Another busy week passed by.
I turned 30. Yep, officially my twenties are over. I’m old. Ask Tomek, he will tell you.
Turning 30 should be big thing, shouldn’t it? So I thought maybe I could invite a few friends for drinks. But you see, I suck at throwing birthday parties, the last time when I organised one, I was 15. And I offended a colleague, because I didn’t invite him. So I gave up and celebrated birthdays quietly.
Once my friends threw me a surprise party. That was cool and I got a lovely, big teddy bear. I couldn’t take him here with me. I miss you Teddy Bear.
So this year I thought it would be nice to meet with my friends and celebrate. Anyway I’m 30 so I should handle it. Yeah, right…
I booked a table and baked a cake. But it was a bad day. A small note to myself – don’t try to organise your birthday parties! Especially on a day when there are the rugby final, football final and apparently hokey semi final, it’s not the best day for parties.
So we needed to move the party to our place. Luckily my friends didn’t mind and they brought me the best gifts ever. You will be able to see the results of using them on a blog (hopefully somewhere soon).
But enough about me. Let’s talk about something important, let’s talk about my cake.
Traditional, Polish birthday cake is a torte. A torte is a multilayered sponge, that is filled with buttercream or cream and fruits or jam.
My aunt makes the best torte ever, but this one is a little bit lighter version, instead of a buttercream you have a mix of cream and mascarpone. And if you are looking for a good sponge recipe, try this one. Yes, I agree that throwing a sponge on a floor isn’t everyday behaviour, but believe me it works 🙂 You can use any other fruits.
Peach torte – Peach birthday cake
Recipe from Moje wypieki with my modifications
For a 22-cm spring form
Sponge:
- 5 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup plain flour
- 1/4 cup potato starch or cornflour
Cream:
- 400 ml double cream
- 500 g mascarpone
- 5 Tbsp icing sugar
- 600 g peaches, sliced
Syrup to moisten the sponge:
- 1/4 cup water
- 50 g sugar
- lemon zest from half lemon
- 2 Tbsp rum or other sprit
Sponge:
Separate egg whites and yolks.
In a big bowl start whisk egg whites until they are almost stiff. Gradually add the sugar. Continue beating.
In a big bowl start whisk egg whites until they are almost stiff. Gradually add the sugar. Continue beating.
Add the egg yolks, one at the time fully incorporating each.
In a separate bowl sift the flour and potato starch.
Stir it in the eggs and sugar mixture gently with a spoon.
Cover a base of the form with a baking paper.
Pour the sponge mixture into the pan.
Bake at 170ºC/150ºC fan for about 40 minutes or until a wooden stick comes out clean.
Bake at 170ºC/150ºC fan for about 40 minutes or until a wooden stick comes out clean.
Take the hot cake out of an oven and drop it from the hight of approx. 60 cm. (I always put the towel on the floor). Dropping the cake makes the air leave the cake quickly and it doesn’t sink later.
Leave the cake in the pan. Put it back into the oven. Leave the oven slightly open and let the cake to cool down completely.
Leave the cake in the pan. Put it back into the oven. Leave the oven slightly open and let the cake to cool down completely.
Take it out of the pan (separate the sides from a pan using a small knife).
Cut into 3 equal layers.
Syrup:
Boil the water with sugar and lemon zest. Cool it down. Mix the rum in.
Icing:
Whisk the cream until almost stiff. Add the icing sugar.
Stir the mascarpone gently. Be careful not to overbeat it.
Assemble:
Put the first sponge layer on a serving plate, soak it with the syrup. Cover it with 1/3 of the icing. Place 1/3 of peaches.
Place the second layer on the top, soak it with the syrup. Cover it with the icing. Place 1/3 of peaches.
Put the last layer and finally filling. Decorate it with the remaining cream and peaches.
Leave in fridge for a few hours to chill.
