Easter and a Berry Surprise Cake

First and most importantly, Happy Easter!  I hope that your holiday and celebration of our risen Lord has been as wonderfully special as mine!  We started the day by going to church with my parents for a wonderful sermon and reminder of what this season is all about.  Then picked up some things from home (including Butch) and drove to my aunt's house in Owensboro, KY to celebrate with family, and also celebrate her birthday.  It was a very special time--as you may remember, my granny passed away last summer and this was our first Easter without her.  Also, Aunt Gail is in the middle of some very intensive cancer treatments, so it was definitely a time to treasure.  Sadly, we didn't get any family pictures!  :(  Oh well...I think she took pictures of Butch in her Easter shirt ;)

My parents had asked me to make a dessert that we could also use to celebrate Aunt Gail's birthday...I had recently made lemon curd and had thought about doing a pie, but also had Dorie's Berry Surprise Cake lurking in the back of my mind...This particular recipes was chosen in January of 2009 before I was blogging, but when Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes was going through all the TWD recipes that she had missed and posted on this one I knew I would have to make it!  The cake was originally chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen (where you can find the recipe).  It consists of a sponge cake (or genoise) that is hollowed out to contain a mixture of cream & fruit, then "iced" with fresh sweetened whipped cream.  Absolutely gorgeous, light, and perfect for springtime!

First you make the cake--from the original TWD P&Q on this recipe I had read that almost everyone's cakes had risen very high and then fallen flat (due to the temperamental attitude of the heavily whipped "diva eggs" as Dorie calls them, lol).  I was honestly kind of hoping for this, b/c when Jacque made it she sliced off a bit of the bottom of the cake, put the filling where the cake had fallen, and put the bottom on top like a lid...it seemed much easier to me than trying to slice and scoop and all that.  Well, shock of shocks, my genoise barely sunk at all!  I actually tried to push it down a bit, but then gave up and cut a circle about half an inche from the sides and scooped out some of the cake with my fingers.  I did, however, still use Jacque's idea of slicing off the bottom of the cake and using it as a lid. 

 

After making the cake "bowl" you brush the inside of the cake with a raspberry sugar syrup to make it moist (genoise by nature is very dry).  Then fill with a thin layer of the cream filling, top with berries (i used raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries), add more filling, and then put the "lid" on.  (btw...I added about a fourth cup of fresh meyer lemon curd in with the filling, just to brighten it a bit.  Also added one extra tablespoon of sugar as some people said that it was not quite sweet enough.  Then you frost it with sweetened whipped cream and decorate with more berries (and I was asked to write "happy birthday gail" on it as well).

Well, this one was a HUGE hit.  It's great b/c it isn't overly sweet.  Just light and fresh.  Perfect for Easter!

              

(tried to get it home to get a good natural light picture...it did not like the hour long drive...)

I used the remaining cake that I had scooped out to fill these adorable little sherbert glasses and make mini trifles--cake, syrup, berries, and a bit of the cream filling.  delish!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter holiday to celebrate our risen Lord!