Vanilla and Rose Petit Cakes - Recipe by Hetal Vasavada
Ingredients
Sponge cake:
Softened butter, for the pan
4 egg whites (132 g total)
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Pink food colouring (optional)
1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
4 egg yolks (68 g total)
3 1/2 tablespoons (50 g)
Unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup (40 g) all-purpose flour
Strawberry rose filling:
3 Tbs (66 g) strawberry jam
1/8 tsp rose water, store-bought or homemade
Cardamom vanilla whipped cream:
1/2 cup (120mL) heavy cream
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup (28 g) powdered sugar
For decorating (optional):
Chopped pistachios
Dried edible flower petals
Method
For the sponge cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 23 cm × 33 cm) pan with butter and line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until frothy. Add food colouring if using.
Gradually add 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Slowly stream in the melted butter. Whisk in the vanilla. Mix until well incorporated. Sift in the flour and whisk until just combined.
Add one-third of the whipped egg whites to the batter and whisk well. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites until well combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and gently smooth the batter out into a thin, even layer. Remember this is a thin cake!
Bake until the cake is set and the top springs back when gently poked, about 11 minutes.
While the cake is hot, flip it out onto a wire rack and peel off the parchment paper. Cool completely.
For the strawberry rose filling:
In a small bowl, whisk together the strawberry jam and rose water until well combined. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag or sandwich bag with a small corner snipped off and set aside.
For the cardamom vanilla whipped cream:
In a separate bowl, with an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream, cardamom, vanilla, and powdered sugar until you reach stiff peaks, 4 to 5 minutes. Do not overmix this; otherwise, you will end up with butter!
Spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip or large sandwich bag with 6 mm snipped off one corner.
Use a 5 cm round cookie cutter to punch out small rounds from the sheet of cake, to get a total of 18 rounds. Take 6 cake rounds and pipe small dollops of whipped cream around the edge of each cake. Pipe about 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry filling onto the centre of the cake.
Top with another cake round and repeat piping the whipped cream and strawberry filling. Once you’ve added a third and final cake layer, use a large star tip to pipe a dollop of whipped cream on top.
To decorate:
If desired, sprinkle with some chopped pistachios and edible flower petals. Enjoy within a few hours.
Make it eggless:
Use 2/3 cup (132 g) concentrated aquafaba in place of the egg white and whip as directed. Use 1/4 cup (54 g) silken tofu in place of the egg yolk.
