Happy birthday to me! I mean, seriously, happy birthday to me.
Two weeks ago, it was my birthday, and I decided I wanted to bake myself a cake, and a special one. You know, one of those cakes that have a long list of ingredients, and you can find only in the best patisserie shops, and that many people would be scared to bake, worried they may burn their kitchen down to ashes. That kind of cake.
So, the thing is, I accepted the challenge. Birthday cake, I don’t fear you.
You may or may not know that Italian birthday cakes or tarts are a little different from the usual British birthday cakes or tarts, and you would typically go and buy a special ‘dessert’ at a bakery or patisserie, either from the counter or made ad-hoc for you.
However, it’s unlikely that your local patisserie shop will offer a choice of huge birthday cakes made of sponge and buttercream, covered with more buttercream and perhaps decorated with sugar work or colourful stuff on top. Nope. They’re not really a thing in Italy, although thanks to many TV baking shows they are becoming more popular (and I want to be completely honest with you, I had never had buttercream in my life before I moved to London, as that is not a common ingredient in Italy at all).
Instead, the selection usually includes vanilla meringue tart (that can have chocolate or fruit filling inside as well), chocolate tart, fruit tart or crostata, some-kind-of-flavour mousse cake or tart, Tiramisu, Charlotte, St Honoré cake, mille-feuilles cake and Mont Blanc, just to name a few. Basically, just name a complex cake or tart, likely inspired by French patisserie, and there you have it, the Italian birthday cake.
Therefore, as this was a very special birthday to me (30, 40 yay!), I thought, why not? I am going to make one of those myself. It took me 2 days to come up with a flavour profile idea, as I had too many in my head, but then I settled for a classic combination: lemon, white chocolate and raspberries, which I all love. And tart, tart it will be.
There you have it, a lovely buttery tart, filled with a lemon jam, lemon white chocolate and fresh raspberries mousse, a soft almond sponge insert, and decorated with a glossy Italian meringue – not the buttercream one, the simple (but gosh so delicious!) Italian meringue.
And if I may say, there is only one issue with this cake. The amount of bowls and pans I had to wash. But other than that, oh boy, it was definitely worth the effort.
Make it for your family and friends, for your birthday, for their birthday, on any other occasion and make that special day even more special.
Happy birthday everyone!
Makes one 20-cm tart
Ingredients
FOR THE SABLÉE PASTRY
- 220g plain flour
- 120g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 80g icing sugar
- 50g egg (1 large)
- 40g corn flour
- 1g salt
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
FOR THE LEMON JAM
- 50g lemon juice
- 35g fructose (or 50g caster sugar)
- 1g pectin (powder)
FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE AND LEMON MOUSSE
- 105g double cream
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 4g powder gelatine
- 20g water (to bloom the gelatine)
- 150g white chocolate
- 350g whipping cream
- 150g raspberries, cut in half
FOR THE ALMOND GENOISE SPONGE
- 30g egg
- 20g icing sugar
- 25g almond flour
- 15g plain flour
- 35g egg white
- 20g caster sugar
- 5g butter
FOR THE LEMON SYRUP
- 25g caster sugar
- 25g lemon juice
- 10g water
- Zest of half a lemon
FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE
- 135g caster sugar
- 80g egg whites
- 35g water
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
- Food thermometer
- 20cm tart ring / case
Method
TWO DAYS BEFORE SERVING / DAY BEFORE SERVING
Note: ideally the pastry should rest in the fridge overnight. If you have time to do it, make it 2 days ahead so you can then bake it straight away the day before of serving. In general, I would recommend planning ahead with this cake, and let each component rest in the fridge overnight, to achieve the best texture and flavour.
Make the sablée pastry
- Pour all dry ingredients (flour, corn flour, icing sugar, lemon zest) in a bowl. Add the cold butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resemble breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the salt and vanilla extract. Add to the crumbly mixture and bring the dough together with a spatula and then using your hands, until it has a uniform consistency (resist the temptation to knead the dough for too long). Flatten the dough to a square shape, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 2 hours. When you are ready to roll it, take it out of the refrigerator and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Bake the sablée pastry
- Prepare the tart ring or tin with butter and flour coating. Pre-heat the oven at 180°C. Roll out to the pastry to about 6mm thick. Roll the pastry up around the rolling pin and gently roll it out over the ring or tin. Push the dough into the mould, using a piece of leftover dough to make it adhere to the bottom and sides. Trim the overhanging excess dough with a sharp knife. Pop the pastry into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to firm up a bit.
