A heart-shaped cake to fall in love with

Name: A heart-shaped cake to fall in love with
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Switzerland
Ingredients: 200 g granulated sugar; 4 pcs. eggs; 200 g butter | soft; 200 g white flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 250 g mascarpone; 80 g icing sugar; 1 tsp tonka bean paste; 200 g full cream; 10 g cream holder; 240 g berry mix | frozen; 60 g water; 40 g granulated sugar; 8 g pectin

Valentine’s Day cake – mascarpone with tonka bean

Do you want only the very best for your loved ones? Then why not treat them to a stunning creation this Valentine’s Day? This homemade cake is sure to make absolutely everyone’s heart skip a beat. With its five layers, it makes quite an impression; what’s more, the layers have varying shades of colour, creating a beautiful colour gradient. Whilst this might sound difficult and very time-consuming at first, anyone can easily recreate it. All this is made possible quite simply thanks to the multi-layered cake tin.With the berries and the decoration on top, you’ll give your creation that final, irresistible touch. But as we all know, the way to the heart is through the stomach, so the Heart Tower also impresses with its inner qualities: it’s made with tonka beans, amongst other ingredients, and thus carries the sweet flavour of this prized spice. As well as this ingredient, the cake also contains a delicious berry compote. This makes the cake a true declaration of love.

Key figures

Makes: 1 cake

Baking time: approx. 10–12 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Shelflife: 3 days

Sponge base

Granulated sugar		200 g
Eggs		4
Butter \| softened		200 g
plain flour		200 g
Baking powder		1 tsp
Tonka bean \| grated		A little

Mascarpone mousse

Mascarpone		250 g
Icing sugar		80 g
Tonka bean paste		1 tsp
Double cream		200 g
cream stabiliser		10 g

Fruit filling

Mixed berries \| frozen		240 g
Water		60 g
Granulated sugar		40 g
Pectin		8 g

Multilayer baking dish heart to 5 bottoms

Ready-to-ship quantity: 15

CHF23.50

Progel gel color raspberry, 25 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF6.40

Tonka beans, 50 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: 0

CHF14.50

Making the sponge mixture

Preheat the oven to 180 °C (fan).

Mix the sugar with the 4 eggs and beat them together until frothy, until they have increased in volume and turned a lighter colour. This may take about 5 minutes. Then add the softened butter to the bowl.

Next, mix in the flour and baking powder, and flavour the batter with a little grated tonka bean.

Grease and dust the cake tins well. Now colour the base mixture with a little food colouring, then spoon about 125 g of the cake mixture into the first tin. Smooth the surface out nicely. Now colour the batter with a little more food colouring and pour another 125 g into the next tin. Continue in this way until all the tins are filled and you have 5 different shades.

Then bake the cake layers for approx. 10 to 12 minutes at 180 °C (fan oven).

Cream stiffener 1 kg

Ready-to-ship quantity: 5

CHF24.50

Disposable piping bag transparent 20 pieces

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF6.90

Making the mascarpone filling

First, whip the mascarpone and add the tonka bean paste and icing sugar to flavour and sweeten the filling sufficiently. Whip the double cream to stiff peaks using a cream whipper and fold it into the mascarpone. You can now flavour the cream a little more with some freshly grated tonka bean.

Now you can transfer the finished filling into a piping bag fitted with a 14 mm round nozzle and then chill it briefly once more.

Making the berry filling

Put the fresh or frozen berries into a small pan with the water and bring the mixture to the boil until the berries soften slightly and some of the water has evaporated. Mix the sugar with the pectin, then add the mixture to the berries. Stir everything well and let the compote simmer for a further 2–3 minutes until it thickens nicely. Then put the compote in the fridge to cool down a little.

Assembling the cake

Start with the lightest-coloured base. Take the mascarpone filling out of the fridge and begin by piping medium-sized dots around the edge. Make sure the dots are all the same size and try to keep the spacing between them fairly even as well.

Next, place another 3 dots of the same size inside the heart-shaped base – two in each of the heart’s curves and one at the tip – so that it looks like a triangle. Again, make sure these dots are the same size as the outer ones.

Finally, fill the centre of the base – within the triangle formed by the last three dots – with approx. 1 1/2 tbsp of the cooled berry compote. Then place the next, more colourful base layer on top. Repeat the whole process until all the base layers have been used.

You can now decorate the top layer as you like with more dots, as well as fresh berries, mint, compote or the rest of the berry jelly. Feel free to let your imagination run wild!