Fresh Fruit Genoese (Day 7 – BM#4)

It seems like only a few days back that I had held little Shreya in my hands and she had looked back with her large beautiful eyes, as if to ask – where am I and what is happening? It must have been a few days back when she started her nursery and I was so apprehensive about how she would take it. My fears were put to rest when she happily hopped inside the nursery, leaving me a with tears rather than her crying for her mummy!  Time certainly has flown by and my little princess is going to be 4 yrs next month.

If I can feel that for 4 long years, 7 days have definitely disappeared without any sign, except of course the posts on this blog! Today is the final day of the blogging marathon and I have mixed feelings. I am happy I completed the marathon, without missing any post, an achievement in itself, if you ask me. I am also a little sad thinking that I would really miss this excitement. I hope I will be able to participate in similar marathons again.

As they say, save the best for the last, so it is here. Today’s cake is another favourite for Birthdays. If it isn't Black Forest, it has to be the Fresh Fruit, fresh cream cake which looks so elegant, you sometimes dont want to cut it at all! The whipped cream filling and topping has been my favourite of this cake but the fruits also form an integral part and most often have to be reserved while the cake is being cut. ‘ Give me apiece with strawberry’ or ‘I want the one with cherries’ are some things you would definitely hear when this cake is being cut. Picking out a particular fruit is also not unheard of and all this add on to the excitement of the Birthday.

 

Fresh Fruit Genoese

 

Makes one 7” Round Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2-3/4 cup Caster Sugar
• 6-8 tblsp Orange Juice

For the filling and Topping

• 2 1/2 Cups Double Cream (Whipping)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3-4 Tblsp Sugar
• 1 cup Mixed Fruits such as strawberry, Kiwi, grapes, Pineapple, cherries, roughly sliced (Or Mixed Fruit Jam). Reserve some whole fruits for decoration
• 1/2 Cup Pistachio, roughly chopped

Method: Pre Heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 7” Round Cake tin and keep it ready.

In a bowl beat together the eggs and the sugar until thick and pale, the whisk should leave a trail as it is lifted.

Sift in the flour and the salt into this and gently fold to mix, making sure there are no lumps remaining. Pour this batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool in the tin for 5-7 minutes and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool down completely.

Once the cake is completely cold, cut it horizontally into 3 layers and whisk together the double cream, vanilla extract and sugar till it holds soft peaks.

Place the bottom most layer on a cake board or serving plate. Sprinkle some of the orange juice on this to make it moist. If you are using the mixed fruit jam instead of fresh fruits, spread it over the layer now and follow it up with the cream. If you are using fresh fruits, spread the cream on the layer first and then place some of the sliced fruits on to it. Place the middle layer of cake over this and sprinkle some orange juice on this too. Follow the above procedure once more and finish with the top layer.

Spread the remaining cream on the top and sides of the cake to cover it completely. Decorate with the reserved fruits and press on the roughly chopped pistachio on the sides of the cake. Chill in the fridge and serve.

 

My Notes: Absolutely delicious! I could not believe how simple it was to make and the end result was so luxurious. Even if you are not very good with cake decoration, you can just arrange the fruits on the top and it would still look fabulous, thats what I have done essentially here, anyway.  The Pistachio also help to cover any imperfections on the side of the cake and look so stunning against the pure white of the cream.

As I have mentioned, you can either use fresh fruits as a filling between the layers or Mixed fruit or any other fruit jam. I would recommend the jam if you are making the cake a day ahead or if you think the cake will not be finished within a day (This cake has to be stored in the fridge and finished within 2 days). The reason being that if you use fresh fruit, they get squashed with time, and thats not very pretty. The jam would serve almost the same purpose and look neater and would be easier to handle. Most shop bought cakes have jam in the filling and fresh fruits are only used for decoration!

Check out what my Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli