World's best cake ^^

Seriously? Can you hear "make me, make me, make me..!"? ^^ That's what I immediately wanted to do!

But after "rationally" thinking it over.. er, the sugar content was kind of a wake up call (!), I decided this cake needed the right occasion and person to justify making it! And it's my sweet lovin' chubby pig who gets to be my guinea pig this time round, hehe! He turns 12 today! ^^

World's best cake (recipe by sweet paul)
~ serves 8
10 1/2 tbsp (150g) butter, softened
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar (I reduced to 3/4 recipe ^^)
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup whole milk (greedy me used  1/2 cup)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (a little more won't hurt)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean or 1/ tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Line an 8x12-inch baking tin with parchment paper. Since I did not have a baking tin of that size, I made do with a 7x10 inch tin and a medium loaf tin.. maybe using a 9x13 tin would be better?

2. Beat butter and 2/3 (or 1/2) cup sugar till light and creamy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add sifted flour and baking powder, and mix well on low speed.

4. Mix in the egg yolks and milk.

5. Place the batter into the baking tin/s.

6. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites (if using pasteurised egg whites, do add some lemon juice or cream of tartar!) and the remaining sugar (3/4 cup) to soft peaks. Spread on top of cake batter and sprinkle almond slices over.

7. Bake for 30 minutes. When the meringue is golden brown and puffed, remove from oven and leave to cool.

8. When the cake is cool, prepare to whip the cream with the scraped vanilla seeds (discard pod). Beat to soft peaks, about 3 minutes.

9. To assemble the cake, cut the cake into half crosswise with a serrated knife. Place one half of the cake on a serving tray and cover with whipped cream. Place the other half, meringue side up, on top of it.

10. Leave to cool in the fridge/chiller for at least 1 hour before serving.

Yeah, yeah.. the cake should be in 2 layers, I know ^^|| But for chubby, I decided that a layer is good enough. I'm quite afraid a 2 layer cake won't withstand the drive to chubby's. I'm only sending it later in the evening when I can bear to go out. I do hope he likes it! ^^

And no, I haven't had any yet.. the weather's so unbelievably hot! hot! hot!, I want my cakes properly chilled and cold!!! ^^||||| I will give my verdict and update once I've had some.. just look out for it right at the end of this post! ^^

Happy birthday, chubby! xoxo world's best kuku ^^ ^^ ^^


Updated 24th June 2014:
Ho ho! This is a delicious cake! World's best? Definitely one of the best ^^ it's like having really good yellow cake with light fluffy frosting ~ the combination of cake, fluffy meringue, light whipped cream and toasted almond slices is totally perfect in the mouth! Yums! ^^

The only gripe I have with this cake is the meringue ~ i dislike the eggy taste/smell.. however, it's totally unnoticeable when you eat it with the cake, whipped cream and toasted almonds! I should have persisted with my pasteurized egg whites that wouldn't whip! I now know it's not impossible to do it, just have to add some lemon juice or cream of tartar, and continue beating madly, haha!

Well, this cake befits its title. Certainly one of the best tasting ^^ Perfect eaten chilled on a hot day!