Twilight Cake

My friend asked me to make a birthday cake for her boss – a die-hard Twilight fan.  She said that her boss likes a light cake with fruit.  She also handed me a chess set and Twilight stickers.  If you’re a Twilight fan, you’ll know that the cover of the Breaking Dawn book has a chess set.

For this Twilight cake, I thought an angel food cake with raspberries would be fitting.  And I managed to work in the chess set and stickers, too.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Raspberry Swirl Angel Food Cake

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups sifted cake flour

1 ½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

½ cup raspberries

1 ¾ cups egg whites

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put rack in lower third.  Lay parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan.

2.       In a small bowl, sift flour, ½ cup sugar and salt together 2 times.  Set aside.

3.       Mash raspberries with a fork and press through a sieve to get rid of the seeds.  You should end up with ¼ cup of mashed raspberries.

4.       In a large clean metal bowl, beat egg whites until foamy.

5.       Beat in cream of tartar and vanilla until near stiff peaks.

6.       Beat in remaining 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time until stiff peaks.

7.       Sift flour over egg whites and fold in with a spatula.

8.       Transfer 1/3 of batter to the pan and spread evenly. Dollop raspberries onto batter.

9.       Repeat step 8.  Top with the last 1/3 batter.

10.   Run a knife through the batter.

11.   Bake for 22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

12.   Cool in the pan for 1 hour before unmolding.

13.   Slice cake into 2 layers.

Egg white mixture before adding flour.

Dollops of raspberry (Step 8)

Before baking

After baking

Raspberry Filling

Ingredients

Raspberry jam

Small pack of raspberry gelatin

1 cup of raspberries (I used thawed frozen ones)

Directions

1.       Microwave jam to liquefy.

2.       Add raspberry gelatin. Taste as you go to get the flavor that suits you.

3.       Mix in the raspberries.

4.       Let it set in the refrigerator.  If there’s a lot of excess liquid, strain the mixture.

Buttercream Frosting

Beat 1.5 cups of softened butter, 6 cups of icing sugar, 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 3 teaspoons of milk until fluffy.

Assembly

1.       Lay bottom cake layer on the plate.  Spread a thin layer of buttercream frosting and outline a “dam”.

2.       Spread the raspberry mix on top (within the dam).

3.       Place second cake layer on top.

4.       Frost entire cake and decorate – I put a chess board on top, and a ribbon with Twilight stickers around the sides of the cake.

Step 2

Covered with buttercream

Chess board with straw glued to the bottom as an anchor

Verdict:   According to my friend, the cake was a hit!  When they cut the cake, the raspberry filling squirted out and looked like blood, which added to the effect of Twilight!  My friend served it with “blood” punch!