Brewbird Veronika’s favourite B&B blend is Vicky’s Sponge Cake and for months she dreamed of making the perfect cake. So for her birthday, she made a ‘Vicky’s Sponge Cake… cake’. She’s named it, RoyalTEA! How perfect is that?!
Below is the most amazing, intricate & delicious sounding baking recipe we’ve ever seen. So a huge thank you to Brewbird Veronika for this fit for a Queen cake recipe! Just look at how beautiful it looks!
Cake Ingredients:
- Classic sponge cake
- Crunch made from roasted almonds and white chocolate
- Strawberry coulis (a fancy name for jam)
- Cremeux from ‘Vicky’s Sponge Cake’ tea
- Vanilla Mousse
- Glaze
Recipe
Classic Sponge Cake
Ingredients:
- 4 Egg Whites
- 100g Sugar
- 8g Vanilla Sugar
- Salt
- 6 Egg Yolks
- 80g Wheat Flour
- 20g Starch Flour
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 190°C two-sided heat.
- Cover a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.
- Mix egg white, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in a bowl until stiff. Add the egg yolks, one after another, and mix thoroughly. Finally, add flour and starch with a sieve and fold in. Put the mix on a baking tray and smooth. It should be about 1cm in height.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until it is light golden. Remove from the oven and topple it onto another piece of baking paper. Remove the first sheet immediately! If it doesn’t come off smoothly, rub over it with a moist tea towel gently.
- Put it aside and allow to cool.
Crunch
Ingredients:
- 200g chopped almonds
- 300g white chocolate, chopped (around 30% of cocoa. I use Callebeau with 27%)
Method:
- Roast the almonds.
- Let cool.
- Melt chocolate.
- Mix both.
- Use immediately.
(Veronika’s top tip: “this also makes a GREAT treat: pour the mix on a baking tray with baking paper and let it cool. Break it into pieces. Done. Works with all chocolates and nuts, raisins, dry fruit”)
Strawberry Coulis
Ingredients:
- 300g of Mixed Strawberries
- 30g Sugar
- 6g Gelatine Sheets
- 5g Lemon Juice
Method:
- 1. Soak gelatine in cold water.
- Heat up mixed strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to 40°C.
- Squeeze gelatine and mix into the strawberries.
- Use quickly.
Cremeux of Vicky’s Sponge Cake
Ingredients:
- 25g of ‘Vicky’s Sponge Cake’ tea
- 120g Water
- 100g Cream
- 2 Egg Yolk (about 30 g)
- 30g Sugar
- 150g Milk Chocolate, chopped (around 30%. I use Callebeau with 32%)
- 4g Gelatine Sheets
Method:
- Soak gelatine in cold water.
- Boil the water and brew the tea for 4+ minutes. Brew it really strong, so later you can still taste it between all that cream and chocolate.
- Decant the tea into a saucepan, squeeze the leaves. Add cream egg yolk and sugar to the tea.
- Now heat up to 85°C, using little temperature, constantly stirring, until it thickens using a thermometer. Do not let it boil! It will clot and can’t be used anymore.
- Squeeze the gelatine and mix it into the tea fond, until it is a smooth crème.
- Use quickly.
Vanilla Mousse
Ingredients:
- 150g Milk (3.5%)
- 2 Vanilla Pods
- 10g Gelatine Sheets
- 275g White Chocolate (chopped)
- 300g Whipped Cream
Method:
- Soak gelatine in cold water.
- Open the vanilla pods, remove the inside, add both (pods and inside-stuff) to the milk and let it boil. Set aside for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pods and pour the milk through a strainer. Boil up again, now add the squeezed gelatine.
- Pour over the chopped chocolate and mix until it is smooth and creamy. Cover with plastic foil, put it in the fridge and let it cool down to about 28° C. Then fold in the whipped cream.
- Use quickly.
Glaze
Ingredients:
- 60g Water
- 120g Sugar
- 120g Glucose
- 60g Condensed Milk
- 3g Gelatine Sheets
- 120g Chocolate of your choice (Veronika used ‘Valrhona Inspiration Raspberry’ – she wanted the raspberry taste)
Method:
- Soak gelatine in cold water.
- Boil water, sugar, glucose & milk. Squeeze gelatine & add to the mix then pour over the chocolate & mix firmly.
- Pour it over your cake at a temperature of about 30°C.
Now we have all the yummy parts of this cake, we have to build it!
Here are two cake building methods: one using a silicone mould like Veronika did to get a fancy shaped cake. And one using a usual baking pan, 18 – 22cm in diameter.
Building Method 1:
Silicon mould (approx 1600ml):
- Cut the sponge cake into a form that matches the mold you use. It doesn’t have to be a perfect fit, but the sponge has to fit into the mould.
- Freeze the sponge. Once frozen, spread the crunch-mass on it. Try to make it as thin as possible. Freeze again.
- For the core, you need a pan, that is about the size of the piece of the sponge. Improvise, if needed. You can use a small baking pan and make it smaller with tin foil. Cover it with plastic foil! If you don’t, you won't be able to remove anything later.
- Pour the Strawberry Coulis in the prepared form and freeze it for about 20 minutes (or longer), until it is stiff.
- Now pour the Tea Cremeux on top of the coulis. Freeze again.
- Fill your silicone mould with the Vanilla Mousse. Work it firmly into all corners and rounding of your mould. Use a spoon or a spatula, so every part of the mould is nicely covered. Use all the Mousse.
- Take the sponge and the core out of the freezer. Gently remove the plastic foil off the core – be careful, so no plastic remains in the cake!
- Press the core gently into the mousse, so that you can see the strawberry coulis.
- Now press the sponge into the mousse, too. Don’t go too deep, so that the core is completely covered in mousse later.
- Freeze!
- Glaze, let it defrost and serve!
Building Method 2:
Baking pan or cake ring:
- Place a baking pan or a cake ring firmly around the sponge. Pour the crunch mass in. Let it set in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Add the Strawberry Coulis, let set. Add the Tea Cremeux.
- Leave to set.
- Now widen your cake ring a bit, so that you have about 1cm room for your mousse and pour it over the whole cake.
- Leave to set in the fridge.
- Glaze, defrost and serve!
Extra Fanciness:
Veronika combined the glaze with Velvet Spray. It looks really extraordinary and is quite easy to handle. For even more fanciness, she added edible silver and some silver sugar beads as decoration.
There You Have It!
There you have it... A cake fit for royalTEA! The good thing here is: all parts of this cake can be altered! Don’t fancy strawberries? Use a fruit of your choice! Want a dark mousse? Leave out the vanilla and use a dark chocolate (add a pinch of cinnamon then!).
The Cremeux can also be done with any loose leaf tea of your choice! Just make sure when using Green tea or Oolong to brew at 80 degrees.
Veronika says, "Actually, you can change the ingredients, as long as the masses stay the same and the gelatine won’t be affected. I once made a mousse and used a cream liquor instead of milk – and it was perfect! Be creative and not too shy. Read through the ingredients of your favourite B&B tea and get inspired! Almost anything is possible!”
WOW. What an amazing recipe that was! If you make this recipe- we demand to see it. Pictures or it didn’t happen- you can pop a review below to let us know how it went!
Recipe Brewbird Approved, written & created by Veronika, find her at @baking_vronal to see more of her lovely baking recipes!
