NEOPOLITAN CAKE FOR JENNIFER'S BIRTHDAY

May God bless you and be with you throughout the year. Happy Birthday my dear sister,  Jennifer. 

After seeing the blog of Through the Kitchen Door re Neopolitan Bundt cake, I decided to bake this cake for my sister's birthday on 14/11.

I chosed the recipe of Traditional Butter Cake recipe  from the Flavour magazine 2007 by Nigel Skelchy. Yes, it has been bookmarked since 2007 and now I got the chance to use it- to get 3 cakes out of 1 recipe- great! 

I divided the cake batter into 3 and added cocoa powder for the Chocolate Cake; some strawberry puree and pink colour for the Strawberry Cake  and lastly some vanilla paste for the Vanilla Cake.   

The ingredients are:-

450 gm unsalted butter

450 gm caster sugar (I used 380 gm of  fine granulated sugar)

12 eggs separated

60 ml milk (as I had some thickened cream left, so it was mixture of 30 ml each)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence (I added 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla paste  for  the yellow layer)

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp salt, sifted with 

450 gm cake flour (I used all-purpose flour + 1/2 tsp baking powder)

2 teaspoon rose water (optional)    (omitted as I used rose water to brush the yellow layer)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder (optional) (which I omitted)

Method: (my way)

1.  cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy

2.  add egg yolk two at time and mix well after each addition

3.  add milk and vanilla essence

4.  beat egg white separately till frothy, add 1 tablespoon sugar and  lemon juice and whisk till stiff peaks

5.  fold in flour into egg yolk mixture, alternate with egg white 

   

Mixing egg white and flour into the cake batter.

Pure Vanilla paste (which my sister bought from Australia)  for the Vanilla Cake.

Strawberry puree added for the Strawberry Cake.  (Prepare puree by simmering 1 punnet of strawberries with  sugar and lemon juice till thicken and then pureed and sieved). Reserve some for the filling. 

Add 2 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoon milk for the chocolate cake.

I scaled the cake batter around 650 gm each into 3,  8" cake tin (greased and lined)

Baked them around 25 minutes at 170C. Test with skewer - should come out clean.

Leave cake in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and cool on rack completely.

I stored these cakes cling-wrapped overnight before the decoration- easier to handle the cakes.

I use Swiss Meringue Buttercream as I find this frosting can stand up well.  

Prepare Chocolate sauce - 100 gm chocolate and 100 gm  whipping cream melted over simmering water.
Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of butter. Set aside to cool/thicken.

The remaining of the Strawberry puree for the Strawberry Cake.

 Rose water (my sister's gift from Australia) for the Vanilla Cake.

Dab a bit of buttercream on the cake board.  Place the Chocolate cake on top.

Pipe a ring of buttercream around the cake and then fill the center with the Chocolate sauce.
Leave in the fridge to set around 15 minutes.

Next is the Strawberry cake-

 Again a ring of buttercream around the cake and then the strawberry puree in the center. Leave to set in the fridge again for 15 minutes. This waiting time allows you to clear up as you go along.

Finally the vanilla cake, I just brush the cake with the rose water and a thin layer of  buttercream.

Apply a crumb coat over the whole cake and leave to set in the fridge. This makes it  easier when you apply the final frosting.  

For the chocolate buttercream, I added some chocolate sauce as well some cocoa powder.
I prefer to do one layer at a time and let the frosting to set in the fridge inbetween.

Mix  some pink colour into the buttercream  for the  strawberry layer.

For the vanilla cake, the buttercream is left plain.

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I feel a great achievement after completing this cake, even though it may not look picture perfect.

I took my time and not rushed anything. This is the easiest and the most forgiving decoration  as you can just scrape if off any mistake and pipe again!      

I hope that they will like the cake and that it is as good as it looks.
Enjoy!