Sunday, March 13, 2011

Fruit Basket Cake

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I had been planning to make this cake for over two months now, Fruit Basket cake is my absolute favorite! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my return to this blog than by making this delicious cake. Fruit Basket cake is basically exactly what it sounds like, a cake filled with lots of fruit. Typically bananas, kiwi and strawberry. I made this one with kiwi, strawberries and mandarin oranges, so yummy! The cake part can vary, it can be a classic white cake, your favorite yellow cake recipe, or in my case, my buttermilk cake recipe. So for our purposes here, I omitted the cake recipe itself, if you really feel you can't live without it, don't worry I'm sure it will find itself here one day. Enjoy!


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To start, you need to evenly split your cake batter into three 9 inch rounds. As you can see I only had two, so I had to wait until they were done, cool them, clean, and then bake a whole other cake.  Bake all three cakes and cool them completely.

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While your cakes are baking you will need to make a custard filling. Each layer of this cake is filled with custard then, topped with fruit. Why re-invent something that someone else has perfected? I turned to Julia for a fabulously authentic French custard recipe.

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First, bring two cups of milk to a boil in a saucepan, then in a bowl, add five large egg yolks.

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Add in 1 cup of sugar and cream until the mixture is pale yellow.Then beat in 1/2 a cup of flour.

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Slowly drizzle in the boiled milk, when the mixture is well combined, return it to the saucepan and bring to a boil, while whisking the mixture the entire time.

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A lumpy mixture will form and then smooth out as you whisk, this is your custard. Remove from heat and whisk in one tablespoon of butter and vanilla extract. Set aside.

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Next prep your fruit. Thinly slice 3 large kiwis, 6 giant strawberries and drain 1 cup of mandarin orange slices in light syrup. 

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Heat a 1/2 cup of water in the microwave for thirty seconds and stir in one tablespoon of sugar until dissolved, creating simple syrup.

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Place a completely cooled cake in the center of your cake tray. Tuck in pieces of parchment paper under the cake to keep your serving tray clean. You can remove the parchment paper easily when you are done assembling and decorating your cake.
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Using a brush, spread simple syrup on the surface of your cake. This will help keep your cake moist.

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Add two heaping tablespoons of custard to the center of your cake and using the back of the spoon spread the custard evenly on the cake. Reserve 1/2 an inch of space from the edge, due to the weight of the cake (when stacked) the filling will spread out to the edge.

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Add more custard as needed, your cake should look something like this.

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Arrange the strawberry and kiwi on the cake in alternating layers.

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Add on the mandarin oranges. 

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Carefully place the second layer of cake on top of the fruit.

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Repeat the process, simple syrup then custard. You will have custard left over, you can refrigerate the custard for at least one week.

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Arrange the fruit.

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And very carefully, add on your third cake. 
Look at the beautiful layers!

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Frost your cake with a quick and easy whipped cream. Combine 2 cups of heavy cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat on high until stiff peaks are formed.

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Spread the cream on your cake and cover completely using an offset spatula.

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Once the cake is completely covered place it in the refrigerator for fifteen minutes to cool and set before further decorating.

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Decorate as desired and serve! Refrigerate leftovers, and enjoy!

36 comments:

  1. mad props on prepping the fruit!!

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    1. Love how you have put in so much detail and effort with this blogpost - my wife and I have followed each step and we just love making your fruit basket cake now!

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  2. Thank you! I'd have to say the fruit was the easy part:)

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    1. I'm making this recipe...sounds so easy, ty for all the details...it's looks yummy

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  3. why didn't you create a damn around the edge of the cake before you added your filling. it won't squish out that way. also set aside some frosting and add some color to it before you decorate or place extra fruit in syrup on top or on the sides. otherwise some very good suggestions.

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  4. Thanks for commenting! I didn't create a dam around the edges because I didn't need to, I leave about 3/4 to one inch of space between the edge and the filling, this prevents my filling from squishing out and is easier than creating a dam. You can totally add some food coloring to the frosting and/or place some fruit in syrup, but I like the all white look of this cake, its my favorite! I tend to try to not use syrup unless I need to and this cake is sweet enough with all the fresh fruit inside! Glad you like the post.

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  5. I am going to make this cake today for my mother-in-law's birthday. It is her favorite cake and I needed to find out how to make it. Thank you

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  6. Im going to make this cake from this receipe on April 6th 2012, its good and beautiful, but wanted to know what is a dam. Can anyone help me on this one thank you

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  7. I am so glad to come across your post. I've been searching for recipes for this cake but this is the closest thing I've seen to what I buy at the bakery. Thanks! My question is though, can you post the cake recipe? It just seems like the cakes I buy have a unique texture that I haven't found yet. Still looking for that perfect recipe.

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  8. @ Available 511 a dam is basically an extra step when filling a cake. You create a circle on the outer edge of the cake then fill with fruit or frosting inside. Some people believe this helps in keeping the filling from oozing out. I typically don't make a dam because its an extra step and my method of leaving the filling about 1/2 an inch of clearing on the edges works. I'm all for less work and great results.
    @ NUHW Activists you may have noticed but I have been on a bit of an hiatus from blogging. With my job and family its been hard to find time to post. I would like to return to posting soon, but don't know when I officially will. I promise to post a cake recipe when I return. Sorry!

