12 to 15 servings
YouTube instructional video is at the bottom.
What you’ll need
Cake flour or all-purpose flour
Sugar
Salt
Baking powder
Baking soda
Unsalted butter (Room temp)
Large eggs (Room temp)
Whole milk (Room temp)
Sour cream (Room temp)
Vegetable or canola oil
Heavy cream (Cold)
Mascarpone cheese (Cold)
Cream cheese (Cold)
Vanilla extract
Butter extract
Almond extract
Cake batter extract (Optional)
1-pound strawberries
Blueberries (6.5 ounces in weight)
Blackberries (7 or 8 ounces in weight)
Raspberries (6.5 ounces in weight)
Confectioners’ sugar
Tools you’ll need
Baker’s joy non-stick baking spray
3 nine-inch round cake pans
Hand or Stand mixer
Mesh strainer or flour sifter
Disposable piping bag
Wilton #366 tip and coupler
Preparation of ingredients
Dry ingredients (Cake flour/all-purpose flour mixture)
Step 1- Sift 2 1/2 cups cake flour or all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a medium sized bowl. Stir all ingredients together and set aside.
Wet ingredients (Milk/Sour cream mixture)
Note- Amounts of milk and sour cream will differ depending on if you’re using cake flour or all-purpose flour.
Step 2- If you are using cake flour add 3/4 cup whole milk (Room temp), and 3/4 cup sour cream (Room temp). If you are using all-purpose flour add 2/3 cup whole milk (Room temp) and 2/3 cup sour cream (Room temp). Afterwards add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons butter extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Stir with whisk until combined and set aside.
Eggs
Step 3- Separate 6 egg whites from 6 egg yolks (Room temp). Add the egg whites into a measuring cup and add the egg yolks into a separate small bowl. Set measuring cup with egg whites in it aside. You can make homemade ice cream or a custard with the egg yolks.
Preparation of cake batter
Step 4- Add 2 sticks unsalted butter (Softened and at Room temp), 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil. If you are using all-purpose flour, add only 1 tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil. Next add 2 1/4 cups sugar. Mix on high speed for 6 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Step 5- Add 6 egg whites (Room temp), into the batter while mixing on a medium speed. Add 2 egg whites at a time while mixing. Scrape down sides of bowl. Batter should be puffy and have volume at this stage.
Step 6- Add the dry ingredients (Cake flour/all-purpose flour mixture) and the wet ingredients (Milk/Sour cream mixture) into the batter 3 separate times. Mix on a low speed each time for 15 to 20 seconds or until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl during and after the mixing.
Baking the cake
Preheat oven to 320 degrees.
Step 7- Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with the baker’s joy non-stick baking spray. Add prepared batter into each baking pan as evenly as possible. Spread batter around both baking pans and shake them slightly to make batter more even. Make sure you weigh the cake pans to ensure the batter is even. Each pan should weigh 1 pound and 10 ounces with batter inside.
Note- The oven racks should be below and above the middle rack. One rack should be below the middle rack and the other rack, should be below the middle rack. Demonstration pictures is below.
Step 8- Place baking pans into a preheated 320-degree oven. Two of the baking pans should be placed on the lower rack and one pan on the upper rack. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Once the baking time is up, remove cake pans from oven. Let cool completely for 3 to 4 hours. Once the layers have cooled trim off the top portion of each cake layer to make it more even and set aside.
Fruits and berries (Berry mix)
Step 9- Add 1-pound Strawberries into a mesh strainer and rinse with cold water. Reserve about 4 to 5 strawberries for the top decoration of the cake. Once done, chop stems off of each strawberry and cut into halves and set aside. If you need more strawberries, you can add an additional 1/2 pound to the strawberries already cut.
Step 10- Add Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries into a mesh strainer and rinse with cold water. Add strawberry halves and toss using the strainer. Let aside for 2 hours or until fruit dries and at (Room temp).
Simple syrup
Preheat fire to medium heat.
Step 11- Add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract into a small pot. Let simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Once the cooking time is complete, turn fire off and let cool completely.
