I can’t believe that 2018 is almost over, so many things happened! I distinctly remember my bike accident I had in April. It included hemorrhage, hospitalization and a long road to recovery. I am extremely grateful that I have fully recovered and don’t have any permanent damage. For this really is a miracle. For that reason we had to celebrate here on the blog, we made a gigantic cookie with a cookie monster on top, you will find the recipe here. Or the fact that we are actually moving back to Munich from Hamburg. I am not from Munich originally, but happened to live there for three years some time ago. I am excited to be moving back and see what 2019 will have in store.
And for that reason I felt like celebrationg and welcoming 2019 with a cake. I thought a number cake would be perfect. I already introduced a letter cake here on the blog. Back then I made a letter cake with our inital letter J & A. I made it with sponge cake and a super delicious raspberry cream. If you are interested, you can check out the recipe here. However, for my 2019 number cake I wanted to make something light after all the Christmas crazyness. I wanted something fluffy. Since my husband loves anything with lemon, I thought a lemon cream with some mint would be a good option.
And since this is a very visual cake with a lot of deocartions, I decided to divide the cream into two parts even though you could theoretically mix all components. You know, for better looks.
And then I took my first bite and was hooked. This is a number cake prepared with sponge cake. I feel sponge is a much better base than say shortbread or any other as it is so light and fluffy. It prefectly combines with the airy lemon cream and the freshness of the mint.
And as the creams already speak for themselves, I decided to go light on the decoration. Where I normally go crazy with macarons and flowers, I only decorated with mint leaves, lemon slices, and some sprinkles.
For the sponge dough cut out a large heart/number/letter, be sure that it is at least 6cm in width as otherwise the dough will be too crunchy. My numbers were exactly the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Place paper heart/number/letter on bottom of your baking sheet and place parchment paper on top so you can see through. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Then divide the eggs into egg white and egg yolks. Use a bigger bowl for the egg yolks. If you have a glass or metal bowl, use that one for the egg whites. Be sure that bowl is free of fat/grease and that your mixer was properly cleaned. Now beat the egg yolks with the sugar. Beat until the color becomes much paler and you have a creamy consistency. This usually takes several minutes. Clean your mixer thoroughly and beat the egg whites on medium speed with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Gently pour the egg whites on top of the mixed egg yolks and sift the flour and on top. Don't skip this step. It is important that the flour mix was sifted. Gently mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon. Try to incorperate the flour mix and egg whites without losing volume. Don't overmix. Pipe onto prepared baking sheet with either cut-off corner of a plastic bag or piping tools. I recommend only piping the margins and filling the rest with a spoon. You should be able to produce two sets of numbers. Carefully slip out the paper numbers once you are done with the first set and place on a second baking sheet lined with parchment paper. While the first numbers are baking, prepare the second. Don't let the batter sit for too long as it will quickly lose volume, but bake right away one letter after the other. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Watch the oven carefully, it happens rather quickly. Once out of the oven, immediately turn upside down so that numbers face the surface and take off parchment paper. Don't wait until the numbes are cold, they may break. Let cool completely. Repeat with second set. For the lemon filling bring agar agar and water to a boil and let boil for about two minutes. Immediately chill in the fridge. Meanwhile take lemon zest from one lemon and the lemon juice of two lemons. Then beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale in color, this takes a few minutes. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to the mixture. Once the agar agar mix is lukewarm, mix into the egg yolk mixture and place again in the fridge. While the egg yolk mixture is cooling off, prepare the mint leaves and process in a food processor with about a tablespoon of the heavy cream, set aside. Beat the three egg whites first, set aside and then beat the heavy cream with all the remaining ingredients in another bowl, no need to clean the mixer again. Add half of the beaten cream to the egg whites and pour the prepared mint leaves in the the left half. Beat again for about a minute. Fold beaten egg whites, beaten cream and firm egg yolk mixture together. You should now have one bowl lemon cream and another with heavy cream infused with mint leaves. Place one set of numbers on a sturdy surface. I turned around a baking sheet and covered it with parchment paper. Pipe on both creams alternating. Place second set of numbers on top and pipe on again cream. Decorate with mint leaves, lemon slices and sprinkles as desired. The sponge numbers can be prepared up to two days in advance. Be sure to wrap tightly in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature. However, I recommend piping the creams shortly beforehand as they soften the sponge. The cake will still taste great on the next day.Number Cake with Lemon and Mint Cream
Ingredients
Instructions
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