It's Not A New Year's Eve Without Bubbles: Lychee Bellini Cake
 |
| Lychee Bellini Cake |
"Consider again that dot.
That's here, that's home, that's us.
On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was
Lived out their lives.
The aggregate of our joy and suffering
Thousand of confident religions,ideologies, and economic doctrines
Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward,
Every creator and destroyer of civilization,
Every king and peasant, every young couple in love,
Every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer,
Every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician,
Every 'Superstar', every 'Supreme Leader', Every Saint and Sinner in the history of our species...
...Lived there...
...On a mote of dust
suspended in a sunbeam.
the Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena
Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that,
In glory and triumph
They could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel of the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner.
How frequent their misunderstandings
How eager they are to kill one another
How fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance,
The delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe
Are challenged by this point of pale light.
our planet is in a lonely speck in the enveloping cosmic dark
 |
| Source: Bill Watterson, Oct. 17 2013 Calvin & Hobbes Comic Strip |
There is no hint that help will come from elsewhere
to save us from ourselves
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life.
There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate
visit, yes
...settle, not yet.
Like it or not
For the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience.
There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits that this distant image...
...Of our tiny world.
To me, it underscores our responsibility
to deal more kindly with one another
and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot
...the only home we've ever known.
"
-by Carl Sagan, The Pale Blue Dot
2016 was a substantial year.
We've had creepy clown sightings. We've had Brexit. The Syrian Civil War and its countless refugees.
The near-total collapse of Venezuela: a mounting political crisis, hyperinflation and chronic scarcity of food, medical supplies and basic goods.
The war in Donbass, Ukraine, ongoing.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, escalating still.
The overall Global Terrorism Index (GTI) score deteriorated by 6% as many countries experienced record levels of terrorism.
And yet.
As of 2016, the death penalty has become illegal in more than half of the world's countries.
According to the Scientific American, this is the third year in a row that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have not grown.
According to the Scientific American, this is the third year in a row that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have not grown.
A large clinical trial has proven the efficacy of an Ebola virus vaccine, developed in 2014 by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Nasa’s Juno space probe, after a five-year journey, has flown over 588 million miles and has finally reached Jupiter's orbit.
Manatees and the Giant Panda have gotten down-listed from being an "endangered" specie to a "vulnerable" one. Cue picture of baby panda daycare.
 |
| Source: Julian Luk, 21 Oct 2016. DailyMailOnline: Is this the world's cutest nursery? Heart-melting pictures show cuddly cubs frolicking in China's 'panda kindergarten. Retrieved from Link |
And, uh, we have scientifically proved (with a robot arm, no less) the best biscuits for dunking. This should have been at the top of the list, really, but I wanted to keep the best part for the end - although it was a hard toss between this news and the giant pandas' (FYI, if you're curious, MCVITIE’S Rich Tea Cookies won the round).
 |
| Source: Emily Peck, Jul 23 2016. Wired: The Ultimate Biscuit Dunk Test. Retrieved from Link |
OH, and let's not forget Chewbacca Mom. That laughter, those infectious giggles. It's the little things.
And so we cheer. To another gloriously humble, double-edged human year.
 |
| Blueprints for Lychee Bellini Cake |
And now, what would be New Year without a few bubbles? The concept of a Champagne cake caught my eye after I saw The Cake Blog's Champagne Mimosa Cake. Never would I have thought of using champagne in cake batter, and I found myself attracted to the idea like Pooh Bears to a pot of honey. I always enjoy cooking and baking with alcohol ... but sometimes it's nice to add it to the food too ;).
Lychee Bellinis are like an elevated take on the classic mimosa and turn brunch on its head. They're a thing of beauty. A bottle of sparkling wine and a well-chilled pitcher of fruit juice can just make a morning extra special. It was so much fun to try to spin a creative take on the mimosa cake idea and convert it to a lychee bellini flavor.
 |
| Try to find a sparkling rosé that is not too dry. I personally like my wines quite sweet, but then I tend to drink them before they get to the cake. |
Originally, I had also made a lychee bellini jelly (which, really, was just an excuse to make the cocktail and add gelatin to it) to insert in the middle of the cake, but that caused all the cake layers to slide off. In this recipe, I've replaced that jelly layer with extra chopped lychees.
