and whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
-Add half of the egg whites to the batter and fold just until there are no more streaks of egg whites. Repeat with the other half of egg whites. Then divide the batter evenly between both cake pans and level the batter.
-Bake for 25-30 minutes. I use the toothpick method, where you want to see a clean toothpick when it is inserted into the center of the cake.
-Cool the cakes in their pan for around 10 minutes and then remove them from their pans to cool on a cooling rack completely. Then remove the parchment paper and wrap the each cake in plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. I store them overnight.
Pastry Cream
-Heat 2 cups whole milk, 1/2 tbsp vanilla bean paste, and 1/4 tsp salt in a pot over medium heat. You want to bring the milk right before a boil, slightly simmering.
-While the milk is heating, in a bowl, whisk together 4 tbsp cornstarch and 115g sugar. Add 2 large eggs to the bowl and whisk everything together.
-Temper your egg mixture by ladling the heated milk into the eggs while you constantly whisk the eggs. Once you have ladled around half of the milk, return everything back into the pot. Cook on medium while constantly whisking until you get a thick consistency like whipped cream.
-Remove from heat. Add 4 tbsp of cubed unsalted butter and whisk until everything is all smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic is touching the surface of the pastry cream so that a skin does not form.
-Let cool completely in the refrigerator. I leave it overnight.
Raspberry Filling
-Add 12oz frozen raspberries, juice of half a lemon, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup water to a pot over medium high heat. Stir the mixture until it begins to boil.
-As this mixture is heating up, combine 2 tbsp cornstarch with 2 tbsp water to make the cornstarch slurry.
-Once the raspberry mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat to medium low and let the mixture simmer for around 15 minutes. Be sure to occasionally mix.
-Turn off the heat and pour the filling through a strainer, removing all of the seeds. Then return the liquid to the cleaned pot. Add the corn starch slurry and stir until incorporated. Heat at medium high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Be sure to be constantly stirring at this point. Once it boils, continue to cook and stir for a few additional minutes.
-Turn off the heat and transfer the filling to a separate bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.
Ermine Icing
-Whisk together 5 tbsp flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup whole milk in a pot. Cook over medium heat while stirring frequently until the mixture becomes thick.
-Remove from heat and whisk in 1 tsp vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to keep a skin from forming. Let this mixture cool completely.
-Using a hand mixer, whisk 1 cup unsalted butter until light and fluffy, around 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium, gradually add the cooled flour mixture bit by bit. Keep beating the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Place in the refrigerator to harden a bit until you are ready to use it to decorate your cake.
Simple Syrup
-Heat up 1/2 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar in a pot until the sugar completely dissolves. Transfer the syrup to a bowl and let it cool completely. Add 2 tbsp orange liquor to the syrup and mix. Set aside.
Cake Assembly
-Cut each cake in half so that you have four even cakes.
-Start with one cake as the base. Use the simple syrup as a soak and then add less than half of the loosened pastry cream. Spread 6oz of the halved raspberries over the pastry cream. Cover with the second cake and soak with syrup. Use some pastry cream to create a barrier at the edge of the cake. Add the loosened raspberry filling and spread it out evenly. Cover with the third cake and soak with the syrup. Add and level the remaining pastry cream and cover with the rest of the halved raspberries. Cover with the final cake and soak with the syrup. Use the ermine icing to cover the cake completely, making it as smooth as possible.
-Place the cake in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours to harden.
Berry Puree
-Place 570g frozen raspberries, that is thawed completely (keep the juices), in a food processor and blend until smooth.
-Add 50g sugar to the puree and mix until incorporated.
-Pour the pureed raspberries through a sieve to get rid of all of the seeds.
Berry Mirror Glaze
-Sprinkle 15g powdered gelatin over 45g water in a heat-proof bowl. Quickly stir to combine so that it can bloom.
-Heat 300g raspberry puree with 113g heavy cream, 270g sugar, and 2 tbsp light corn syrup in a saucepan over medium-low heat. bring the mixture to a boil while stirring occasionally. You want the sugar fully dissolved and the temperature to reach 215 degrees F.
-Once this temperature is reached, turn off the heat and pour the hot fruit mixture over the bloomed gelatin. Stir with a spatula until the gelatin dissolves into the mixture. Pour the mixture through a strainer into a large liquid measuring cup. Let it cool to 90 degrees F. At room temperature this will take around 1-1.5 hours. This process will be hastened if you place the measuring cup over an ice water bath. Be sure to stir constantly to prevent the edges from getting lumpy.
-Use the glaze immediately once it is between 85-88 degrees F. Place the chilled cake onto a wire wrack that is placed on top of a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cover the cake with the glaze. You want to remove the cake from the freezer right when you are about to glaze since if it is sitting at room temperature, condensation may start to form on the cake.
-Once fully glazed, transfer the cake to a cake round. The glaze will set at room temperature at around 2-3 hours. Otherwise, refrigerate the cake.
Enjoy!