Making the Creme Chantilly
Cheese mixture (Steps 12 and 13)
Step 12- Add 8 ounces cream cheese (Cold and cubed), 8 ounces Mascarpone cheese (Cold) and 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar into a medium sized bowl. Stir with sturdy spoon until combined. If not, you can mix with your mixer on the lowest setting for 1 minute.
Step 13- Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon cake batter extract (Optional), 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt. The salt will bring out all the flavors of the cheeses. Stir with a sturdy spoon until combined and set aside. You can also place this into your fridge for 5 to 10 minutes to keep it cold.
Important notes- Make sure you place stand mixer bowl into fridge to get cold before adding ingredients. Do not attempt to decorate your cake if the Chantilly creme is runny or weeping. There’s a troubleshoot step below step 14 to help.
Step 14- Add 4 cups heavy whipping cream, and cheese mixture (from steps 12 and 13), into cold stand mixer bowl fitted with whisk attachment. Mix on a lowest setting for 1 minute. This will allow the cheese mixture and heavy whipping cream to come together. Once done, turn mixer up to highest setting and mix on high speed for 4 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Once done, place into the fridge for 1 or 2 hours or you can make this 1 to 2 days in advance. Do not leave mixture out for too long or it will lose it’s stability and you’ll have to mix it over again.
Troubleshoot- If your creme Chantilly becomes runny or if it weeps at any given time, do not panic. It can be fixed. Place mixing bowl into fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. Once time is up, remove from fridge and place bowl back onto stand mixer and mix on the highest setting for 3 to 4 minutes or until mixture thickens. Do not attempt to decorate your cake if the mixture is runny.
Decorating your cake
Important note- Make sure your creme Chantilly is thick. Do not decorate your cake if it is runny or weeping or unstable. Proceed to the troubleshoot step above to help with that. Decorating this cake requires patience.
Step 15- Spread a small amount of the Chantilly Creme on top of a cake serving pad. Add first cake layer on top and press down slightly. Add 1 1/2 or 1 1/4 cups of the Chantilly creme into a disposable piping bag with the tip cut off and pipe the creme on top of the bottom layer of cake. Spread creme on top of cake layer using an offset spatula. Once done add (Berry mix) on top of the creme mixture.
Step 16- Add 4 small daps of the Chantilly creme on top of the fruit and place the 2nd layer (middle layer) on top and press down slightly. Add 1 1/2 or 1 1/4 cups of the Chantilly creme into a disposable piping bag and pipe the creme on top of the middle layer of cake. Spread creme on top of cake layer using an offset spatula. Once done add (Berry mix) on top of the creme mixture.
Step 17- Add 4 small daps of the Chantilly creme on top of the fruit and place the 3rd layer (top layer) on top and press down slightly. Fill in the gaps between the cake layers with the Chantilly creme with an offset spatula. Picture demonstration below.
Step 18- Add 1 1/4 cups Chantilly creme on top layer of cake and spread around as evenly as possible with offset spatula. Heat offset spatula until warm with hot water and dry with a napkin or paper towel. Glide spatula along the top and sides of cake. This will make the Chantilly creme smooth. Once done place cake into fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to keep cool.
Step 19- Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups Chantilly creme into a disposable piping bag fitted with the Wilton #366 tip. If you don’t want to do this step or if you have a small amount of Chantilly creme left, you can make more or you can take the rest that you have left on hand and add it onto the sides of the cake using an offset spatula.
Step 20- Pipe the Chantilly creme onto the sides of the cake. Make sure to apply pressure when adding the creme. Start from the bottom of the cake and make your way to the top edge of the cake. Picture demonstration is below.
Step 21- Add the 5 Strawberries you reserved and the rest of the fruit on to the top layer or cake. Picture demonstration is below to help out with the decoration.
Step 22- Lightly brush simple syrup on top of fruit with a pastry brush. Once done place cake into fridge for 8 to 10 hours before serving. This will allow the cake to become more stable and flavors to settle and increase.
Storage- Place cake into a cake storage box or container and keep in fridge at all time. Will last up to 5 to 7 days in fridge. To serve remove from Fridge and wait about 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
YouTube instructional video
