NEAPOLITAN CAKE

I have come across many Neapolitan Cakes on the net and I shall admit that they all look wonderful.  A Neapolitan cake comprises of basically 3 layers:

• A layer of chocolate cake;
• A layer of strawberry cake and 
• A layer of vanilla cake.  

I noticed that most of the Neapolitan Cakes on the Internet are made using either the Combination Method or Two-Stage Method.  Both these methods make use of too much fat.  They are very tasty, yes, but I am not sure if I want to get fat or make my friends fat:-p  By the way, they are already plumpyyy!  So, I made one using a Light Génoise batter.  This cake is for my sweetheart Aisha.  I hope she will like it.  Happy Birthday Aish!

I am using my favourite cake batter from MonteurRecipe (Basic proportion 63 g flour, 63 g sugar, 2 eggs which I increased to 3 and 25 g melted butter).  I am also using the Plain Sponge Method for all the three cake layers so that I can have a cake with uniform texture.

I am not going to decorate the cake with whipping cream because of the hot weather here.  I wanted to make a Meringue-based butter cream since long back but most of the recipes I found on the Internet are given in American measurements.  I am not really comfortable with cups; sometimes I end up adding less or more.  I searched, searched and searched until I found the blog of Peggy Does Cake.  She posted a detailed recipe of the Swiss Meringue Butter Cream and I assure you it is fail proof.      

Ingredients

Milk & Vanilla Génoise

63 g cake flour

63 g sugar

3 eggs (Medium)

25 g melted butter

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 tablespoon condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Strawberry Génoise

63 g cake flour

63 g sugar

3 eggs (Medium)

25 g melted butter

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon strawberry essence

3-5 drops red colouring

Chocolate Génoise

15-18 g cocoa powder

45 g cake flour

63 g sugar

3 eggs (Medium)

25 g melted butter

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Swiss Meringue Butter Cream
(Original recipe from Peggy Does Cake; I have added cream of tartar)
125 g egg whites (around 4 medium sized eggs)
250 g sugar
345 g butter
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (At room temperature)

Method (Plain Sponge Method)

Milk & Vanilla Génoise

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1.  Grease and line a cake pan (I used a 23 cm diameter cake pan).

2.  Combine the eggs and sugar in a stainless-steel bowl.  Immediately set the bowl over a hot water bath and whisk until the mixture warms to a temperature of about 43°C.

If you don't have a thermometer, just place your finger in the egg mixture; it should be quite hot and the sugar is completely dissolved (not gritty when rubbed between two fingers).  

3.  Take it off the water bath; add vanilla essence and cream of tartar.  Beat the eggs at high speed until they are very light and thick or until the ribbon stage is reached.  (At this point, when a figure "8" or an "S" shape is drawn with the egg foam, it should clearly retain its mark and not disappear into the batter).

4.  When the ribbon stage is reached, beat the mixture on low for 1 minute to stabilise the air bubbles in the mixture.

5.  Sift in half of the flour and mix on low speed for 10 seconds.  Sift in the remaining flour and mix again on low speed for 10 seconds.

6.  Mix 2 tablespoons of the cake batter and condensed milk into the melted butter.  Then fold the resulted mixture into the above batter.

1.  Ribbon Stage  2.  Mix in flour on low speed  3.  Mix two tablespoon cake batter + melted butter + condensed milk  3.  Fold in cake batter

7.  Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and bake at 190°C for 15 minutes.

Strawberry Génoise

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 1.  Grease and line a cake pan (I used a 23 cm diameter cake pan).

2.  Combine the eggs and sugar in a stainless-steel bowl.  Immediately set the bowl over a hot water bath and whisk until the mixture warms to a temperature of about 43°C.

3.  Take it off the water bath; add strawberry essence and cream of tartar.  Beat the eggs at high speed until the ribbon stage is reached.

4.  When the ribbon stage is reached, add the colouring and beat the mixture on low for 1 minute to stabilise the air bubbles in the mixture.

5.  Sift in half of the flour and mix on low speed for 10 seconds.  Sift in the remaining flour and mix again on low speed for 10 seconds.

1.  Ribbon stage  2.  Beat in colouring and flavouring  3.  Sift in flour and mix on low speed

6.  Mix 2 tablespoons of the cake batter into the melted butter.  Then fold the resulted mixture into the cake batter.

7.  Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and bake at 190°C for 15 minutes.

Chocolate Génoise

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 1.  Grease and line a cake pan (I used a 23 cm diameter cake pan).  Mix the flour and cocoa powder together.

2.  Combine the eggs and sugar in a stainless-steel bowl.  Immediately set the bowl over a hot water bath and whisk until the mixture warms to a temperature of about 43°C.

3.  Take it off the water bath; add vanilla essence and cream of tartar.  Beat the eggs at high speed until the ribbon stage is reached.

4.  When the ribbon stage is reached, beat the mixture on low for 1 minute to stabilise the air bubbles in the mixture.

5.  Sift in half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed for 10 seconds.  Sift in the remaining flour mixture and mix again on low speed for 10 seconds.

6.  Mix 2 tablespoons of the cake batter into the melted butter.  Then fold the resulted mixture into the cake batter.

1.  Combine cocoa and flour  2.  Whisk eggs to ribbon stage  3.  Mix in flour on low speed  4.  Fold in melted butter 

7.  Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and bake at 190°C for 15 minutes.

Swiss Meringue Butter Cream

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I have halved the original recipe!

1.  Combine the sugar and egg whites in a stainless steel bowl (Peggy said that measuring ingredients is very important; so do it)

2.  Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water.  The water should not boil nor touch the bottom of the bowl.  Whisk the mixture until it reaches about 60°C (150°F).  At this point, the sugar should be completely dissolved and if rubbed between two fingers, the mixture should not be gritty.

Checking for grittiness

3.  Take it off the water bath; Add the cream of tartar; whisk the mixture on low for 2 minutes; turn the mixture on high and whisk the egg for about 7 minutes.  Mix for another 5 minutes at low speed or until the meringue is cool enough so that it won't melt the butter.

4.  Once the mixture is cooled, turn the mixer on low speed, drop in the butter cubes one at a time until fully incorporated.  Mix until smooth.  Lastly, mix in your flavouring which should be at room temperature.  (Refer to Peggy Does Cake if you are using a Kitchen Aid mixer).

Cake Montage

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I couldn't capture more pictures.  Wanted to go on bed :-p

Assembly of the cake should be as follows:

Final Result

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I should learn how to decorate a cake properly!! Not professional at all :-p

This is the cake after it has been placed for about 3 hours in a car left in the sun!

Razia did a messs here :-p

I am so happy with the cake and the butter cream.  I left it overnight at room temperature and the cream was stable.  The cream did not taste like the classic sugary butter cream; rather it was light and fluffy like whipped cream.