Be Berry Surprised…
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Berry Surprise Cake chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen. This cake is probably one of my favorite TWD selections to date.
I was excited to make this one since it’s one of the things in The Book that always caught my interest. I love super decadent desserts (in moderation, of course), but my real soft spot is for things like this cake that are only slightly sweet and have fresh fruit as a main component. The cake has a hollowed out center with berries and a cream cheese filling hidden inside. A whipped cream topping covers everything with a few fresh berries on top for show.
I halved the recipe and used two 4 inch springform pans to bake in. I had no problems making any of the four elements of the recipe: A Génoise cake layer (which is pretty similar to my favorite Hot Milk Sponge Cake), a simple syrup (I just used raspberry jam mixed with water and sugar), the cream cheese filling (I added a little extra vanilla and sugar to this), and the whipped cream topping. Everything was very easy. I had my own surprise though when I went to the fridge to get the raspberries I had bought for this and found mold growing on them. I’m telling you, surprise trips to the grocery store are always a bad surprise. I was even more surprised when my local grocery store had no raspberries for sale at all. I chose to do blackberry instead.
My génoise sunk in the middle which seemed to be a common problem amongst other bakers. I didn’t really care about this too much since I was making mini cakes. You have to cut a hole out of the middle anyway, so I figured having a baked in hole already saved me a step. The only issue was I didn’t have a top layer to cut off to cover the inside. I just loaded it up with extra filling and whipped cream. No worries.
I would probably only make this cake for serving at my home, I don’t think it would be something I would bring to a party, etc. It does look beautiful though considering how casual it is. And it’s absolutely delicious.
Thanks to Mary Ann for choosing Berry Surprise Cake for the January 20th, 2009 edition of Tuesdays with Dorie, it was a great pick. Please head over to Meet Me in the Kitchen to view the recipe and see what Mary Ann had to say about her choice. Then if you want to see even more cakes, stop by the TWD site to check out about 400 more Berry Surprises. 
Next week, Heather of Sherry Trifle chose Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread. See you next Tuesday!
Blast from TWD Past: Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte
It’s been about two months since I’ve posted a Blast from TWD Past entry. I had to lay off the extra baking when I noticed I was starting to chunk up a little more than I was comfortable with. 
I’m getting so close to being caught up on all the TWD recipes. I only have nine left to do now before I’ve made every single one that the group has done so far.
The Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte has always been at the top of my list to complete. I love cheesecake and the picture in the book looks really good. I can’t tell you how many times I bought cottage cheese with the intention of making this torte only to get so busy with other things that the cottage cheese expiration date came and went. Since I’m on vacation, I decided I was getting this done and that was that. Plus, I had cottage cheese in the fridge that expired in four days.
What I did: I cut the recipe in half and filled up two 4 inch springform pans. I had enough extra crust left over for maybe one more pan but not enough of the cream cheese mixture. I doubled the amount of jam because it didn’t seem like enough. I baked for 60 minutes. What I thought: The top came out browner than I wanted so I would bake it a little less next time. Towards the end I was checking it really closely every five minutes to ensure that it wouldn’t get too brown but I got caught up in watching Rachael Ray (she was talking about this really cool $80 pen that recorded everything you wrote…) and I missed the crucial moment. Ahhh well. The taste was pretty good. I used blackberry jam but don’t think I would use the same flavor again.
This recipe was originally selected for the week of January 15th, 2008 and was the third recipe picked for TWD. I believe April of Abby Sweets was the one who chose it and you can check out her Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte here as well as the recipe.