- After 15 minutes, take it out of the fridge and blind bake the tart shell. Line the tart shell with some baking paper so that the dough is completely covered. Fill it up with dried beans, uncooked rice or ceramic baking beans and bake in the centre rack of the oven for 18 minutes. Remove the beans and baking parchment and bake for another 5 minutes uncovered. Set on a rack to cool completely before removing the shell.
Make the white chocolate and lemon mousse
- First, whip the whipping cream to soft peaks. When it reaches soft peaks, stop whipping and set aside to rest in the fridge. Put the water into a small bowl and sprinkle with the gelatine. Set aside to bloom for 10 minutes.
- Break the white chocolate into chunks and melt it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water (make sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water). In the meantime, put the double cream and lemon zest into a saucepan and bring it to the boil. When it boils, take off the heat and add the gelatine. Whisk. Pour the mixture over the white chocolate and mix. Set aside and let it cool down to 35°C.
- Once the mixture has cooled down, take the whipped cream out of the fridge and gently fold it in the white chocolate mixture, a little at a time, until you reach a smooth consistency. Put it in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.
Make the lemon jam
- Mix 1 tbsp of the fructose with the pectin to disperse the thin molecules of the pectin and avoid any lumps. Pour the lemon juice and remaining sugar in small pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Once it starts boiling, add the pectin mix, stir until dissolved and leave to bubble on medium low for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to set at room temperature.
Make the lemon syrup
- Put all the ingredients for the syrup into a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let it boil for 2 minutes then take it off the heat and set aside to infuse and cool down to room temperature.
Make the almond genoise sponge
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Melt the butter and set aside to cool down a little. In a large bowl, whip together the icing sugar, almond flour and eggs till doubled in size. Set aside. Using a stand or hand mixer, gently beat the egg white until soft peaks form. Increase the speed and gradually start adding the caster sugar one tablespoon at a time until the meringue comes together into stiff peaks. Beat for another minute and then switch off.
- Using a silicone spatula, fold half of the meringue into the first mixture, followed by the plain flour. When the flour is nearly incorporated, but not quite completely, fold in the rest of the meringue. Add a couple of tablespoons of mixture to the melted butter and whisk until the butter has been fully incorporated. Now put the mixture back into the meringue mixture and fold in.
- Line a baking tray with baking parchment and place a 20 cm tart ring on top (alternatively you can use a 20 cm cake tin). Gently pour the mixture into the ring and bake for 13 minutes. Take out from the oven and set aside to cool down a couple of minutes. Put another sheet of baking parchment over the sponge, flip it and peel off the bottom baking parchment. Set aside.
Assemble the tart
- Get ready to assemble the tart so make sure that you’ve got all your ingredients ready and out of the fridge. Take the tart case and spread the lemon jam over the base. After that, pour 200g of the lemon white chocolate mousse over the jam and then scatter over half of the fresh raspberries.
- Top the mousse with the almond genoise sponge disc (you should have a 1cm gap between the sponge and the tart case all around). Gently dab the lemon syrup over the base using a brush, starting from the edges and working towards the middle of the case. Pour the rest of the mousse (about 250g) over the sponge, carefully filling the tart till the edge (you may get some leftover mixture, simply put that into a bowl and dip in some cookies in it, just delicious!). Scatter over the remaining raspberries, gently pressing them into the mousse. Level the top of your tart using a spatula. Put the tart in the fridge and let is set for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
DAY OF SERVING
Make the italian meringue
- Put the egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer (or simply in a bowl if you’re using a hand mixer), but don’t whip it just yet, just set aside. Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan, avoiding splashes to the sides of the pan. Slowly heat up the mixture until it reaches 110°C – use a sugar thermometer to check the correct temperature. When it reaches 110°C start beating the egg white at full speed. Continue checking the sugar syrup with the thermometer, and when it reaches 121°C, remove it from the heat. Wait for the bubbles to disperse and then start pouring the syrup in a thin stream into the egg white while beating. Continue to beat until the mixture has cooled completely and until stiff peaks form.
- Prepare the piping bag with a nozzle of your choice (I used an open start tip). Put the Italian meringue mixture into the piping bag and set aside, ready to use. You should have some leftover meringue (it’s always better to make more just in case you want to practice some complex piping or want to give your tart more of a ‘pie’ look with a thick layer of meringue on top). Take the tart out of the fridge. Put a small amount of meringue over the tart and spread it using a spatula, so that the filling is completely covered. Now, take your piping bag and start decorating the tart with the piping of your choice. When you’re done, colour the meringue using a kitchen blowtorch or place the tart under the grill for 30 seconds, watching carefully and making sure that you don’t burn the top.