No reviews Freeze-dried fruit has excellent potential in desserts but can be tricky to use, especially in cakes. I reached out to my friend and pastry whiz Stella Parks, aka BraveTart, who recommends using cake flour over all-purpose, which prevents the gummy texture that often arises when using ground freeze-dried fruit in the cake batter. Over the years, her Swiss Meringue Buttercream has become my go-to frosting recipe because it’s not cloyingly sweet and has a light texture. It’s also highly amenable to adding freeze-dried fruit to incorporate more flavor and color. This recipe makes enough frosting to cover two 8 in/20 cm layer cakes. I’m giving you the recipe for a whole batch if you decide to skip the mango lime curd. This recipe is based on Stella Park’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream (via Serious Eats) which is my go-to buttercream frosting recipe. This recipe first appeared in my column at The San Francisco Chronicle (July 2018) 2 1/3 cups/280 g cake flour 1.7 oz/48 g unsweetened, unsulfured freeze-dried mango 2 tsp baking powder seeds from 3 to 4 green cardamom pods (about 3/4 tsp) ¼ tsp fine sea salt 7.97 oz/226 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes plus extra butter to grease the baking pans 1 1/3 cups/265 g sugar 3 large eggs at room temperature ½ cup/120 g crème fraiche ½ cup/120 ml whole milk For the Mango Lime Curd (makes about 1 1/4 cups/300 ml) 1 cup/240 ml canned Indian mango pulp pureed or the pulp from 1 medium ripe mango, pureed (See Notes) 2 oz/55 g unsalted butter, cubed ¼ cup/50 g sugar Juice and zest of one lime 2 Tbsp cornstarch 2 Tbsp water Mango Saffron Buttercream (makes about 6 cups/1.4 L) 1.7 oz/48 g unsweetened, unsulfured freeze-dried mango** 20 saffron strands 2/3 cup/160 ml egg whites (from about 5 to 6 large eggs) 1 2/3 cups/330 g sugar ¾ tsp fine sea salt ¼ tsp cream of tartar 1.24 lb/565 g unsalted butter, softened to 65F/18C For the Mango Lime Curd For the Mango Saffron Buttercream Assembling the Cake Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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