Bakers Royale

Raspberry Ripple Cake ~ Arm yourself and get fork ready for this summer time cake. Keep your friends close and your cake closer. . . this one  goes quickly.

Raspberry Ripple Cake

My friends and I devoured this cake in one afternoon sitting. In fact the last bite was eaten directly off the cake stand with all of us slicing and stabbing a piece of the last serving.

Being an especially light and easy dessert to make, Raspberry Ripple Cake one of my favorite ways to show case the beauty and flavor of raspberries.

For the cake, I used a Magnolia’s Vanilla Cake and added a browned butter glaze. The glaze gives the cake a nice nutty flavor while the light dusting of confectioner sugar and the vanilla buttercream adds a subtle sweetness that nicely compliments the raspberry preserve.

Baking late at night isn’t always conducive to success, especially when one is weary. After failing to pay close attention to the recipe in which the degrees were written in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit (the latter being the default setting on my digital thermometer) my raspberry preserve failed to set properly. Given that failing, my impatience dictated store bought raspberry preserve—Not a good start to a simple cake.

But stubborn and determined to not to be sabotaged by my weary brain, I laid down the thermometer and set aside the too thin preserve for the store bought stuff and moved on to the cake and buttercream. Thankfully this portion was something my stand mixer and I can almost do on auto pilot.

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Lemon Champagne Mousse –Pucker up and get ready for a bite of springtime’s perfect blend of tart and tangy. Don’t be surprised though, if this Lemon Champagne Mousse pleasantly bites your tongue back and leaves you begging for more.

Lemon Champagne Mousse

This is another incredibly fast and easy, no bake dessert that was inspired by all the pics on Tastespotting and Foodgawker of Lemon Meringue Cupcakes for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club.

A few notes:
1. The champagne is not necessary. I added champagne for an extra nuanced layer in flavor and  texture. Mousse alone is already light in texture, the added champagne fluffs it up to a level that gives it an ethereal-like quality.
2. I love almost any citrus fruit, but my favorite is lime, so as a rule I always add lime to my lemon curd to give it that extra bite of tartness. Omit the lime and replace with lemon to control your level of tart preference.
3. The candied lemons are for garnishment. Use them or not. I like using them to quickly dress up a simple presentation.
4. If you like lemon curd make as much as I do, make a double serving. One for the dessert and the other to keep on hand to have with scones, and dare I say, chocolate chip pancakes. I know the latter sounds a bit odd, but it’s so good.  » Read the rest of this entry «