Fruits Pastry Cake

When I saw the fruits pastry cake from Happy Homebaker, I was attracted by the beautiful look of the cake instantly, what was making me even more tempting to bake this cake was the good review given by her. I immediately bookmarked the recipe and told myself I must bake this cake. That was April and I never get a chance to bake this cake cos I was not able to get the fruits I want so this recipe was put on hold. During this period, many bloggers have baked this cake so I can't resist anymore especially everyone were raving about it!


I still not able to use the fruits I want for this cake all caused by dear daughter :(. I actually prepared the fruits in advance to bake them a few days later since I was able to get both the strawberries and blueberries together, canned peach is not a problem since can get it everywhere . But who knows when I was about to bake the cake then I realised my princess had finished the strawberries, I bought 2 punnets and she finished ALL within a few days! She dun even spare me a few :/ arghhhhh.......

Luckily I still had cherries, although was not a good choice for me as the color is quite close to blueberries but better than nothing.

My cake didn't turn out as beautiful as the rest of the bloggers, the top cracked probably due to higher temperature of my oven. But it was beautiful enough to recieve a lot of "wow" when everyone saw the cake. My husband kept saying that this cake is very pretty and eye catching. This is definately a best choice to give away if you want to impressive the receivers :).


Recipe from HHB and I had increased the ingredients to make another loaf to give away to my beloved cousin cum best friend. Outlook not so pretty but nevermind as long as it taste great, right ?^^.

Ingredients: (for one 7" cake pan and one 8" x 3" x 3.5")
150g butter, soften at room temperature
210g caster sugar
75g low fat yogurt
4.5 eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
1.5 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1.5 teaspoon lemon or orange zest (I used lemon zest)
315g plain flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
assorted fruits for topping (I used fresh blueberries, cherries and canned peaches)

Method:
1. Wash, cut (chunks or slices, as desired) and drain fruits, toss with siugar (if desired) and set aside. (if using canned fruits, wash the fruits to remove the syrup, omit the sugar).
2. Grease (with butter) and flour the side of the cake pan and line the base with parchment paper.
3. With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, yogurt till light and fluffy.
4. Dribble in the eggs gradually and beat till incorporated in the batter. (The mixture may appear slightly curdled.)
5. Add vanilla extract and zest. Mix to combine.
6. Sieve over flour and baking powder and mix till smooth. (To avoid getting flour all over the work surface, you may mix the flour into the batter using a spatula, just a few strokes will do, then use the electric mixer to mix the batter till smooth.)
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.
8. Arrange fruits on top, don’t press the fruits down into the batter. Decorate the fruits as desired.
9. Bake at pre-heat oven at 180C for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Cover the top with foil in the last 15 mins of baking to prevent the top from getting over browned.
10. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about 5~10 mins. Unmold and transfer to wire rack to let cool completely. Dust the cake with some icing sugar if desired.

Verdict?
The cake is soft and moist, not oily at all and sweetness is just right for most of us, might be not so for someone who has sweet tooth. The aroma of the cake filled the house during the baking session. And like what HHB said, this cake is very addictive that you'll not stop at one slice but keep going back for more instead. The cake was finished within 1/2 day by my family, everyone loves the cake. Another keeper.