This cake impresses people – in the looks and taste department. With a little bit of planning, its easy to make. Make sponge cake of your choice a day ahead. Prepare the custard as well the day before. If you wish to stretch a bit, make the whipped cream as well or tint the marzipan with green color.

With all that in place, assembling will be a cake walk. But in case, like me, you have to prepare everything on the day, then start with the custard. It needs to be chilled, so get it out-of-the-way first. Prepare the cake next and while its baking, whip the cream and chill it. Get to the marzipan next – tint and make the flowers while waiting for the cake to cool.

Like I mentioned above, I had to make this cake in a single day. I didn’t have any almonds or marzipan with me, so I went ahead and tinted some fondant green. Since the cake was consumed within couple of hours after it was made, there weren’t any disasters. Otherwise fresh cream and fondant is not a good combination. The cream would melt the fondant.

The cake can be a little messy to cut into, since there is a mount of whipped cream inside, but its one of the best cakes I have had so far. I couldn’t take stepwise pictures of the cake, so I suggest either watching a video online or checking out step by step pictures before starting this venture.

If you choose an eggless sponge cake and go with the ready made Indian custard powder, you can have your eggless version.

Recipe source: The daring kitchen

Ingredients:

Vanilla custard:

• 1 cup heavy cream, divided
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

1. Whisk cornstarch, sugar and egg yolks. Slowly, whisk in ½ cup of heavy cream until smooth.
2. In a sauce pan, combine the remaining ½ cup of heavy cream and bring just to the boiling point over medium heat. Whisk the hot cream into the bowl with the egg mixture to temper the eggs.
3. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, whisking constantly. It will becoming like a thick pudding and will soon come to a boil. Take off the heat, whisk vigorously until its smooth. Add vanilla extract. Wait until the custard cools down. Refrigerate until needed. Can be made a day ahead.

Sponge cake ( or any sponge cake of your choice)

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch salt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease and line a 9″ cake pan with parchment paper. Keep aside.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar with a hand mixer or stand mixer till the eggs are tripled in volume and fluffy and falls down in thick ribbons when lifted a little with the beater. Takes about 5 minutes.
3. Whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Slowly fold the flour into the eggs until well combined using a whisk. Take care to not to deflate the whipped eggs.
4. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out free of crumbs. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and carefully remove it from the pan. Let it cool completely. Cling wrap and set aside if assembling later.

Assembling:

Ingredients:

• one 9″ sponge cake
• vanilla custard for filling
• 1/3 cup jam of your choice, I used strawberry
• 2 cups heavy cream plus 2-3 tablespoons icing sugar
• green fondant* or marzipan for covering the cake
• pink fondant* or marzipan for the rose decoration

*I didn’t have marzipan at hand. Fresh cream might end up melting fondant, I was spared that since the cake was consumed shortly after it was made.

Method:

1. Check out some youtube videos before assembling the cake.
2. Whip the cream with sugar to taste until stiff peaks form, take care not to over beat. Refrigerate.
3. Very carefully, with a long serrated knife, slice the sponge cake into three even layers. Keep the middle layer aside, this will become the dome when assembling the cake.
4. In a serving plate or cake board, spread a spoon of jam. Place one layer of the cake on top of this. The jam will anchor the cake to the base.
5. Spread the remaining jam evenly on top of this cake layer.
6. Add half of the prepared, chilled custard on top of the jam layer.
7. Top the custard with another layer of cake. Add the remaining custard evenly over the second layer of cake.
8. Reserve ½-3/4 cup of the prepared whipped cream. Pile the rest into a mound on top of the custard. Spread it into a thick layer with an offset spatula, forming a dome in the middle of the cake.
9. Gently lace the middle layer of sponge cake on top of the whipped cream. This will ensure a smooth dome for the cake.
10. Cover the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate in between for sometime for the cake to firm.
11. Once you have a dome cake, roll out the green fondant/marzipan over icing sugar and carefully lift and cover the cake. Trim the excess and smooth the sides and top.
12. Decorate the top with pink roses made of fondant or marzipan.