from Ice Cream to Cake

Just like the fast few years, I made a cake to celebrate this year's Father's Day, last Sunday.


It was only two days ago that I realised that Father's Day falls on this Sunday, I got it mixed up with Mother's Day...which is the second Sunday in May. I kept thinking that it is also the same for Father's Day :')

Anyway, it was a good thing that we celebrated the occasion one week earlier, as we will be celebrating another occasion this coming weekend.


I am no good at frosting a cake, so I always have to rely on other ingredients to make the cake 'presentable'. Canned peaches happen to be one of the few fool-proof ingredients I have been using on countless occasions.


Although I have made a mango yoghurt cake, my lack of skills have prompted me to fall back on peach slices...again!



Very much inspired by Small Small Baker's mango yoghurt ice cream, I wasted no time to try making it once I got hold of all the necessary ingredients. Thanks to the blender which I have been hoarding, I was able to make my first homemade ice cream! It was so delicious and simple to prepare that I adapted the same ice cream recipe to make the fillings for this layered cake ;)


I liked the way the cake has turned out...the filling tasted almost similar to the ice cream version, light and refreshing! The layering was quite even as I was diligent enough to use a measuring cup to measure out equal amount of filling for each layer. I would have added chunks of fresh mangoes in between the fillings if I had any spare mangoes. I am sure it will make this cake even more delicious.




Peach & Mango Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients:
(makes one 18cm cake)

for the sponge cake:
100g cake flour
3 eggs, room temperature
90g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


for the filling:
150g fresh mangoes
50g caster sugar
150g mango flavoured yoghurt (I used peach & mango flavour)
250g (250ml) non-dairy whipping cream
1 tablespoon gelatin powder
3 tablespoons (45ml) water

Method:
To make the sponge cake:

1. Sift cake flour, set aside. Line the sides and bottom of an 18cm (7 inches) round pan with parchment paper, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 170degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven.
2. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the batter should leave a ribbon-like trail when the beater is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.
3. Add sifted cake flour into the batter in 3 separate additions. Gently fold in the flour with a spatula each time the flour is added. Take care not to deflate the batter.
4. Add the melted butter, fold with spatula until well blended
5. Add in fresh milk, vanilla extract and fold in gently with spatula.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30~35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and invert onto cooling rack, remove parchment paper and let cool completely.
   
   To make the filling:
7. Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring with a spoon). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature.
8. Blend mangoes, sugar, yoghurt until the mixture becomes smooth.
9. With an electric mixer, whisk non-dairy whipping cream till stiff. Fold in the whipped cream to the mango mixture. Blend thoroughly.
10. If desired, remove about 1 cup of the above mixture, set aside to use for piping.
11. Add in the gelatin solution to the remaining mixture, mix well.
    
    To assemble:
12. Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers. For each layer, trim away the sides by about 2~3mm, so that the resulting layers are slightly smaller than 18cm. (This is to make sure the mango filling can cover the sides of the sponge layer.)
13. Place one layer of the sponge cake in an 18cm round pan with a removable base (or use a cake ring or springform pan). Spread about 1.5 cups of mango filling on the sponge layer. Repeat with the second layer of sponge cake, followed by the filling. Place the last layer of sponge cake and spread the remaining filling on the surface evenly. Gently tap/bang the pan on the table to remove any empty air pockets in between the sponge layers and the filling. Leave the cake to chill in the fridge for at least 3 ~4 hours.
14. Remove cake from fridge, unmold and decorate as desired (pipe rosettes or borders using the reserved mango filling in step 10). Keep the cake in the fridge before serving.

(Note:
*This cake can be made with a 20cm (8") pan, the resulting cake will be slightly shorter.
**To arrange the peach slices as what I have done, start by arranging the outer ring of peach slices. To make the rosette in the middle, slice peach slices till very thin. Arrange these thinly sliced peaches in concentric circles...work from the outside towards the inside. The outermost peaches will provide support for the inner ones to prevent it from sliding. Hope I am clear with my description.)