Fresh Fruit Pastry

Pastry is a term used in India to refer to any cake made with a fresh cream filling or frosting. The most popular ones are the Black Forest, Pineapple pastries, or any other fruit pastries.
I had the Fresh Fruit Pastry once in a bakery in edison. I have had the other pastries when I was a kid in India and we used to crazy for Black Forest Cake.

Pastries are usually made with fat-free sponge cakes where all the sponginess comes from the eggs.

The Fresh Fruit Pastry is a soft sponge cake and decorated with thin slices of fruits. I used soft fruits like strawberries, kiwi fruit and pineapple. I think you can’t really use harder fruits like apples and pears for obvious reasons that it will be impossible to cut them. Moreover apples and pears can oxidize and turn brownish. If you use watermelon or cantaloupe, they will watery and hence make the cake soggy. So, rightly choosing the fresh fruits is very important.

The fresh fruit pastry is pleasing to the eyes and palate. What else could you think of using for this?
The Fresh Fruit Cake is very light and not overly sweet. A great cake for almost any occasion or you can create an occasion for the cake.  Always, plan the seasonal fruits, as they give the natural sweetness.

 

I would say there a special occasion coming around, we are completing our successful 5 years of Togetherness. I am celebrating every week with something Sundar would love to have. He is fond of food, and I am fond of bringing the variety to our home.

Fresh Fruit Cake 
(Print this Recipe)

You need

2 cups All-purpose flour plus more for pans
1 3/4 Cups Confectioner’s sugar
6 Eggs
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Filling and Frosting:

1 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup fresh fruits chopped

Preheat oven to 300F. Prepare the baking pans. For this cake you will need two 9-inch round baking pans. This step is very important for easy removal of the baked cakes. Since this cake has less fat in it, the chances of it sticking to the pan are more if pans are not prepared well. Grease the insides of the pan evenly with butter or solid vegetable shortening using a pastry brush. Sprinkle each of the pans with 1 tbsp of all-purpose flour. Tap pans gently on the kitchen counter to ensure the flour spreads and covers the pan. Remove the excess flour. Set pans aside till ready to use.

Separate the white from the yolks. Beat each separately adding vanilla extract and little sugar at a time. The whites should form stiff peaks and the yolks should be pale and thick. Fold the beaten yolks into whites. Sift flour and baking powder thrice and fold into the egg mixture.

FOLD: Means to slowly turn dry ingredients into the wet in a circular inward to outward motion. Do not beat or mix vigorously. The main purpose of folding is to allow more air into the mixture and to avoid flattening the frothy eggs.

Pour mixture into prepared pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes till cake is done and springs back on touch or a cake tester (or toothpick) comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and then invert cakes onto cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

Chill the beater blades and the bowl in which you will use to whip the cream. Whip cream while slowly adding sugar till cream is thick and stiff. Do not over-beat, it turns to butter!

Spread an even layer of the cream, and place chopped fresh fruits. You can as well, fold the fruits into the frosting mixture. Place the other cake on top of this and apply a layer of cream. If you can refrigerate the cake for 4-6 hrs for better decorating. Spread an even thick layer of cream on top. To finish, decorate with fresh sliced fruits in your favorite way.

This cake is light and before you know you will be reaching out for another slice!


Sending this to Cook.eat.delicious.dessert
to my event Love Lock with sweets hosted by privish