 |
| Lychee Bellini Jelly Shown Here. Once frosted, that layer started sliding around and the buttercream around that area created a muffin top for the cake :( |
So of course - when I say that I'm making a Champagne Cake, i mean Sparkling Wine. However, "Sparkling Wine Cake" doesn't quite have the same ring to it. The pink tint from the rosé is delightfully subtle, and the sparkling wine gives the crumb a very lovely aftertaste. The sparkling wine rosé flavor in this cake and buttercream is very mild, but definitely present. If you usually dislike sparkling wine, it is likely that you'll notice the taste and dislike the flavor here too.
For the first time, I have also made a 3-layered cake with 6-inch pans and it is the cutest thing. Alternatively, there is enough batter for a 2x9-inch cake if you prefer to convert it to larger pans.
 |
| Lychee Bellini Cake: Can you see the muffin top? I tried to camouflage it with pretty jewelry. ...Life experience says it's supposed to work. |
Servings: 3-layered 6 inch x 2 inch cake - 12 standard slices
Ingredients:
Garnish - Lychees in Vanilla Bean, Lime & Ginger Syrup:
215g brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
1 medium lime, zested and juiced
1 1/2 teaspoons julienned ginger
~ 16 canned lychees, rinsed and drained from the simple syrup they were stored in (~1 1/2 - 1 1/3 cups)
Butter and flour for prepping the pans
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup rosé champagne / sparkling wine, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Dab of pink gel food coloring
Soaking Rosé Syrup:
3/4 cup rosé champagne / sparkling wine
45 ml sugar
Chopped and drained lychees (~2/3 cup)
Preparation:
Lychees in Vanilla Bean, Lime & Ginger Syrup:
1. Using a small paring knife, split the vanilla bean down its length and, switching to the dull side of the blade, scrape out the seeds. Keep the pod.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the vanilla bean seeds and pod, brown sugar, water, lime zest and lime juice, and julienned ginger.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, for 3-4 minutes or until sugar dissolves and the mixture starts simmering. Lower the heat to low and let the syrup lightly simmer for 1-2 minutes.
4. Place the lychees into a bowl and pour the hot syrup over them. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until needed.
Champagne Rosé Cake:
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup rosé champagne / sparkling wine, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Dab of pink gel food coloring
Soaking Rosé Syrup:
3/4 cup rosé champagne / sparkling wine
45 ml sugar
Silken Champagne Rosé Buttercream (~ 4½ cups buttercream):
Integral recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen's Pink Champagne Buttercream
Integral recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen's Pink Champagne Buttercream
4 cups powdered icing sugar, sifted
1 cup rosé champagne / sparkling wine
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (temperature is important)
1 cup shortening, at room temperature (temperature is important)
Food coloring paste (I used a blend of Wilton's Creamy Peach and Pink)
Chopped and drained lychees (~2/3 cup)
 |
| Lychee Bellini Cake Ingredients Prep! |
Preparation:
Lychees in Vanilla Bean, Lime & Ginger Syrup:
1. Using a small paring knife, split the vanilla bean down its length and, switching to the dull side of the blade, scrape out the seeds. Keep the pod.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the vanilla bean seeds and pod, brown sugar, water, lime zest and lime juice, and julienned ginger.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, for 3-4 minutes or until sugar dissolves and the mixture starts simmering. Lower the heat to low and let the syrup lightly simmer for 1-2 minutes.
4. Place the lychees into a bowl and pour the hot syrup over them. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until needed.
Champagne Rosé Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour your cake layer pans, then line them with parchment paper.
 |
| Greased, floured and parchment paper-lined 6-inch pans |
2. In a large bowl, sift and whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In another large mixing bowl, place the egg whites, rosé sparkling wine, vanilla extract and oil. Whisk vigorously until well blended. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of your stand-mixer, combine the granulate white sugar and the butter. Fit the mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and creamy, about 4-5 minutes.
 |
| Creaming the butter and the sugar |
5. Reduce the mixing speed to medium-low. Add the flour mix and the egg white mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat until everything is thoroughly incorporated. Add the pink gel food coloring until the batter is tinted to your taste. Divide and pour the batter equally into the prepared layer pans.
 |
| Filled cake pans :) |
6. Bake for ~25 minutes, until the cakes just pull back from the sides of the pans, or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean, with 1-2 sparse moist crumb clinging on.
