This is my attempt at my favourite ‘Iceland’ fresh cream gateau.
It was a family tradition to always buy one fresh cream gateau and one chocolate gateau from ‘Iceland‘ whenever we had a party. If it was Eid, if we had guests or a birthday party, you can bet on your life that we would have these cakes ;).
When you are a kid that doesn’t get sweet treats very often, this is a REALLY big deal. I mean, it was the highlight of the month!
Store-Bought Gateaux vs Homemade
Unfortunately, these store-bought gateaux are not the same anymore, they are no longer or maybe never were halal or suitable for vegetarians, and the very long list of ingredients on each of them is so confusing. Back in the 90s, I could have sworn they added nuts around the edges and tasted a whole lot better and more natural. At least with a homemade gateau, you know what you are putting in and it sure doesn’t require a very long list of ingredients.
Using Fresh Cream Means Less Sugar
I never liked icing or frosting on cakes, I have always found it way too sweet for my liking. I would always scrape or peel it off the sponge. Fresh cream is smoother, silkier and much tastier in my opinion. It complements the sweetness and tang of natural fruit so perfectly without too much added sugar.
Cake Sponge Variations
This fresh cream gateau recipe is easy, it’s tasty and it doesn’t have any added butter or oil in the sponge. The same sponge recipe can be used and adapted to any cake you want. Add cocoa powder for a yummy chocolate cake or even do a mix of both.
I use the same sponge for baking a fruit & nut cake, and a roulette cake. You can even divide the batter to bake individual layers for a different look and texture. Try it out with different fruits of your choice and let me know how it comes out.
Fresh Cream Gateau
Equipment
- 1 hand mixer
- 1 26.5-inch cake tin
- parchment paper optional
- 1 cake piping bag & nozzle
Ingredients
- 5 Eggs
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Self-raising flour
- 1 tsp Vanilla sugar powder or essence
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 litre Fresh double-whipping cream this will be halved for 2 separate creams
- 1/2 tin Condensed milk
- Fresh fruit of your choice for decorating
- Some chopped almonds or walnuts for decorating
Instructions
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks and place them in a mixing bowl, leaving the yolks in a small bowl nearby.
- Whisk the egg whites until white and frothy enough to hold your whisk up in the middle of the bowl without falling, then start to add your sugar a little at a time.
- When you are done with the sugar add one yolk at a time and whisk into the mixture on the lowest speed until the yellow colour has dissolved. Do this until you have finished your yolks.
- Add your vanilla and baking powder to the mix and then start sifting the flour into the mixture a little bit at a time. Make sure you have completely mixed in the first bit before adding another bit. Again on the lowest speed.
- Your cake mixture is now done and needs transferring onto a 26.5-inch baking tin. If you wish you can grease your cake tin with some butter or margarine and then layer the bottom with some parchment paper before you transfer your cake mix.
- Place in the middle rack of a preheated oven on gas mark 4 or 5. Bake for about 30 mins before you check on it. When it appears to be done use a toothpick or wooden skewer to punch through the middle, if it comes out dry it's done.
- Once the cake sponge has reached room temperature, place it in the fridge and leave it to cool for about 30-40 mins.
- Then you can cut your cake into 3 even layers, or 2 if you prefer your layers to be thicker.
- Whisk 500ml of whipping cream with 1/2 tin of condensed milk until light and fluffy. (this cream is so yummy but not thick enough to hold if you want to pipe it.)
- Mix a little condensed milk with some drinking water and sprinkle over the top side of the cake layers as you build it up. (this adds more moisture to the sponge)
- Then if you want to add any sliced fruit such as strawberries, peaches or bananas to the layers, do this first before spreading the cream over the top.
- Once you have built up your cake ie: cake layer - condensed milk sprinkle - fruit layer - cream layer - cake layer - condensed milk sprinkle - fruit layer - cream layer and so on.
- Cover the entire cake smoothly with this cream all the way around and place in the fridge again for 30 -40 mins to harden slightly. (the longer the better)
- Now we need to whisk the other half of the double-whipping cream that we will be needing for the piping out. This time you will only add a little caster sugar to taste. (I added 2-3 tbsp).
- Cover your cake with this 2nd layer of cream with a spatula or spoon and smooth it out as best as you can, making sure it's at least 1cm thick.
- At this point, I prefer to sprinkle the chopped nuts around the edges of the cake first before piping. (I used chopped walnuts.)
- Then transfer your cake from the tray to the serving plate or cake stand.
- Place the remainder of the piping cream in a piping bag and pipe around the bottom of the cake first and then the top outer edge.
- I aligned the top and outer edge of the cake with black seedless grapes cut in half. I overlapped sliced tinned peach in the middle and added some colour with a few sliced kiwi halves. Then I garnished the bottom with 4 strawberries.
Thanks for the great collection of articles!!