Photographs: Claire Bogusz / iStock
Text: Claire Bogusz
A combination of frozen and freeze-dried berries gives this sponge cake a delightfully sweet and summery flavour. Frozen and freeze-dried berries are more affordable than their fresh counterparts, and also enable you to make a delicious cake even when your favourite fruit isn’t in season.
Red Berry Cake
Makes a 20 centimetre round, 3-layer cake
Cake:
350 g softened butter
450 g sugar
384 g flour (hvedemel)
4 egg whites (room temperature), or 120 ml liquid egg whites (æggehvider)
1 tsp vanilla sugar (vanijlesukker)
¼ tsp baking soda (natron)
2 ¾ tsp baking powder (bagepulver)
250 ml whole milk (sødmælk), room temperature
Approximately 200 g frozen berries, a combination of strawberries (jordbær)
or raspberries (hindbær)
Frosting:
225 g softened butter
200 g softened cream cheese
1 kg icing sugar (flormelis)
1 tsp vanilla sugar (vanijlesukker)
2 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam
20 g freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries (found in the baking aisle of grocery stores)
Optional décor: fresh strawberries, freeze-dried berries
Filling
Raspberry or strawberry jam (approximately 2 tbsp between each layer)
Method
#1 Preheat oven to 1600C. Grease your cake tins and dust with flour. (If you have one cake
tin, you’ll need to repeat this process and bake the layers individually.)
#2 Using a mixing bowl and electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together for 2 minutes.
The butter will be light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
#3 Add egg whites and vanilla sugar and beat for 1 minute; no longer or your egg whites
will change the consistency of the batter.
#4 In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
#5 In a chopper or food processor, puree frozen berries until smooth. Add puree to a
liquid measuring cup with the milk.
#6 Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until incorporated, scraping
down the sides of the bowl.
#7 Add half of the milk/strawberry puree to batter and beat until combined, and then
scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue alternating flour and milk mixtures, ending
with flour mixture. Do not over-mix.
#8 Divide batter into tins and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly browned and a
toothpick comes out clean. Cool in tins for 10 minutes and then on a cooling rack until
completely cooled.
#9 For the frosting, in your chopper or processor, grind freeze-dried berries. Using an
electric mixer, cream softened butter and cream cheese on high for 3 minutes. Add
vanilla sugar and jam and mix until combined. Slowly add icing sugar and freeze-dried
berries and then beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy and creamy.
Note: If frosting is too thick, you can add 1 tbsp of heavy cream (piskefløde).
#10 Stack your cake layers together, adding frosting and jam between each layer. Frost
outside of your cake and top with fresh berries or freeze-dried berries if desired.
HELPFUL TIPS AND HINTS
Use a star-shaped pastry tip to create frosting rosettes on the top of the cake.
You can use strawberries, raspberries, or a blend of berries in this recipe.
Top your cake with a tangy cream cheese frosting that’s naturally tinted pink with
freeze-dried berries and jam.