Happy Flamingo-Beach Party! Let’s celebrate it with a Crazy Raspberry Coconut Beach Cake!
We arrived to the last „sweet16” party with my best friends. Pepperoni had her 16th birthday on the 4th April. We planned an exciting adventure around our city (sorry I can’t tell more because it’s still a secret present for her). But on the day of the party the weather was awful, rainy and cold. *By the way, this is going to be more like a story-telling post* So at 8 am Z. and Chili came to our house to decide what’s next. It was obvius that we can’t go to the city. So that program got delayed. We had an idea to make an inside picnic themed flamingo-beach party because a) Pepperoni loves flamingos and b) the cake was already made in a beach style. So we went on pinterest to look for some party decoration idea then we started to make as many decorations as we could. We also had to finish the decoration of the cake. Pepperoni came to our house around 10 pm, so we had to finish everything until 1.30 pm. It was a last minute party but I think we did quite a nice job. The party turned out really good, we had a photo shoot area where we made tons of funny photos and we even had a little hawaiian hula dance session.
Okay, now you know every little information about the party, but nothing about the cake. Sorry, sorry, but I felt like I should share the background story of the cake. (And because it isn’t the most photogenic cake I thought I could write a little bit more so you might not realise that there aren’t too many photos ) ). So the cake. We planned it with Chili in January. I know, we have some serious addiction. Here is some information about Pepperoni: She loves raspberries, flamingos, and cakes (ok maybe this last information is obvious, but just in case you were wondering, yes she loves cakes too ). The base is a basic light sponge with raspberries. This isn’t my basic sponge, because that is a bit too dense and moist for this cake. You need just a few ingredients for the sponge, but you have to work quickly and bake it as soon as you finished the batter or it will lose it’s airyness. So make sure you have two 8 inch or 20 cm round cake tin prepared on hand. And because it is a really light batter, your raspberries might sink to the bottom, which is totaly fine, but after baking it and letting it cool down a bit, turn it upside down and check if the bottom is completely baked. (Mine was a bit underbaked because of the moisture from the raspberries, so I just put it back to the oven for 5 more minutes. Oh, and use fresh raspberries if you can because they have less liquid than frozen ones.
And now let’s talk about the surprise layer. In the middle there is a raspberry cheesecake layer! It’s unbelievable, I know but sooooo delicious. I think every cake should have a cheesecake layer in it! I was a bit afraid of it because I have never used this cheesecake recipe without a crust on the bottom, but it turned out perfect. I covered the bottom of springform pan with aluminium foil before attaching the ring around it. I also covered it with another layer of aluminium from the outside just in case some of the cheesecake ooze out. I made the cheesecake layer and the sponges one day ahead because they need to be cooled down completely.
For the filling we used some raspberry jam and a coconut cream filling. Guys, that coconuty cream is amazing, but not too sweet. It's like a raffaello in a cream form. You have to try this even if you're not making the whole cake.
We covered the cake with a simple cream cheese frosting so it doesn’t take the flavours of the cake. This technique is one of the best because you don’t have to make the frosting perfectly smooth. So I would recommend to try it even if you have never covered a cake before.
Sorry for writing this much, but this cake has so many components I had to mention everything. It might looks like the cake has too many flavours and components but everything is perfectly balanced and it isn’t too sweet at all. ( I think a basic chocolate cake or something with a buttercream frosting is way more sweet than this one.)
Make this cake if you want to impress everybody at a party and share a photo of the cake you made with me!
Crazy Raspberry Cocont Beach Cake
Prep Time: 1 hour Baking Time: 1,5 hours Total Time: 3 hours (+chilling) Portions: 10-12 slices
Ingredients:
Sponges:
for two 8 inch or 20 cm round sponges
150g cake flour
150g granulated sugar
5 eggs
50g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g fresh raspberries
Raspberry cheesecake layer:
430g cream cheese (I used mascarpone)
100g powdered sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
the zest of one lemon
70g sour cream or plain joghurt
2 eggs
200g fresh raspberries
Coconut filling:
2 egg yolks
1/8 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
50g shredded coconut (unsweetened)
¾ cup milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup heavy cream
+raspberry jam (optinal, as extra filling)
Mascarpone filling:
1 cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)
¼ cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
blue gel food colouring
Directions:
Sponges:
1Preheat your oven to 350F or 175 C. Butter and flour two 8 inch or 9 cm round springform pans.
Make a bain-marine. Fill a pot with water and start boiling it. Then put a large metal or glass bowl of a standing mixture on top of the pot. Be careful and make sure that the bottom of the bowl isn’t in the water. Put the eggs and the sugar into the bowl and stir it constantly until it’s warm.
Take it off from the heat and start beating it with the whisk attachment of the standing mixer. Beat it for 10-15 minutes until it is fluffy and pale and doubled (or almost trippled) in size.
Sift in the flour and add the melted butter. Then gently fold everything together with a spatula. Do not stir it, just fold so you keep as many air in the mixture as you can.
Evenly divide the batter into the two pans. Cover the raspberries with a tablespoon of flour then sprinkle them onto the batter. Bake the sponges for 20-30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and if you insert a fork in it, the fork comes out clean.
Let them cool for 10 minutes in the pans then gently turn them out onto a wire rack. Cool them down completely.
Cheesecake:
Preheat your oven to 340 F or 170 C. Cover the bottom of springform pan with aluminium foil before attaching the ring around it. Also cover it with another layer of aluminium on the outside just in case some of the cheesecake ooze out. Set the pan onto a baking sheet with a little edge.
In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, the powdered sugar, the flour, the vanilla sugar, the lemon zest and the sour cream. Then stir in the eggs one at a time.
Pour the mixture into the pan. Evenly sprinkle the raspberries on the top. Put the baking sheet in the oven, then pour around ½ cup water into the baking sheet, so the top of the cheese cake won’t crack. Bake it for 40-45 minutes. The edges should be set but the middle should still jiggle a bit.
Put it onto a wire rack and let it cool down. Then put it into the fridge for overnight.
Coconut filling:
Soak the shredded coconut in the milk for at least one hour.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until it’s pale and fluffy. Add the flour and vanilla.
Pour your coconuty milk through a sive into a sauce pan. Gently push out all the liquid from the coconut flakes. Start to warm up your milk until it reaches boil.
Slowly pour your milk into your egg mixture and whisk it constantly, so you don’t cook your eggs.
Pour everything back to the sauce pan and cook it stiring continously until it thickens.
Let it cool down slightly, then cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to cool down completely.
Whip up the heavy cream until stiff peaks. Take your cold coconut filling from the fridge and fold one tablespoon whipped cream into it. Add some more cream until you get a bit lighter cream.
Mascarpone filling:
In a bowl of a standing mixer start to whip up your mascarpone.
Add your heavy cream and whip it on a high speed for 5-10 minutes or until it reaches stiff peaks. Fold in the sugar.
Divide the cream into three bowls. Leave one white and colour the other two batches with the blue food coloring. Make two different shades of blue.
Assembling the cake:
Put one of your sponges on a cake board or a serving plate. Cover it with ½ of the coconut cream. Spread a few tablespoons raspberry jam (optional).
Carefully set the cheesecake layer onto it cover it with the other half of the coconut filling and some more jam. Put the second sponge upside down on the top.
Cover your whole cake with a thin coat of the white mascarpone cream. Put it into the freezer (or fridge) for 30 minutes.
Cover the side and the top of the cake with blobs of the blue cream. Then use a spatula to even it out on the sides.
On the top use a fork or a tablespoon to create a wave effect.
Keep it in the fridge until serving.
