How amazing to watch Adèle and Jules grow up as bi-cultural children. Adèle's Britishness strikingly revealed itself when she requested for her 5th birthday the cornerstone of British baking, an iced cake with a cream and jam filling. I recreated the perfect gateau anglais for her albeit with my unavoidable French accent. She loved it so much she asked for it again this year, then a friend of hers did too. Could this be a sign I too am becoming British?
Adèle’s birthday cake or Le Gateau Anglais
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Recipe by: Inspired by vanilla cake recipe in Elle a Table, Jul-Aug 2007 Busy:1 hr, Total prep time: 1 hr 50 Serves: 14-16 (or more if for little ones) |
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Mix the flour with the baking powder and reserve.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes cream coloured. Beat in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla, followed by the flour and baking powder. Once the mixture is smooth, add the cream or milk slowly and beat until obtaining a thick and creamy batter.
Pour the cake batter into a buttered loose bottom cake tin (I used 24 cm dia one) and bake it for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Wait until warm to unmould the cake and cool completely before cutting it. With a long, sharp knife, cut out the domed top part of the cake so that it looks completely flat (keep it for nibbling on!). Cut the cake again horizontally through its middle so as to obtain 2 identical rounds. Spoon the double cream evenly on the top cake half, then spread jam liberally on top of the cream. Place the bottom cake half on top of the creamed and jammed round, crust side facing up. This inversion trick will make it easier to spread the icing as the crust is less prone to crumble when you apply the icing on it than the fluffier, cut side. Your cake is now ready to be iced.
Make the icing (best done in a stand mixer if you have one):
Place the butter at the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Beat the icing sugar into the butter in small batches, then add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat well, then slowly add the remaining milk while beating continuously, until obtaining a smooth and thick icing.
Spread the icing delicately on the cake without looking for perfection. Spread marks are part of the final look.
Decorate according to your taste. On the picture I made Smarties flowers on top with a Smarties ribbon circling around the side.
Prepare the cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Mix the flour with the baking powder and reserve.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes cream coloured. Beat in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla, followed by the flour and baking powder. Once the mixture is smooth, add the cream or milk slowly and beat until obtaining a thick and creamy batter.
Pour the cake batter into a buttered loose bottom cake tin (I used 24 cm dia one) and bake it for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Wait until warm to unmould the cake and cool completely before cutting it. With a long, sharp knife, cut out the domed top part of the cake so that it looks completely flat (keep it for nibbling on!). Cut the cake again horizontally through its middle so as to obtain 2 identical rounds. Spoon the double cream evenly on the top cake half, then spread jam liberally on top of the cream. Place the bottom cake half on top of the creamed and jammed round, crust side facing up. This inversion trick will make it easier to spread the icing as the crust is less prone to crumble when you apply the icing on it than the fluffier, cut side. Your cake is now ready to be iced.
Make the icing (best done in a stand mixer if you have one):
Place the butter at the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Beat the icing sugar into the butter in small batches, then add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat well, then slowly add the remaining milk while beating continuously, until obtaining a smooth and thick icing.
Spread the icing delicately on the cake without looking for perfection. Spread marks are part of the final look.
Decorate according to your taste. On the picture I made Smarties flowers on top with a Smarties ribbon circling around the side.
This icing is not intended to be smooth. On the contrary, smudge marks should remain, giving it a lovely and romantic look. The icing will harden overtime.
This cake is best done the day before, it will taste even better on the big day!
This cake is best done the day before, it will taste even better on the big day!
Ingredients
For the cake:
375 g butter, room temperature
375 g sugar
5 small eggs or 4 large ones
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
450 g flour
2.5 teaspoon baking powder
30 mL single cream or milk
For the filling:
3 to 4 tablespoons double cream
Raspberry or strawberry jam
For the icing:
150g soft butter
300g icing sugar
1.5 teaspoon vanilla icing
about 4.5 tablespoons milk
For the decoration:
smarties
For the cake:
375 g butter, room temperature
375 g sugar
5 small eggs or 4 large ones
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
450 g flour
2.5 teaspoon baking powder
30 mL single cream or milk
For the filling:
3 to 4 tablespoons double cream
Raspberry or strawberry jam
For the icing:
150g soft butter
300g icing sugar
1.5 teaspoon vanilla icing
about 4.5 tablespoons milk
For the decoration:
smarties
Copyright © 2009 Tasty Diaries. All rights reserved.
2 Comments to “Adèle’s birthday cake or Le Gateau Anglais”
July 14th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hi please note that 30cl of milk (in the cake recipe) translates to 300ml which I don’t think it correct and hence my cake fell to piece even after an extra 25 minutes work of cooking. Maybe this can be adjusted on the website as I don’t think it is correct?
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Hi Lizzy thank you for pointing out this horrible mistake, I am so sorry I didn’t catch it and it spoiled your cake! Other readers made this recipe (one even kindly sent me a picture) and did not mention the typo, I guess they corrected it by themselves. The typo has now been changed to what it should be.