Prune, pineapple and milk truffle layer cake

For all cake lovers out there, this is a recipe you should add to your list of “cakes I must eat in my lifetime”. This is my mum’s favourite cake, it is also at the top of my list of favourites and it never disappoints me when I want to put a smile on someone’s face.

I have to admit that this is a very labor intensive recipe, but the result pays off every minute invested in making it! Don’t be put off by the number of elements and steps that are required to make this cake and don’t consider it “above your league” if you are not an experienced baker: I have detailed every step of this recipe for you the way my mum used to detail her recipes when I was a child… If you would like to have a visual reference on how to put all the elements of this cake together, I posted a step by step GIF on Instagram so why not try it out? If you like cakes, I am sure this will become one of your favourites!

Level of difficulty

Advanced

Course

Bake |  Dessert |  Treat

Serves

12

Preparation time

2 hours and 15 minutes

Cooking time

2 hours and 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 270g of caster sugar
• 340g of flour
• 9g of baking powder
• 100g of butter plus butter to grease the cake pan
• 200ml of orange juice
• 4 egg yolks
• 7 egg whites

For the syrup

• 400ml of coconut milk
• 100ml of milk
• 30g of caster sugar

For the milk and vanilla white truffle

• 200g of butter
• 3 tins of 400g sweetened condensed milk
• 150ml of full fat milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

For the prune compote

• 230g of pitted prunes
• 50ml of honey
• 350ml of boiling water
• 10 minutes

For the pineapple compote

• 250g of pineapple (core and peel removed)
• 70ml of honey
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste
• 500ml of boiling water
• 30 minutes

For the pineapple flower

• 1 pineapple

Preparation

For the sponge

1. Place the butter and the egg yolks in a deep bowl and whisk both ingredients with the help of an electric whisker to create a creamy and fluffy mixture. The butter and eggs must be at room temperature, otherwise the two ingredients will not emulsify well and the mixture will split. (If this does happen: add a teaspoon of flour to the mixture and beat for one more minute before proceeding to step 2.)
2. Add the sugar and whisk for another 5 minutes or until the ingredients are well combined and the mixture becomes lighter in colour.
3. Add the orange juice and the flour and keep on whisking for about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the mixture down from the sides of the bowl back to the middle. Then continue whisking until the mixture becomes smooth.
4. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold it gradually into the cake batter.
5. Add the baking powder and mix it gently until it is well incorporated into the batter.
6. Divide the cake batter in two equal parts and pour them into two greased and floured baking pans with a diameter of 20 cm.
7. Bake both cakes in a preheated oven (180 degrees) for about 35-40 minutes until the cake is cooked and golden. The baking time for cakes may vary from oven to oven… You can check the cake’s doneness around the suggested baking time by inserting a toothpick into the cake’s centre and if the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is baked.
8. Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool down for at least 30 minutes before removing it from the baking pan.

For the cake syrup

Boil the coconut milk, the milk and the sugar until all ingredients are well combined.

Tip: Put this mixture in a measuring glass as it will help you to visualise the amounts used in each layer of the cake, avoiding one layer to be soaking wet whilst the other layer is too dry.

For the milk and vanilla white truffle

1. Spread the butter at the bottom of a medium heavy-based, non-stick, saucepan. At this stage the stove must be turned off. Make sure that the butter completely covers the bottom of the saucepan as this will avoid the condensed milk to immediately stick to the bottom and burn when the simmering process starts.
2. Add the milk and condensed milk to the saucepan.
3. Place a sieve on top of the saucepan, then put the egg yolks into the sieve and pierce them, letting the liquid part of the yolk drain into the other ingredients in the saucepan. In this stage you want to prevent the egg yolk membrane and chalaza (the cloudy gel attached to the egg yolk) to be added to the mixture. You may move the membrane around in the sieve, very gently with the help of a spoon, but don’t press it down as otherwise you may force membrane pieces through the sieve.
4. Turn the stove on and heat the ingredients to simmering, stirring vigorously and continuously with the help of a silicone or wooden spoon. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and keep stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick, creamy, shiny and starts to pull away from the bottom.
5. Remove the saucepan from the fire and add in the vanilla extract, stirring until it is completely incorporated into the mixture.

