Father's Day Treat: Nude Cake

Fathers are very Special People, they can infl uence how we grow up, teach us family values, how to be honest and strong and they are role models for their sons and also help their daughters make judgements when choosing a husband. A father wants to protect his children and give them what he never had, and he wants them to respect and love him.

I would like to share this quote with you; it so touched my heart; “I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work fifteen and sixteen hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example.” - Mario Cuomo

Father’s Day always gave us such pleasure when we were growing up. Mom would help us make cards for my father and the challenge was to wake up earlier than my father to surprise him with a slap up breakfast. We never did get it right because he was awake at 4am 365 days of the year, so we would treat him to little surprises throughout the day. We would wrap lots of little presents and give them to him to open as the day unfolded.

One of his great delights was afternoon tea. It was always a highlight for us actually because we got to bake with my mother and put on a delicious spread of sweet and savoury treats. I thank her for this today because it fed my passion to cook.

Nude or ‘naked’ cakes are all the rage in 2013. The cake is considered nude as it is not dressed with icing or fondant. This gives a clean, modern feel to a classic cake and certainly adds in a saucy element. The naked cake is layered sponge with an in-between filling such as delicious whipped cream. The sides remain bare while the top is beautifully decorated with fruit, cream and chocolate.

I’ve come across a few that Sasko have developed and chose this one for you to make for dad this Father’s Day. This simple recipe is easily put together and when he looks at the end result, Dad will think that it took hours to make. Because it is structurally beautiful and very appealing, your Dad will be thrilled with this gastronomic surprise, so let’s spoil and surprise him!

“A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet where his money used to be!”

Nude Vanilla Sponge with Buttercream Icing and Berries (makes two cakes)

Ingredients:

225g butter (at room temperature)
225g castor sugar
225g Sasko Self Raising Flour
4 large eggs (60g each)
1 tbsp. vanilla essence

Icing:

200g butter (at room temperature)
400g icing sugar
2 tbsp. cream/milk
1 tsp. vanilla essence

To Decorate:

3 tbsp. icing sugar
400-500g mixed berries and fruit: strawberries/raspberries/gooseberries/nectarines/blueberries/figs

What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Grease 2 x 20/22cm cake tins and line the bottoms with baking paper.
3. Put butter into a bowl and beat for a minute until softened, add castor sugar and beat for a further three minutes until light and fluffy.
4. Add the essence then add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
5. Sift the flour and, using a spatula or a metal spoon, delicately fold the flour into the egg/butter mixture until you have a smooth cake batter.
6. Pour equal amounts of batter into each cake tin and bake for 20 min.
7. Allow to cool for five minutes in the cake tins before removing and placing on a cooling rack. They must cool completely before icing.

For the Icing:

1. Beat the butter in bowl for a minute until softened, then add the butter and beat until well combined.
2. Add essence and cream/milk and beat for a further minute or two until you have a smooth, soft, silky icing.

To Assemble:

1. Remove the baking paper from the bottoms of the cakes and place the first cake onto a plate/cake stand.
2. Top with the icing and place the second cake on top. (If you are making a three-tiered cake: spread half the icing on the first cake and half the icing on the second, finish with the remaining cake)
3. Dust with 2 tbsp. of the icing sugar, top with fruit and finish with the remaining icing sugar.

 Tip 1:  The oven is slightly warmer at the top than at the bottom so try to cook your cakes on the middle shelf.
 Tip 2:  To test whether the cakes are fully cooked: they should be fully risen and starting to shrink from the sides of
the cake tin, sponge cakes feel springy to the touch.
 Ti p 3: U sing a spatula or metal spoon when mixing the batter is important as wooden spoons are bulky and will knock a lot of the air out of the batter, resulting in a denser cake.

This recipe is kindly supplied by Jenny Morris from her new cookbook Cooking with Jenny Morris (Random House Struik) out now! For more information please contact , follow @jennymorrischef or visit jennymorris.co.za

---