Raspberry and Almond Streamliner Cake

~We got a new toy.... a GoPro camera.  We use it for our off-roading but I thought what the hey why not try using it for my blog.  Hubster set up the camera on my counter before I started on the custard and away I went.  Well it worked ok.  Not great and I think my other camera works for this better.  I know that so many think that a blog is all about the pictures but I am not a photographer.  I am a chef that will type up my creations to share with y'all and add some hopefully decent pictures.~

The April choice for the Cake Slice Bakers is the Lemon and Almond Streamliner Cake from Vintage Cakes.  My son DJ is not a citrus lover so I asked what berry he would like and he picked raspberry. Snap of the fingers and we do raspberry!  

But I get ahead of myself.... One ingredient called for in this recipe is almond paste.  Having used the store bought almond paste once before I wanted to try making my own almond paste.  It is really simple to make if you have a food processor.

Measure in your almonds then send it for a grind.

Add in your sugar, egg white and any flavoring you would like to add.

Process until it smooths out into a paste.

My recipe made enough for the cake plus extra.  I stored the rest in 2 ounce bags for future use.

Next up making a raspberry puree to replace the lemon in our custard.  I put the thawed raspberries into the blender - didn't want the food processor to have all the fun - and gave it a whirl.

Put it into a strainer and worked through the puree, leaving behind a lot of seeds.

I simmered the seedless puree for about 5 minutes then set aside so the puree could cool.

Time to make the custard.  This is a pretty standard custard.  It needs to be made a few hours prior to use so keep that in mind before making this cake.

Whisk together your egg yolks, sugar, raspberry puree and corn starch.  Heat your milk and slowing whisk together then cook over low heat until thick and bubbling.  Strain the custard and then whisk in your butter piece by piece.  Save your butter wrapper!!

 Cover the custard with plastic wrap, laid directly on top, refrigerate at least two hours before using.


Move onto making the cake.  A simple buttermilk single layer cake with the additional of almond paste.
Prepare your pan .... use the wrapper from your butter cube that you saved to butter your pan.  Fold your parchment paper while thinking about making paper snowflakes as a child (or a couple of weeks ago) and cut your circle to fit into the bottom of your pan.  Rub it down a bit then flip it over and set it.

Cream together the butter, sugar and almond paste.  Once this is relatively smooth, there will be bits of the paste throughout, add in your eggs and vanilla.  

In a separate bowl sift/whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Measure out your buttermilk.   Mix in your dry ingredients and the buttermilk, alternating until just mixed.  Using your spatula scrape down the sides and give it a final mix.

Pour into your prepared pan, smack it onto your counter a couple of times to release any large air bubbles and bake it.  

Once out of the oven allow to cool in the pan for 30 minutes then turn out onto a rack until completely cool, leaving the parchment on.  

 

When you are ready to top it with your custard remove the parchment - 

yes I am saying this because somewhere out there one of us - not me! - will plop that custard right down onto the parchment.

Give the sides a quick coat of the custard to help seal the edges.  The top with the remaining custard.

There you have it!  Ready to serve.  

If you don't serve it right away be sure to refrigerate the cake until you do so.


Lemon Raspberry and Almond Streamliner Cake adapted from the recipe found in the cookbook Vintage Cakes.

The recipe can be found online in several spots including on Oprah's site.



Almond Paste
by My Sister's Table

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of sea salt

Directions
Pour almonds into the food processor and process until finely ground.
Add the sugar and pulse a couple of times.  Whisk together the egg white, vanilla, and salt.  With the processor running pout the egg mixture onto the almonds and process until a smooth paste forms. 

Use the paste right away or place in a an air tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  Bring to room temperature before use.  If you decide to freeze the paste it may become a bit crumbly but will work fine once back to room temperature.


Printable recipe here.

*Side note - if I make the custard this way again I think I may add a drop of red food coloring to it to brighten the color.  It turned out of but a bit flat looking.

The cake was smooth with a nice fine crumb that we have come to expect from the buttermilk cake.  The almond would make a nice complement to the lemon.  We were split on whether the raspberry went with it - we all liked the cake and we liked the raspberry custard but not necessarily together.  

I say fine for them!  More cake for me! *wink*

Enjoy!

