Dominican Cake

Dominican Cake

Dominican Cake for my Mom!

This is the fourth Dominican Cake I have made since starting this blog and it is my favorite cake. It is a rich and dense cake and so delicious. For Mother's Day yesterday, I made one for my Mom and it is her favorite cake as well.

You can see my previous post here: http://twofrys.blogspot.com/2011/02/dominican-cake.html.

This time, I added Lemon Zest and used Half-and-Half instead of Whole Milk. You could use Whole Milk but it is what I had on hand and it worked great with the recipe. I also used Unsalted Butter instead of Salted Butter though salted is what the original recipe calls for.

Ingredients

2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened

2 cups Sugar

4 Extra Large Eggs

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract

3 cups All Purpose Flour

3 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 cup Half and Half

1/8 teaspoon Salt

1 tablespoon Lemon Zest

1/2 jar Guava Jelly (Goya)

2 drops Red Food Coloring

Directions

Grease 2 9" inch round baking pans with Butter and line with parchment paper. Grease over parchment paper and then sprinkle Flour lightly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium size bowl, sift Baking Powder and Flour. Put aside for now.

I used a hand held mixer but you can use a stand mixer as well. Mix Butter until it is creamy and then add Sugar little by little; continue mixing until it is light and creamy.

Add Eggs one at a time, mixing well.

Add in some of the Flour, mix well and then add some of the Half-and-Half. Do this a few times ending with Flour. Scrape sides of bowl with a spatula to make sure you have incorporated all the ingredients.

Add Vanilla, Lemon Zest and Salt, and mix well.

Spread cake batter evenly between the 2 pans using a spatula to smooth out the top.

Bake for 40-50 minutes. Cake is ready when toothpick comes out clean. Oven temperatures vary so keep an eye on the cake so you do not over brown it.

While cake is baking, make the frosting.

My piece of Dominican Cake

Merengue (Frosting) Ingredients

3 Egg Whites

1 1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Water

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed Lemon juice

Using a hand held mixer or stand mixer, mix Egg Whites for several minutes until nice stiff peaks form. Put aside for now.

In a small pan, stir Sugar, Water, and Lemon juice on low heat until Sugar dissolves and Caramel forms a syrup-like texture. Keep an eye on it so it does not burn. Be patient here. This step is a little tricky and easy to screw up.

Take hot Caramel and mix in little by little to Egg White mixture. Keep mixing until it reaches a thick but soft consistency. Add 2 drops of Red Food Coloring to make the Frosting pink.

Put the Frosting aside and let it cool completely before decorating the cake.

Place cakes on cooling racks for about 20-25 minutes. Remove from baking pans top side up onto cooling racks so they completely cool for another 30-35 minutes. Cakes must cool completely before you frost them.

Trim top layer of the cakes using a serrated knife to make a flat top. Trimming is necessary so the cake rests straight when stacked.

Cake Filling

I used Guava Jelly (Goya) since this is a very traditional Dominican filling but use any filling you like. I have used Pineapple Preserves and Dulce de Leche fillings in the past.


Goya Guava Jelly for the cake filling

Decorate Cake

Once cake and Frosting have cooled completely, place bottom layer of cake on cake turntable, top side down. Place some Frosting in a piping bag with tip #12 (Wilton) and holding bag steady ,turn turntable around slowly as you squeeze to pipe icing about 1/4 inch from the outside layer of the cake. This will prevent filling from seeping out.

Fill the inside of the cake circle with Guava Jelly using a smooth finish icing spatula.

Place the second layer on top, bottom side up and decorate with Frosting.

Frosting needs to set for a few hours in the fridge. I always place cake in cake caddy to keep it covered. For this cake I barely had enough time to frost the cake before taking it to my Mom's due to time constraints and it only set in the fridge for a few hours. You can bake this cake 1 day ahead and next time I bake a cake I will do the same. Just bring to room temperature before you serve. Serve with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Strawberries.

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys