White chocolate cream cheese naked heart cake
A cake you’ll fall in love with!
- Yield: 6-8 pieces 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 large eggs, divided
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 200g (1 cup) white granulated sugar, with 50g (1/4 cup) saved on the side
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 60ml (1/4 cup) warm water
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 250g (1 3/4 cups) cake flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
Frosting
- 300g (11 oz) white chocolate, finely chopped (I use coverture chocolate)
- 120ml (1/2 cup) whipping cream
- 300g (11 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 TBSPs powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
Toppings
- store-bought meringues
- fresh strawberries
- various chocolates and candy
- fresh flowers
Tools
- 28-cm | 11-inch round cake pan (I use a springform pan)
- pastry (piping) bag
- large pastry tip
- heart shape (print 2 copies, then cut out and glue the halves together)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F), place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Grease the bottom and sides of your cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, lightly oil the parchment and dust the sides of pan with flour. Set aside.
- Make cake:
Place egg whites in a large bowl. Add lemon juice and beat egg whites on medium speed for a few minutes, until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and keep beating until hard peaks form. Set bowl aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, remaining sugar, vanilla paste, salt and water. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix, gently, until the batter comes together.The mixture will be thick, but if it’s so thick you’re having trouble whisking, add water by the teaspoons until it’s easier to handle. - Next, gently fold in the egg whites in 3-4 additions. These will transform the dense batter into a fluffy, smooth one. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake cake for 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Leave the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip the pan upside down on a large plate. Remove the pan, peel parchment paper from the cake and let cake rest for at least 2 hours. Once cool, you can also wrap cake in plastic (cling) wrap and store it in the fridge overnight.
- Make frosting:
Place chocolate in a large bowl. Heat whipping cream in the microwave (or on the stove) until it’s hot to the touch, but not boiling. Pour over the chocolate. Wait 1 minute, then begin gently whisking the chocolate and the cream, until the chocolate is completely melted and cream incorporated. Cool to room temperature. - Place cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until creamy, 30-60 seconds. Whisk in sugar and vanilla paste. Add the melted chocolate. Beat on high speed until the chocolate is fully incorporated and the frosting smooth. The frosting will expand a bit and gain some volume, but it’ll be smooth and not hard (like whipped cream would be). Cover mixture with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour or overnight, until the frosting sets.
- Assemble cake:
First, split cake in two layers using a serrated knife. Starting with one layer first, take the heart stencil and place it on the cake. Cut out the shape with a sharp knife. Do the same with the second half. - Take frosting out of the refrigerator. Fit the pastry bag with the tip, fill the bag with frosting and twist it at the end so it closes. Place first cake layer on a large plate. Pipe little dollops of frosting all over the cake in a single layer, using about half of the frosting. Cover with second layer and repeat.
- Decorate cake with strawberries, chocolates, candy and fresh flowers. Chill until serving time. (The cake will hold up really well overnight too.)
Notes
About leftover cake
Use the cut-out smaller heart layers for a mini heart cake. You should have a tiny amount of frosting left too, so it works out!
On melting chocolate
If your chocolate chunks are too big or cream not hot enough, sometimes not all of the chocolate will melt. This is perfectly okay. When this happens, set up a double boiler and place the bowl of chocolate over the simmering water. As the chocolate begins to melt, stir it with a spatula. Once it’s warm to the touch and looks almost completely melted, remove it from heat and keep whisking until it’s completely smooth.
Cutting the cake
If you don’t want a heart cake, you can make any other shape or simply skip the slicing and measuring and make a simple 2 layer cake. Also know that a chilled cake that has had time to set is much easier to cut.
Decorations
I left the decorated cake in the fridge overnight and it still looked perfect the next day. However, I recommend you add things like meringues, marshmallows and sprinkles no more than a few hours before serving, as moisture from the frosting can melt them if left on overnight.
The flowers, especially if they are in perfect conditions when placed on the cake, hold up super well. Just make sure you wrap the bottom of the flowers with plastic wrap or tin foil before sticking them into the cake.
You’ll notice I didn’t brush the cake layers with liquid, which is usually done to moisten the cake. I didn’t want the cake to be really wet and risk it falling appart because of it’s special shape. However, I think a light brushing of simple syrup or softened jam would add a nice flavor to the cake.
If you’re making a simple, round, 2-layer cake, do brush the layers with something (even milk will work). Personally, to make a more refreshing cake, I’d add chopped strawberries on top of the first layer of frosting.
