This week’s heavenly cake choice is an angel food cake with a twist. Most angel food cakes I’ve made in the past have been almost flavourless, but not Rose’s recipe! This cake was really quick & easy to put together, though apparently the trick is in the baking. The most time consuming part for me was grating all the chocolate.
Completed Cake
This week’s heavenly cake selection was the Torta de las Tres Leches. Marie at the Heavenly Cake Place had already made this cake way back in May, long before Rose’s Heavenly Cakes was officially released. Hanaâ requested this cake especially for this week, to make for her husband’s birthday, so she’s the ‘guest host’ this week. I really expected to love this cake, based on everyone’s description. You’ll have to wait to the end of the post to hear my thoughts.
This week’s ‘heavenly’ cake selection is the chocolate streusel coffee cake. The recipe makes a 6 cup bundt pan and two cupcakes. I looked at that, and thought “If the excess batter can be made into cupcakes, why shouldn’t I make the whole thing as cupcakes? Saves me finding a 6 cup pan.” Then I kept reading and realized Rose suggests the very same as an option. 
This week’s heavenly cakes bake-through choice was the whipped cream cake. Rose mentions in her introduction to the recipe that though this cake contains no butter, the fat content of the whipping cream more than makes up for the ‘lack’ of any other fat.
Whipped Cream Cake
I had a question about the meringue mushrooms I did for my version of the holiday “pine cone” cake that wasn’t a pine cone. They’re really really easy. The recipe can be scaled up if you want more mushrooms.
1 egg white
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp dutch processed cocoa (optional)
Beat the egg white until frothy, then add the cream of tartar. Beat to medium peaks, then gradually add the sugar, beating to stiff peaks. If desired, add a tablespoon or so of cocoa for colour. Pipe into a variety of round and tall shapes on parchment paper. You’re piping the stems and tops of the mushrooms separately. A variety of heights of stems works well (between 1/4 and 1 inch tall, or so). Bake in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven, for 1 hr. Turn the oven off and leave door closed for 1 more hour. You’re trying to dry them out more than you are cooking them. Store in an airtight container once cool & crispy.
Close to when ready to serve, take a paring knife and hollow out a small crevice in the middle of the bottom of the caps. This crevice should be about the width of your stems. Pipe a bit of ganache (for me, this was easy, I had some leftover from the biscuit roulade) into the crevice, and stick the stems into it. Don’t do this too far in advance, or your meringues will absorb the moisture from the ganache and start to get soggy. Dust the tops with some cocoa and/or icing sugar for ‘dirt’ & ’snow’.