White chocolate christmas cake

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
CAKE
3 ounces White chocolate
1¼ cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Baking powder
1 cup Milk
4 Egg whites, room temp.
½ cup Butter
2 cups Flour, sifted
¾ teaspoon Salt
1¼ teaspoon Almond extract
FILLING
12 ounces Jar cherry preserves,
Pureed
⅓ cup Almonds
ICING
5 ounces White chocolate
2 Egg whites
⅓ cup Sugar
½ cup Butter

Directions

NOTE: SEE VARIATIONS AT BOTTOM OF RECIPE CAKE Line the bottoms of two 8" round cake pans with parchment paper.

Grease and flour the paper and sides of pans. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is smooth and melted (half power works best). Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix milk and almond extract. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Mix in melted chocolate. Wash beaters thoroughly. Place egg whites in a small bowl and beat until fluffy. Slowly add remaining sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold in egg whites into batter. Turn into prepared pans, smoothing tops. Bake 25-30 minutes or until cake tests done. Place on wire racks and cool 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely. Split each layer into 2 layers. Freeze layers (with parchment paper in between layers) until ready to assemble cake.

FILLING Grate almonds using a Zyliss cheese grater or food processor.

Mix together preserves and almonds. Place frozen bottom layer of cake on plate and spread with ⅓ of the preserves. Repeat with the next two layers. Place the final layer on top. Refreeze until ready to put on icing if desired. (Note: place the bottom 2 layers upside down on the plate to help make a more level cake.) ICING Chill 3 oz. of white chocolate and a pan or platter. With a vegetable peeler, slice curls of chocolate off of the flat surface of the chocolate onto the chilled platter. Cover pan and freeze until needed. (Can be done several weeks ahead). Melt 2 oz. chocolate in the microwave set aside. On top of a double boiler over hot water, combine sugar and egg whites. Whisk constantly until the mixture is hot and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and beat with mixer until thick and shiny. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate. Spread icing on the cake. Quickly and gently place frozen chocolate curls on top of cake.

Refrigerate cake. Take out of refrigerator 30-60 minutes before serving.

NOTE: The cake is best if made 1-2 days ahead to allow time for the filling to soak into the cake. The icing will "crack" of not allowed to sit out and soften before cutting. Freezing isn't really required but it make the layers easier to work with and results in a moister cake.

VARIATIONS:

1. Skip doing a cake from scratch. Just add the white chocolate and almond flavoring to a quality white cake mix and cook according to 2. Use cherry pie filling in place of the preserves - drain off as much "syrup" as possible before pureeing.

3. Instead of making chocolate curls, grate the chocolate directly onto the cake using the Zyliss cheese grater or vegetable peeler.

File

Related recipes