7. Remove the pans from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of each pan and turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely, right side up. Let cool for ~25-30 minutes.
 |
| Rosé Sparkling Wine Cakes chilling on the cooling rack. Don't they look cute? They're chubbier than the standard 9-inch ones. |
Soaking Rosé Syrup:
1. As the cakes cool, prepare the soaking syrup.
2. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and rosé sparkling wine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved (~4-5 minutes). Remove from heat; cool. Set aside until needed.
Silken Champagne Rosé Buttercream:
1. Sift confectioners' sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer that has been fitted with the paddle attachment. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of rosé sparkling wine to boiling point. Reduce heat to medium-high and let aggressively simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half to ~½ cup. This should take around 10 minutes.
 |
| Sparkling rosé wine |
3. Immediately pour the boiling sparkling wine over the confectioners' sugar. Turn the mixer on stirring speed (usually the lowest setting - so your sugar doesn't blow up everywhere) and pour the sparkling wine down the sides of the mixing bowl in a steady stream.
4. Turn the mixer up to medium speed. Beat the mixture until well blended and smooth. Add the almond extract. Keep beating an extra 2-3 minutes, regularly scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the sugar is in. Chill mixture until it cools to room temperature (~5-10 minutes).
 |
| Mixing the confectioners' sugar and rosé sparkling wine. It looks so smooth and silky! |
5. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low. Add the room temperature butter and shortening (it is important that at this point, your confectioners' sugar and butter/shortening are at around the same temperature. A big contrast in temperature will prevent adequate emulsification and can cause your buttercream to sweat and separate).
6. Gradually increase your mixer speed to the highest setting. Beat the butter and shortening with rosé-confectioners' sugar until well blended and creamy. The mixture will go through several phases - starting with looking slightly, worryingly runny, then gradually firm up as it lightens and becomes fluffy. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl as often as needed.
7. Add a smidgen of gel food coloring to achieve your desired color. I used a blend of Wilton's Creamy Peach and Pink colors (not "Rose" - that shade is darker. The "Pink" color is called "Rose Clair" in French).
 |
| Silken Champagne Rosé Buttercream |
8. Transfer your icing to a bowl, cover with tight plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. If it stays in the refrigerator for more than 2 hours, let it come back to room temperature (~15-25 minutes) and give it a quick beating in the mixing bowl before icing.
Lychee Bellini Cake Assembling:
1. To assemble the cake, place a layer on a cake plate. Using a gentle back-and-forth sawing motion with a large serrated knife, trim off any hard edges from the top and bottom of your cake rounds, as well as any domed, uneven layer, to make it even. Repeat for each of the layers.
2. With a silicone pastry brush, liberally apply the soaking rosé syrup over each cake layer.
3. Place a cake layer on a cake circle. Add a generous dollop of buttercream and, using a large offset spatula, spread it evenly across the surface and to the edges. Sprinkle half of the chopped lychees across the buttercream. Place a second layer on top and repeat frosting and lychee sprinkling process. Add the final layer, repeating the process again, and put a dollop of buttercream on the sides of the stacked cake to spread it thinly around the cake. That thin layer will seal in the wandering crumbs. If you have a bit of time, pop your cake into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set the "crumb coat".
 |
| Icing that first layer |
 |
| Sprinkling those chopped lychees on |
4. With your offset spatula, generously coat the chilled cake with the remaining buttercream, starting with the top of the cake. Hold the spatula at a 45-degree angle against the cake, and rotate the cake to create a gliding motion until its sides are nice and smooth.
5. Finish by skimming the edge of the cake with the flat slide of your spatula so that the excess frosting rim that has pushed up from the sides is smoothed onto the cake surface.
6. Drain the lychees that you have prepared for garnish from the vanilla bean-lime-ginger syrup. Garnish on the top of the cake.
7. Nom!
References
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-ultimate-biscuit-dunk-test
http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-terrorism-index-2016
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-is-venezuela-in-crisis/
http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-terrorism-index-2016
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-is-venezuela-in-crisis/
About the Author
0 comments