Love Cake with Rose and Pomegranate Buttercream Frosting
Source of Recipe
By Anne
Recipe Introduction
This cake is perfect for sweethearts of all ages and travels easily to a party at your child's school as well as to the dinner table at the end of an intimate meal with your honey. You bake a heart-shaped cake in two pans, one square and one round. Assembling is easy and explained in step 6
List of Ingredients
Love Cake:
Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
Flour for dusting the pans
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut in pieces
1 package (6 ounces) white chocolate, finely chopped
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Rose and Pomegranate Buttercream Frosting:
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds, from half a pomegranate
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, or more if needed
2 tablespoons rose water
Garnish:
Fresh pomegranate seeds, from remaining pomegranate half
Leftover pomegranate juice
Rose petals
Recipe
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease one 9-inch round cake pan and one 9-inch square cake pan with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.
2. Place the butter and white chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, until both have melted, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Place the cake mix, milk, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter and white chocolate mixture in a large mixing bowl. Blend an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
4. Bake the cakes until they are light brown and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 27 to 30 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each cake and invert each onto a rack, then invert them again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow them to cool completely, 30 minutes more.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the Rose and Pomegranate Buttercream Frosting. Cut the pomegranate in half crosswise, and reserve half for garnish. Pull the peeling from the pomegranate, and with your hands, divide the pomegranate into sections. Remove the seeds from each section. There should be about 1/3 cup. Place the seeds in a fine-mesh sieve over a small bowl, and with the back of a fork press the seeds to extract the juice. Let juice drip into bowl below; it should measure 2 to 3 tablespoons. Set aside. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine, add the sifted confectioners' sugar, pomegranate juice, and rose water, and blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is combined, 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to medium speed and beat until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes more. Add more rose water if the frosting is too stiff, and add more confectioners' sugar if it seems too thin.
6. Place the square cake layer on a serving platter so that one point faces you. Cut the round cake layer in half and place the halves on adjoining sides of the square, so to form a heart shape. Spread the frosting on top and sides of the cake with clean, smooth strokes.
7. Scatter the fresh pomegranate seeds over the cake, if desired. Drizzle any leftover pomegranate juice over cake, if desired. Arrange rose petals around the cake. Slice and serve.
Cake can also be covered in waxed paper and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Or freeze it, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
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