Visit the other Cake Slice Bakers here.

The CSBs are now on Facebook ~ check them out here and be sure to 'like' the page.

:)

More Layers & Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge

Just as my life is getting a wee bit busier I decided to join another group ~ Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge.  BTCDC is a blog hop.  

Each month we are given a couple of ingredients and we post a recipe that uses those ingredients.  This month's ingredients are almond paste and pastry dough.

Since I have been working with Danish pastry dough I figured perfect time to use a batch of dough!  I made what some may consider a classic Danish coffeecake but it is perfect for dessert also.... I love things that blur that line!

Let's get going!
Once again I have used Joe Pastry's recipe and techniques for making these Danishes.
The recipe can be found here.
The laminating process is here.
Based on The Classic Coffeecake.

I started with making almond cream cheese filling.
My cream cheese and almond paste were both at room temperature.  And I thought, never actually having worked with almond paste, that I could simply cream the two together with my hand mixer.  This was not the case at all.  The almond paste was much stiffer than expected.  So I took a fork and mashed up the paste then blended it with the cream cheese.
I added the rest of the ingredients to the mixture, whipped it for a minute and then set it aside.  There were still small blobs of the paste in the cream but not large enough to be a taste issue.

Got out my Danish dough and cut the piece in half to make two pastries.

Oh how I love seeing all those LAYERS!!  Yes i know it is like a layerfest at my house lately.  Trust me when I say there have been no complaints!

I rolled out my dough into a rectangle - or at least it was close to that shape once I whacked off a wavy edges.

I spread a generous amount a Bing Cherry jam onto half of the dough (made by your's truly *wink*).  Be sure to leave an edge without the filling.  This edge is needed for your eggy glue line.

I decided that piping the almond cream onto the pastry would be easier.... so bagged and went to work.  I made three lines of the almond cream.

Next I moistened the edges with egg wash (one egg white whisked with a splash of water).  Then I folded the plain side over the filled side.  Smooshed down the edges for a nice tight seal.

Now came the task of picking up and moving the pastry to a parchment lined baking sheet.  I was such a pansy with this one!  I thought I would never get it onto the sheet and that it would survive would be a miracle.

Ok, fine!  It really was not a big deal.  It survived, I survived and even the dog that was under my feet survived!

Once on the sheet pan I cut vents in the top and egg washed it.  Set it aside to work on the second pastry.

My son decided that chocolate sounded good to him and me being the awesome mom I am, agreed!

Made a quick chocolate filling of 3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and half an ounce of butter.  Microwaved until all melted and mixed together.  

Rolled out the second piece of dough, spread the chocolate filling on and piped on the almond cream.

Folded it over, transferred, vented and egg washed.  Time to let the pastries just hang out for about 45 minutes. Preheated the oven to 400 degrees and gave them a final egg wash before going into the oven.  

As soon as I put them into the oven I turned the temperature down to 375 degrees and baked them for just under thirty minutes.  Took them out of the oven when they were awesome brown and crispy-flaky looking.

Let the cool before applying the icing and slicing.

Filled Danish

by My Sister's Table

Components:

the Danish dough

the almond cream ~ recipe below

jam of choice or chocolate filling

the icing

Begin by making your almond cream.  Set the cream aside to work on your dough.

Roll your dough out into a rectangle   Spread or pipe your filling(s) onto one side of the dough, leaving a sealing edge.  Egg wash the edges, fold the dough over and press down the edges to seal.

Transfer the pastry to a lined baking sheet.  Cut vent holes in the top with scissors or a sharp knife.  Egg wash the top of the pastry then allow to rest for about 45 minutes. 

While the pastry to proofing preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

At the end of the 45 minutes egg wash the pastry again and put into the oven.  Turn down the oven to 375 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes, turning halfway through the bake time.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before icing and serving.

Almond Cream

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 ounces tube almond paste, at room temperature

1/3 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp. brown sugar

dash of fresh ground nutmeg

Using a fork smash and break up the almond paste.  Using a hand mixer, beat together the almond paste and cream cheese.  Once as mixed as can be, there will be small bits of the paste throughout, add the rest of the ingredients and beat until combined.

Printable recipe here.

Enjoy!

: )