Danish Cake

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This is my offering to the GBBO, as it's more complicated than I usually make! I'd offered to make a cake for a birthday we'd been invited to, and as my daughter was here to help me, decided to try something a bit more ambitious. It's not the official birthday cake, but just another contribution to the tea.

The recipe comes from a leaflet I picked up many years ago in a supermarket, but it doesn't say much about the origins of the cake, just that it's from Denmark. It's unusual in that it has chopped pears in it, and uses gelatine to stiffen the cream mixture for the filling. It's a 'bit of an effort' cake to make too, so one for an occasion.

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Grease and line a 20cm springform tin.

Whisk 4 egg yolks with the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon and 125g of icing sugar till pale and creamy. Whisk the 4 egg whites till stiff peaks.
 Sieve 75g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 1/2 tspn baking powder together then fold into the batter with the egg whites a little at a time.
Spoon into the tin and bake for 35-40 mins. Leave in the tin for 5 mins then put on a wire rack.

 Filling:
Soften 2 sheets of gelatine in 30ml cold water. Lightly whip two thirds of a pot of 500ml double cream then beat in the gelatine and 2 tbspn caster sugar. Fold in contents of a large can of pears, chopped and drained, and 75g grated dark chocolate [ keeping a little back to put on the top of the cake]. Leave filling to set.

When it's cold, cut the cake into three layers. Spread each layer with the cream mixture filling and assemble the cake.
Whip the other third of the double cream, and pipe rosettes around the edge of the top. Finish with a little of the grated chocolate.


I was pleased with the finished cake and it tasted good too. The filling wasn't too sweet and had a bit of texture from the chocolate. The sponge cake was light and had a slight lemony flavour. I liked the pieces of pear as they were soft, but still kept some texture. An unusual cake, but good for an occasion, and the plate is one of a set I inherited from Mum.


Comments

The Caked Crusader said…
That looks amazing! I've never heard of Danish Cake but anything with pears, chocolate, sponge and cream cannot be bad!
28/9/14 10:38 pm
Phil in the Kitchen said…
That looks very special - very well worth the effort. I'd be very pleased to see that cake on my birthday.
30/9/14 2:51 pm
Anonymous said…
Looks stunning! It wasn't a leaflet from M&S, was it? Only that I have one of their old cookbooks, and your photo looks practically identical to the cake in there!
21/11/14 2:13 pm
Anonymous said…
Looks stunning! It wasn't a leaflet from M&S, was it? Only that I have one of their old cookbooks, and your photo looks practically identical to the cake in there!
21/11/14 2:14 pm
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