layers of heaven

What better way to celebrate my 200th post than with a glorious cake, stuffed to the gills with white chocolate and laced with a touch of fruitiness?


Readers, this cake is a show-stopper. I first encountered the recipe while looking for a cake worthy of my big brother's wedding rehearsal dinner. Although it ultimately wasn't the winning cake (I guess there just weren't enough white chocolate fans polled), it's without a doubt a winning cake.

Let me paint you a picture. The cake itself is quite dense and not at all crumby (or crummy, for that matter). There's an undeniable white chocolate flavor, but it's in no way overwhelming. The layer of preserves (and fruit, if your wits are about you while assembling the masterpiece) in the middle offers a special kind of sweetness and, depending on the fruits you choose, a bit of a tart quality as well.


(Your wish is my command.)

The icing is another story altogether. It's super rich (definitely not for those of you with mixed feelings about white chocolate) and creamy, but not at all like those frostings that coat your mouth and leave you feeling slightly disgusted. Quite frankly, I think it's the perfect topper for this cake, and if I wasn't so daggone crazy about that cinnamon cream cheese frosting, I'd say it's the perfect topper period. I added two tablespoons of preserves while mixing so the color would be a nice pale pink (and so I wouldn't have to worry about the filling oozing out and tainting a perfectly white icing...).


(I wonder if the folks on CSI: ever extracted fingerprints off of a picture of blueberries--they tend to do miraculous, astounding things like that, and in a matter of seconds, no less!)

As you can see by my pictures, I really goofed on the middle portion, as there is a)minimal frosting and b)no whole fruit. As it turns out, I'm a horrendous judge of how the icing should be divided so that there's an even distribution among the middle, top, and sides. Horrendous. Apparently I'm also a bit of a flake since, even though I have both fresh blueberries and fresh raspberries on hand, I failed to remember to garnish the middle with them. D'oh.


Even when you make silly mistakes like that, this is a wonderfully decadent cake. However, it should definitely be saved for special occasions--that white chocolate can shoot your grocery bill straight through the roof. I'd estimate that you could get about 20 servings out of the cake, as a small slice will probably suffice for the normal eater.

Oh, and I'm submitting this to quirky cupcake's Layers of Cake event. That's gonna be one heck of a collection.

Layers of Heaven
(adapted from Epicurious)

Cake:
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

Frosting:
20 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon each of blueberry and raspberry preserves, melted

Filling:
fresh blueberries and raspberries
1/2 cup each of blueberry and raspberry preserves, melted

To prepare cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar using electric mixer until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk in three additions, blending well after each addition.
Melt white chocolate in top of double boiler or microwave; let cool slightly. Add warm white chocolate to batter and beat just until blended.
Divide batter equally between pans, smoothing tops with spatula. Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes (cakes will fall). Run small sharp knife around cake pan sides. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

To prepare frosting:
Melt white chocolate in top of double boiler or microwave. Let stand until cool but not set, about 20 minutes. In a large bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the white chocolate, preserves, and vanilla. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate until thick enough to spread, about 45 minutes (frosting will be very soft).

To assemble:
Place one layer on a cake plate and spread on the preserves. Carefully spread about 3/4 cup of the frosting over the preserves. Cover the frosting with single layer of berries and then spread 3/4 cup of the frosting over berries. Top with the second cake layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of cake. Chill the cake at least one hour. Devour.