Pink Layer Cake with Raspberry Jelly

Very soon is St Valentine’s Day – the day when people show affection for one another. And since we’re riding this wave, we wanted to make a deliciously romantic cake. It turned out to be very pretty and elegant. It is fairly easy to make but as it is with every beautiful thing, it takes more time. You can decorate it according to your personal style or colour – we chose lovely flowers made of fondant, meringues and white chocolate couverture. To save our nerves, we prepared the flowers the day before, and luckily, we had some meringues left from making another dessert. We wanted to use white chocolate but the one we had wasn’t very good quality and it couldn’t melt properly so I just threw it out. We didn’t have any problems with the couverture, and it was dripping beautifully from the edge of our pink layer cake. The choice with the raspberry jelly was also very successful as it has a very pleasant slightly sour taste that us in contrast with the sweet buttercream filling. It also doesn’t have any seeds to crunch either which contributes to the smooth texture and the whole experience.

Ingredients for the pink cake layers:

• 380 g flour
• 200 g sugar
• 180 g milk
• 115 g butter, softened
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• pink or red food colouring
• 4 cake layer tins, baking paper, oil for greasing and scissors

Ingredients for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

• 450 g butter
• 250 g sugar
• 5 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pink food colouring
• 100 g raspberry jelly
• piping bag, wide nozzle, spatula
• fondant for the flower decorations, white chocolate couverture, meringues

Pink Layer Cake Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°С. Cut out round shapes from the baking paper and line the cake layer tins. Grease the tin walls slightly.
2. Put the softened butter and the sugar into a bowl. Beat until a light cream is obtained.
3. Add the vanilla and the egg whites one by one while mixing.
4. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add in the baking powder and salt, and stir.
5. Mix the flour and the milk into the butter mixture until smooth. Add pink food colouring and stir until the desired colour is achieved.
6. Transfer the cake mixture evenly into the baking tins. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Leave the baking tins to cool onto cooling racks for 10 minutes. Take the pink cake layers out and place them onto the racks until completely cool.

How to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

1. To make the meringue buttercream, put the egg whites and sugar over double boiler and stir until the sugar dissolves completely. When foam starts to form on the top remove from the heat. Leave it aside to cool, then put in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes.
2. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form – it takes about 5 minutes.
3. Cut the cold butter into cubes and gradually add them to the egg whites.
4. Continue beating for 5-10 minutes. Mix in the vanilla essence. Transfer a little bit less than half of the Swiss meringue buttercream into a piping bag with a wide nozzle attached.
5. Prepare a serving plate or a cake stand.
6. If your cake layers have risen in the middle, cut the risen surfaces off.

Assembling the Pink Layer Cake:

1. Place the bottom cake layer onto the dessert plate. Spread evenly 1/3 of the buttercream. Top with raspberry jelly and spread it over but leave 1 cm around the edge of the cake clean.
2. Repeat the procedures with the rest of the cake layers, without adding raspberry jelly onto the top of the cake.
3. Transfer the remaining buttercream into the piping bag. Set 2-3 tablespoons aside.
4. Frost the whole pink layer cake with a thin layer of buttercream and seal in all crumbs. Put it in the fridge to chill for half an hour. Don’t put your piping bag into the fridge, leave it to rest at room temperature.
5. Give yours cake another coating and smooth it out evenly. If you have some buttercream left, you can repeat the procedure.
6. Add food colouring to the buttercream you’ve set aside and stir until you have obtained a nice pink colour. Using a palette knife, spread it on a few places to obtain a marble effect. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before decorating.

Tips: 

1. After you have transfer the cake mixture into the baking tins, tap the baking tins firmly on the worktop settle the contents and dislodge any air bubbles. If you can still see air bubbles, you can pop them out using a toothpick or a wooden skewer.
2. When you mix the egg whites with the butter, the mixture will start to look like it’s curdling or separating. There is no need to worry, this is normal. Just continue beating until thick and smooth cream is obtained.
3. Before placing the bottom cake layer onto the dessert plate, spread a tiny bit of buttercream in the middle – this way the cake layer will stick and won’t move around while you’re stacking your cake.
4. Once the pink layer cake has been assembled and you start coating it with buttercream, make a crumb coat. A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting spread over the whole cake to smooth out its shape and seal in crumbs. This is the best way to take your layer cakes to the next level. To apply the first coating, start at the top and work your way down, filling in any gaps or uneven surfaces.

Bon appetit!