Layered Birthday Cake

Layered cakes are a big tradition in Denmark, where we serve them to birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries – any occasion really. This cake I did for my grandmother’s birthday, and even with just a few ingredients it was really good (and easy).

These are the ingredients:

- 300 g of Raspberries (I used frozen ones, from my garden, and that gave the cake both cool and taste)

- 2 tea spoons of Sugar

- ¼ liter of Heavy cream (to whip)

- Powdered sugar

- Water

- Fruit colour

- 3 Cake bottoms (If you are really cool, you can bake your own)

- Something to decorate with

Start out by pouring the sugar over the frozen raspberries. Then start whipping the cream. When the whipped cream is done, mix half of the whipped cream into the raspberries. Use a spoon to squeeze the berries, until there are no big lumps left.

Take a big plate and arrange 1 cake bottom on the plate. Then take half of the raspberry-whipped-cream-mix and spread it out on the surface. Take another cake bottom and put it on top of the raspberry-whipped-cream-mix and repeat the process from earlier. Then place your last cake bottom on the top. Now you have the foundation of the layered cake.

Make a glazing by mixing the powdered sugar with a bit of water and fruit colour. I choose a pink colour, as it seemed to fit the raspberries. Spread the glazing on the top of the cake – use a knife to spread it out evenly and create a smooth surface.

Use the other half of the whipped cream to decorate the sides of the cake. Carefully spread it all around the sides with a knife. Try to make it smooth-looking, and be careful not to push it far into the cake, as there won’t be enough for the entire cake then. To finish the look take a piping bag and use it to round and even out the top of the cake.

Now you are ready to decorate. My grandmother loves gardening and flowers, so I used some eatable butterflies, a bit of glitter and some pieces of thin gold. (These decorations were made for cupcakes, but they worked well on this cake too.)

Since the berries had been frozen, the cake was still cool and fresh when my grandmother came to visit 40 minutes later. I served it with tea, and the cake was gone in half an hour. It was a sweet birthday party, and as a host I didn’t have any trouble, as the cake only took 15 minutes to make. Happy birthday grandmother!