Tip: Before assembling the cake, divide the truffle in 4 equal parts so you don’t need to calculate the right amounts when layering the cake.

For the prune compote

1. Chop the pitted prunes in small pieces.
2. Place the water, the honey and the chopped prunes in a saucepan and heat them to boiling.
3. Once boiling, let it cook over medium heat for 12 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes. To allow the water to evaporate and the compote to thicken up, leave the saucepan uncovered while cooking.

Tip: Before assembling the cake, divide the compote in two equal parts so you don’t need to calculate the right amounts when layering the cake.

For the pineapple compote

1. Peel, core and chop the pineapple in small cubes.
2. Place the water, the honey and the chopped pineapple in a saucepan and heat them to boiling.
3. Once boiling, let it cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. To allow the water to evaporate and the compote to thicken up, leave the saucepan uncovered while cooking.
4. Remove the saucepan from the fire and add the vanilla paste.

For the pineapple flower

1. Chop very thin slices of a peeled pineapple. Every slice will become one “flower” therefore chop as many slices as the number of flowers that you wish to use for garnishing the cake.
2. Make incisions from the core of the pineapple slice outwards to create the “petals”.
3. Place these pineapple slices in paper muffin cases and put each case in a muffin pan.

   

4. Bake them in a pre-heated oven (180 degrees) for about 35 minutes.
5. The water and sugar content of each pineapple will vary from fruit to fruit and these differences will cause the cooking time to vary considerably. With that in mind, you will need to keep an eye on the cooking to make sure that you will get it right. The pineapple flower should hold its “flower” shape when taken from the case. If not, take it back to the oven to bake for a few additional minutes, making sure you don’t caramelise it too much.

   

6. Place a small amount of the milk truffle in the centre of the flower.

   

7. Cut a very small circle out of a prune half and place it on top of the milk truffle that will work as a “glue” to fix the prune circle to the flower.

   

Tip: If you lack the time or patience to follow the process closely, using edible flowers can be a good alternative for garnishing.

Assembling the cake

1. Flatten the top of the cake by cutting off the excess.

   

2. Cut the two cakes horizontally to obtain 4 equal layers.

   

   

3. Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or plate and pour over about 130 ml of the coconut milk syrup, making sure that you spread it equally over all parts of the cake.

   

4. Spread half of the prune compote over the first layer of the cake.

   

5. Spread one quarter of the milk truffle over the prune compote distributing it equally over the cake.

   

6. Place the second layer of the cake on the first layer and pour the coconut syrup over it as per step 3.

   

7. Spread the pineapple compote over the second layer of the cake.

   

8. Spread another quarter of the milk truffle over the pineapple compote distributing it equally over the cake.

   

9. Place the third layer of the cake on the second layer and pour the coconut syrup over it as per step 3.

   

10. Spread the other half of the prune compote over the third layer of the cake.

    

11. Spread another quarter of the milk truffle over the prune compote distributing it equally over the cake.

    

12. Place the fourth layer of the cake on the third layer, water it with the remaining coconut milk and spread the last quarter of the milk truffle over the cake.

    

13. Garnish it with icing sugar and the pineapple flowers.

    

Tips

• Planning ahead is the secret to successfully making this cake. Read the recipe carefully and make sure that you have all the ingredients and all the equipment required before you start. Plan the space where you will store all the elements of the cake, the place you will assemble it and even plan the space in your fridge to store it until the time you will serve it.
• If possible, make the truffle and the compotes the day before of the day that you are planning to make the sponge and to assemble the cake. This way the amount of work won’t overwhelm you and it will help you to make this delicious cake even if you have a busy life.
• Never do something alone that you could do with good company. Find someone you enjoy spending time with and convince them that baking this cake together is the sweetest opportunity for you to spend some fun time catching up on life.