Bake-a-Long Week 1! Summer Berry Vertical Layer Cake!

Bake Off is back! 

I always bang on about Autumn being my favourite season, and it just so happens that Bake Off is a staple of the season! I'm determined to do a bake along this year, and with it being cake week I had to choose between the vertical layer cake signature, the iconic Bake Off titles fudge cake technical, or the animal sculpture cake showstopper! 

Now, I would have LOVED to have a go at an animal shaped cake, but time constraints and space in my kitchen meant I had to rule this one out. Therefore, for a new challenge I went with this Summer Berry Vertical Layer Cake! As you can see, the finished result isn't perfect... the layers aren't quite neat and the piping needs work, but it's a bloody good first attempt! 

To kick things off, I began by making the genoise sponge that would roll up to form the sponge layers! Whole eggs and sugar are whisked together until they reach the ribbon stage and have tripled in volume, before ground almonds, plain flour, lemon zest, vanilla paste, baking powder, salt, and melted butter are gently folded in. Once baked, the still warm sponge is rolled up to "train" it and make it easier to reroll later! 

With the sponge cooling, I could move on to summer berry puree! A mixture of strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, and blackberries are combined with caster sugar and a little water, and heated until the fruit has softened and the whole mixture is on its way to becoming a jammy slump. The mixture is sieved to remove the seeds, and the resulting puree is left to cool! 

The final component I had to prepare was the Swiss meringue buttercream, a favourite of mine that is absolutely worth the extra effort! To start the buttercream, egg whites, caster sugar, and a little water are whisked by a hand in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, until they reach the thick ribbon stage, which took roughly eight minutes. To finish the meringue, the egg whites mixture is scooped into a clean bowl and whisked with an electric hand whisk until the meringue holds stiff peaks and the bowl has cooled completely!  

The vanilla Swiss meringue 
buttercream before the puree 
is added!

Unfortunately, my stand mixer (Veronica, for those paying attention!), sometimes doesn't quite reach the bottom of the bowl sometimes, so I had to do this with a handheld electric whisk, but the effort was so worth it! 

Once the meringue had cooled, butter is gradually whisked in. The meringue will collapse at first, but with continued whisking the buttercream returns to a thick and smooth consistency. The summer berries puree is then used to flavour and colour the Swiss meringue buttercream, after reserving a little of the vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. 

To assemble the cake, the cooled sponge is sliced into three, brushed with plenty of the summer berries puree, which is then topped with a layer of the Swiss meringue buttercream. The trickiest part comes next, as one of the three slices is rolled into a tight spiral. The spiral is then placed at one end of the second slice, and rolled up again to form a bigger Swiss roll. The roll is then placed at one end of the final slice, and rolled again to create the alternating layers of sponge and buttercream! The cake is then placed on a serving plate on one of it's flat edges for decoration! 

One roll out of three! 

Finally, the cake is is coated with a generous layer of the Swiss meringue buttercream, before different shades of the buttercream are used to pipe rosettes in different sizes and colour on top of and cascading down one side of the cake. Any remaining fruit puree is used to decorate the top too! 

The layers could have been a 
bit better, but they could have been
a lot worse as well! 

Like I said, this isn't exactly a perfect attempt, but for a first try it's a great cake! Everyone who tasted it fell in love with the flavour, and I think it shows some real potential! 

Bring on biscuit week! 

Gibby x