Surprise Bloody Cake (2024)

Vanilla Cake:

• ▢ 3 cups cake flour (370 g)
• ▢ 4 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon kosher salt or fine sea salt
• ▢ 1 cup whole milk
• ▢ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract , or vanilla paste
• ▢ 12 Tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter (170 g), room temp
• ▢ 6 large egg whites , room temp
• ▢ 1 ½ cup granulated sugar (300 g)

Swiss Buttercream:

• ▢ 6 large egg whites
• ▢ 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300 g)
• ▢ 2 cups unsalted butter (454 g) cut into tablespoons, softened
• ▢ pinch kosher salt or fine sea salt

Raspberry Coulis:

• ▢ 12 oz package frozen raspberries
• ▢ 5 Tablespoons granulated sugar (65 g)
• ▢ 2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• ▢ 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Raspberry Simple Syrup:

• ▢ 3 Tablespoons simple syrup (see notes)
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon raspberry liqueur* such as Chambord

Vanilla Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 °F. Butter and lightly flour four 6-inch cake pans. Line bottom with parchment paper and set aside.

• Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together milk, egg whites, and vanilla. Set aside.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and mix until combined. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure even mixing.

• Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed while adding 1/2 of the liquid ingredients. Add another 1/3 of dry, follow with remaining liquid ingredients, and end with remaining dry ingredients. Mix until batter is evenly combined.

• Divide batter among prepared cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes before unmolding. Allow cake to cool to room temperature on wire racks.

• Once cake is cool, use a serrated knife to level off cake layers if necessary.
  

Swiss Buttercream:

• In the bowl of stand mixer, whisk together egg whites and sugar. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water to create a double boiler. Make sure simmering water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Whisk sugar egg mixture until it reaches a temperature of 160°F.

  Alternatively, if you don't have a thermometer, heat until all the sugar has melted. You can test this by dipped your pointer finger into the warm mixture and rubbing it against your thumb. The mixture should be smooth. You should not be able to feel the granules of sugar.

• Return bowl to the stand mixer. With the whisk attachment, beat mixture at medium speed until it has cooled to room temperature. Reduce speed to low and add butter one tablespoon at a time. Once all the butter has been incorporated, add pinch of salt. Increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat until buttercream is light and fluffy.
  

Raspberry Coulis:

• In a medium sauce pot, add frozen raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

• Cook over medium heat until sugar has melted, raspberries have thawed, and mixture has slightly thickened. Stir occasionally to prevent raspberry sauce from burning along the sides of the pot.

• Remove from heat. Strain out raspberry seeds. Keep raspberry coulis (sauce) in the fridge until ready to use.

Raspberry Simple Syrup:

• Mix together simple syrup and raspberry liqueur. Set aside until ready to assemble cake
  

Assembly:

• Place one cake layer on a serving platter or cake turntable. Generously brush raspberry simple syrup over cake. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on cake. Place another cake layer and repeat adding simple syrup and buttercream.
  

• Place third cake layer on top. Brush with simple syrup. Spread a very thin layer of buttercream on cake. Using a piping bag fitted with a small round tip to pipe a buttercream border along the edges of the cake. Gently pour raspberry coulis into the piped ring of buttercream. Reserve remaining raspberry coulis for serving.

• Spread a very thin layer of buttercream over the last cake layer. Invert cake layer and place frosted side on top of cake to cover raspberry coulis.
  

• Spread a layer of buttercream around the sides of the cake to seal in the crumbs (crumb coat). Place in the fridge and allow to chill for 15 minutes to set the buttercream.

• Add another thin layer of buttercream. While the turntable to rotating, use a toothpick to drag lines around the cake. Keep cake stored in the fridge until ready to serve. Allow cake to come to room temperature before serving.

• Once you slice into cake, the raspberry coulis will ooze out. Serve cake slices with reserved raspberry coulis.
  

Simple Syrup: Bring to a boil equal parts water and sugar. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Keep chilled. Store covered in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Liqueur for simple syrup is optional. Simply omit if desired.

All images and text ©The Little Epicurean

Author: Maryanne Cabrera

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American