I don’t like baking the same recipes again and again :D. I constantly have fights with mom because she is terrified when I enter the kitchen with something new in mind.
But what is the fun in doing something you have already mastered. One should keep trying new stuff and upgrade themselves. I do revisit my tried and tested recipes occasionally. But I am all up for new challenges.
Baking is some sort of therapy for me. Even if a recipe requires me to slog several hours at a stretch, I am still a happy person.
The Peek-a-boo Cake is the cutest thing I have ever baked. Isn’t it!!
And lemme tell you, it isn’t tough at all.
Basically, cut out some shapes from a pound cake and bake them in another pound cake batter. Just keep few things in mind-
- Use only a pound cake recipe.
- Refrigerate the cake for a few hours before using a cookie cutter to cut the shapes.
- You can use any cookie cutter you want, but the simpler the design the better it is replicated. For example, a circle or a heart has lesser curvature than a rabbit or a christmas tree. So they always appear cleaner and sharper in the final cake.
- Do not use a cookie cutter that is too big in size or else the batter won’t cover it completely. And it will all be a flop show.
- The batter needs to be thick enough to hold the shapes together.
- Put a thin layer of batter on the bottom of the loaf tin . Then place the cake cutouts close together , all along the length of the pan. This step ensures that when you cut into the cake, each slice has the cutout in it.
- And don’t worry about overbaking the first cake, because an oven always bakes a cake from outside to inside.
A Peek-a-boo Cake is a fabulous cake which always stuns the guests. And the recipe can be customized to what you like. A pumpkin cookie cutter could be used for thanksgiving, a heart for valentine’s and so on.
Trying it for the first time, I chose a relatively easy shape- a cute little butterfly. And to my joy it came out perfectly.
It is a chocolate pound cake butterfly in a vanilla pound cake with mascarpone cheese in it. The mascarpone cheese adds a lovely flavour to the pound cake. Soft, dense and yummy. It melts in your mouth.
And it’s a perfect choice for a Peek-a-boo Cake.
Recipe for Vanilla Pound Cake with mascarpone
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package of mascarpone cheeese, softened
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees and butter and dust a 9*5 inch loaf pan.
- Stir together the mascarpone and butter. Add the egg milk and vanilla.
- Seperately whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Add the flour mix to the mascarpone mix until just combined.
- Pour in the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.
For assembling the Peek-a-boo Cake, you need-
- 1 Chocolate pound cake (I used a store brought cake for this)
Refrigerated and cut into slices as thick as the cookie cutter you are using. Use Wilton’s cookie cutter to cut out butterfly shapes from the slices.
- Pour a thin layer of the batter(Vanilla pound cake with mascarpone) at the bottom of the loaf pan.
- Stack the butterflies end to end all along the length of the pan. Cover with the rest of the batter.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clear or with a few crumbs.
- Wait for 15-20 minutes before inverting on a wire rack. Cool completely. Slice and stun 🙂
Perfectly moist buttery vanilla cake with chocolate butterflies in the center of each slice. Deliciously cute!!
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