Once, at the beginning of my baking experience I was making apple meringue cake. I wanted to make it so badly that it took me three approaches. First one went immediately to the rubbish. Second one, was only half edible. Third one, came out not perfect, but good enough to be eaten. That’s how my serious baking experiments started. What I’ve learned is:

1. hold on to the recipe instructions for God’s sake!
2. always have Plan B

In case of today’s recipe my Pan B was to crumble the cake, and layer with cream and fruits in few transparent dishes. So even if it’s not going to work as you wanted, always have a plan B. I’m telling you that – Master of Disaster 😉

Anyhow, today something for all the sweet-tooth, I know there’s a lots of you! That’s again one of my old recipes, which actually came out quite impressive for my baking skills, which are on the level of primary school. This recipe was quite popular on my old blog, so I decided that maybe it’s worth spreading into the world.

It’s not keto though. But I’ve prepared directions for keto option. Not exactly the same, but similar, using the courgette cake recipe instead of regular sponge cake. I chose this option, because it doesn’t contain almond flour, and actually would look quite cool layering green and purple.

Anyway, both options are described below. It’s also good idea for pretty simple birthday cake if you don’t have impressive baking skills, or you can use it as my Pan B and prepare impressive party desserts 🙂

dark forest fruits cake

NOTE: my cup measure is regular 250 ml glass

NO DIET OPTION

INGREDIENTS for fruit compote and cream:

• about 500 g berries (I had frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants)
• 6-7 g pork gelatin
• 2 tsp potato starch or corn starch
• 2-3 tbsp sugar
• 500 g mascarpone
• 500 ml double cream
• 3-4 tbsp powdered sugar
• optionally: couple of small meringues for decoration

INGREDIENTS for sponge cake (9-10 inch round baking tray):

• 5 eggs
• ¾ cup plain flour
• ¼ cup potato starch or corn starch
• pinch of salt
• ¾ cup baking sugar

DIRECTIONS

Lets start with sponge cake. In perfectly clean pot or bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt using handheld mixer (always make sure that the bowl or pot is not contaminated with egg yolk or some other cake ingredients that might prevent egg whites from beating properly). Start mixing on lower rotation, then make it faster – this way no egg white will say on the bottom. Beat until the foam will be creamy and thick. Next add sugar, spoon by spoon and beat constantly. Foam should start being very white and shiny, and you should see visible marks from beaters.

Next add egg yolks, one by one and mix. Take spatula or whisk (looks like when I use spatula, cake is more fluffy). Add both flours and very gently and slowly combine with foam using spatula (or whisk).

Now fill the bottom of the baking form with baking paper, you can leave the sides ungreased. Pour your cake dough and bake in 160-170ºC (no fan) for about 35-40 minutes. As I always say – every oven is different so check with a toothpick of wooden skewer if the cake is ready. If there’s no remains of the dough on the skewer, menad that the cake is ready. Don’t open the oven during baking, only at the end if you need to check if it’s ready. Depending of the size of your baking tray it might need couple minutes more or less.

OK, it might seem crazy, but take the cake out of the oven and drop it on the floor or kitchen counter. Not from too high, 10-12 inches is enough. Just drop it as you hold it. Why? It will prevent it from falling when cools down, by getting rid of the air bubbles that assemble during baking process.

Now put it back to the oven and leave to cool down with the doors open.

Now it’s time for fruit compote. Leave some of the fruits for decoration. I chose blackberries, but feel free to choose whichever you want. Place the rest of the fruits in a small pot, add 2-3 tbsp of sugar and simmer on small heat until you see the juice.

Dissolve potato starch or corn starch with couple teaspoons of cold water and add to the fruits. Stir quickly, you should get kind of jelly consistency. Stir until jelly will get transparent. Switch off the heat. Prepare gelatin according to the recipe in the packaging. Add it to fruits and stir until combine, then leave it to cool down completely.

Now it’s time for filling cream. Place half of mascarpone in a bowl and add 2-3 tbsp of fruit compote. Stir to combine.

Whip the cream using handheld mixer, add powdered sugar and beat again, add second part of mascarpone and mix again. If you feel it needs some more sweetness, add a bit more of powdered sugar. That’s your decoration cream.

With long thin knife slice your sponge cake in three layers (cake needs to be completely cold). Spread mascarpone with fruit compote in the first one. Place the second layer and spread fruit compote (it should be quite stiff and have kind of jelly consistency). Place third layer of the sponge cake, and now spread mascarpone and whipped cream all over. No worries it it doesn’t look like on Instagram, it doesn’t need to be perfect. If you feel like it’s too thick and it’s really hard for you to spread it, ad tiny bit of cream or milk, bit only a bit.

Decorate with berries and optionally with meringues.

Scroll down for KETO OPTION.

KETO OPTION

INGREDIENTS for fruit compote and cream:

• about 500 g berries (I had frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants)
• 12-14 g pork gelatin or vegan replacement
• any sugar replacement of your choice added to taste
• 500 g mascarpone
• 500 ml double cream
• optionally: couple of small meringues for decoration (you can buy sugar free ones or just skip this option)

For the cake use recipe for courgette cake, but double the portion of ingredients, apart from courgette, keeping the form in the same size. It needs to be quite high, if we want to make three layers. You will also need to bake for longer (probably double time, but it depends of the oven).

DIRECTIONS

Directions looks pretty much the same, apart from few things.

Leave some of the fruits for decoration. Place the rest of the fruits in a small pot, add sugar replacement of your choice (I won’t tell you the amounts because it might be different for different sugar replacements) and simmer on small heat until you see the juice.

We have to double the portion of gelatin because we can’t use starch. So, prepare gelatin according to the recipe on the packaging. Add it to fruits and stir until combine, then leave it to cool down completely. Put it to the fridge so it thickens and become stiff. We want this to be half ready, stiff enough not to pour, but still able to spread.

Now it’s time for filling cream, keep it the same as above recipe. Place half of mascarpone in a bowl and add 2-3 tbsp of fruit compote. Stir to combine.

Whip the cream using handheld mixer, add sugar replacement and beat again, add second part of mascarpone and mix again. If you feel it needs some more sweetness, add a bit more sweetener. That’s your decoration cream.

To finish the cake follow directions from above. Courgette cake is heavier than a sponge cake, so you might slice thinner layers.

You can keep it in the fridge for maximum 4 days, would be the best in a closed container or at least covered so it’s not going to catch the smells from the fridge.

Enjoy!