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  9. Thanks Sharlene, yes I did notice the post was a little old... but that's OK. I settled on a sponge cake and am in the process of baking it now. Look forward to your return.

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  10. My family likes strawberry,pineapple,banana,and kiwi yummy good. Adding a tablespoon of almond or orange extract to your cake batter allows your cake to have a more fresh and tropical taste or use a liqueur. for adults.

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  11. Hi Sharlene, how many servings would you say this cake serves?

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  12. Great idea to use liqueur! I would say this cake serves anywhere from 12-14, depending on how big your slices are. I've stretched a cake this big before to feed 16!

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  13. First time I've made a fruit basket cake as well as custard. Thank you very much for the great recipe. I hope my 75 year old Aunt likes it!!

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  14. This is a good recipe but I have a small suggestion you should cut the top part of the cake off and you would only have to make two cakes and by doing this your cake won't be to thick!. I go to school for bakery. And were assembly cakes

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  15. Hi mother-in-law loves this cake and i was planning to make it for her birthday party this Sunday,my question was if i make the cake Saturday would it be ok to stay refrigerated until Sunday or should i make everything and assemble it on Sunday?

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  16. Hi Ian,
    Thanks for posting! I typically like to bake everything the same day and assemble it, but you can certainly make the cakes the day before to make it easier on yourself. I wouldn't refrigerate the cakes though, just leave them out at room temp the night before so they can cool and in the morning you can assemble and be done! :)

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  17. Thank you for the response and for the advise,def looking forward to making this for the party I'm sure my mother-in-law wold love it and so will the other guests

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  18. I made this amazing cake a couple of weeks ago for a friend's birthday. It was a hit like no other cake I've ever made before has been. During the night I heard rustling around in the kitchen, peeked out and found the birthday boy (in his 60s, no less)standing in front of the open fridge, eating straight off the cake plate. He had awakened hungry in the middle of the night and went to get a slice of cake, and lost his head and just started chowing down. He told me that I didn't have to waste my time on any other cake for his birthday. This one was the winner.

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  19. Sharlene! You live just a couple of miles from where I live! I live in Sacramento, CA. Nice to know there's another great cook in the Sac area--Sacramento has some of the best chefs in the world.
    P.S. I have some visual challenges and am not good at figuring out what the words are that you require to keep from being treated like a robocook.

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  20. Hi Carol! Thank you for all your kind words! I'm SO glad the cake was a hit! It is my favorite. Thanks for writing, and I hope you find some other recipes here to try. Take care. :)

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  21. Thanks, Sharlene. I left out the part where the leftover custard disappeared out of the refrigerator. I toyed with making some cream puff pastry and using it that way, but before I could, I found some friends sitting around eating custard covered in leftover strawberries, blueberries and sliced bananas, straight out of a bowl. Now, I'd call that a foolproof recipe for custard.

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  22. Is it one cup of sugar and one cup of cream? And what is ment by "cream? Also how long will it take for the custard to cool before you put it on the cake?

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  23. Hello! It is two cups of heavy whipping cream (found in the dairy section of your local grocery store) and I only use 2 tablespoons of sugar as I do not like my whip cream to be too sweet. If you prefer a sweeter cream you can taste the cream in the early stages before it sets up and add more sugar as you go. Honestly by the time your cakes are done cooling your custard should have cooled down enough for you to use it. You can also put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling if you prefer.

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    1. I believe Anonymous above was talking about the step that says, "add in 1 cup of sugar and cream until the mixture is pale yellow". I was also wondering how much cream is used in this step. Not the whipped cream step.

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    2. The word cream is used as a verb here not an ingredient. Totally can see how that can be confusing.

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  24. Hi Sharlene...where exactly can I find the ingredients for this cake? I don't see them posted here?
    Thanks!!

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  25. Hi! Your cake is amazing & on my third addition! I made a whip cream/cream cheese frosting for it & WOW! Amazing. Thank you for this amazing reciepe. First try was a horrible failure lol but by now I have it down. Thank you again.

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  26. Well, getting ready to set up for the second annual Fruit Basket Cake PigOut. I'll let you know if the recipe is still the best ever after we get back from vacation.

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  27. Thank you for sharing valuable information. Nice post. I enjoyed reading this post. The whole blog is very nice found some good stuff and good information here Thanks..Also visit my page. Fruit Hampers Sydney Fruitcorp Fruit Hampers Australia provides gift hampers & gift baskets across Australia. Our Fruit Hamper Gifts are designed for corporate gifts and individuals.

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  28. mmmm looks good, I bought a single layer fruit custard cake last week. definately will make this one. one picky eater at our house won;t eat kiwi so more for the rest of us lol

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  29. yum... my husbands birthday is saturday. I wish the recipe was posted not in just steps.

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  30. Thank you for this recipe. I didn't know that this was a Sacramento area only delicacy until I tried to find a recipe for it. I always purchased this cake when I lived In Citrus Heights but now that I live in Florida, cannot find any bakery that knew what it was. I made it for my daughters birthday. I used a white cake and the filling was Banana's, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Blueberries. Custard on it was perfect and I cut the vanilla on the frosting to two teaspoons. Wish that I could post a picture. Thank you again

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