More Nigella recipes

Winter Wonderland Cake

by Nigella

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Introduction

Perhaps, like me, you find yourself at Christmas surrounded by those who abominate dried fruit in all its seasonal manifestations. If so, this may well be the cake you need in your life. Its snowy marshmallow icing — which tastes rather like the interior of a Tunnock’s Teacake — looks fabulously festive, even when you don’t get your old Christmas cake decorations out to adorn it, as I have here! The cake it covers (and fills) is deeply, darkly, lusciously chocolatey, intense enough to counter the sweet icing and tartly offset by a layer of raspberries in the middle. True, these are not seasonal, but I don’t expect you to use fresh: give them time enough to thaw, and frozen raspberries do the job perfectly. Unlike a Christmas cake proper, the Winter Wonderland Cake really does need to be iced and eaten on the same day, though you can make the cake a day ahead, so long as you wrap it airtight once it’s cold.

Of course, if you, like me, adore Christmas Cake, then do supplement with either my Easy-Action Christmas Cake, Gorgeously Golden Fruit Cake, which is gluten-free, as is the luscious Date and Marmalade Christmas Cake which is also dairy-free — and, of course, the dark and sultry Chocolate Fruit Cake!

And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding.

For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding.

For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Image of Nigella's Winter Wonderland Cake — Photo by Nigella

Ingredients

Serves: 8-10 slices

Metric Cups

FOR THE CAKE

150 grams unsalted butter cut into 5 slices, plus extra for greasing
100 grams dark chocolate 70% cocoa, bashed and broken up inside the packet
100 grams soft dark muscovado sugar
125 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
200 grams plain flour (sieved/sifted)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50 grams cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
50 grams sour cream (serve the rest of the tub with the cake, if you like)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING AND ICING

150 grams frozen raspberries
2 large egg whites or 2 sachets/4 teaspoons egg white powder
150 grams golden syrup
125 grams caster sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice
pinch of fine salt

FOR THE CAKE

10 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 5 slices, plus extra for greasing
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate 70% cocoa, bashed and broken up inside the packet
½ cup soft dark brown sugar
⅔ cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⅔ cups all-purpose flour (sieved/sifted)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons sour cream (serve the rest of the tub with the cake, if you like)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING AND ICING

1⅓ cups frozen raspberries
2 large egg whites or 2 sachets/4 teaspoons meringue powder
½ cup golden syrup or light corn syrup
⅔ cup superfine sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice
pinch of fine salt

Method

Heat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/350ºF. Grease 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins (preferably not loose-bottomed — see Additional Information, below) with butter and line the bases with circles of baking paper.
Over low heat, start melting the butter in a heavy based saucepan of 22-23cm/9in diameter. Put the kettle on. Tip the bashed chocolate pieces into the pan, and when the butter and chocolate are all but completely melted, pour in 250ml/1 cup freshly boiled water, followed by both sugars, stirring very gently to get rid of any lumps. When you have a smooth liquid, take the pan off the heat and leave the mixture to cool a little.
Meanwhile, measure the baking powder, flour, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl. Loosely whisk the eggs, soured cream and vanilla extract together in a measuring jug.
Tip the dry ingredients into the saucepan, and whisk slowly and carefully until smooth. Then gradually whisk in your jug of wet ingredients until everything’s incorporated and the batter is dark and glossy.
Divide the batter equally between the prepared tins, and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes: the top of the cakes should be set (don’t worry about the cracks) and coming away from the tins at the edges. A cake tester will come out mostly dry but still slightly smudged with chocolate.
Leave to cool on a rack for 15 minutes or until you can handle the tins without oven gloves. Turn the cakes out, peel off the baking paper, and leave until cold.
While you wait, tip the frozen raspberries onto a lipped plate in one layer and leave to thaw.
You can leave the cold cakes, covered, for a couple of hours, if needed, before icing them. But once the cake is filled and iced, it really is at its best served within 1½ hours.
Now to the icing, which requires a bowl and pan that you can fashion into a double boiler. Put 2cm/¾in of water into the pan, and bring to a simmer. Put the egg whites into a wide-ish heatproof bowl that will fit over your pan (if you’re using the egg white powder, make it up first according to packet instructions). You want the gentle steam from the water to heat the base of the bowl, but no water should touch it ever! Add the golden syrup, caster sugar, lemon juice and salt and, using an electric hand-held whisk, beat the mixture vigorously for 5 minutes: it starts off rather yellowy and very liquid, but when the 5 minutes are up, you will have a firm, thick voluminous and snowy meringue mixture. Lift the bowl immediately off the saucepan and place it on the cool kitchen surface.
Sit one of the sponges, domed side down, on a cake stand or plate — 23cm/9in diameter at most or it will look lost — and spread enough of the icing to give you a layer of about 1cm/½in thick. Then top with the thawed raspberries, leaving a pure white ring of icing about 2cm/¾in wide all around the edge.
Gently sit the other sponge, domed side uppermost, on top. Ice the top and sides, using a couple of spatulas for ease, swirling the top and smoothing the sides as best you can.
Adorn with Christmas decorations if you wish, then leave for 30 mins or up to 1½ hours before you slice into it. Serve with the extra soured cream, if you like, and joy in your heart. Store leftovers for 1 day in an airtight container in a cool place.

Heat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/350ºF. Grease 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins (preferably not loose-bottomed — see Additional Information, below) with butter and line the bases with circles of baking paper.
Over low heat, start melting the butter in a heavy based saucepan of 22-23cm/9in diameter. Put the kettle on. Tip the bashed chocolate pieces into the pan, and when the butter and chocolate are all but completely melted, pour in 250ml/1 cup freshly boiled water, followed by both sugars, stirring very gently to get rid of any lumps. When you have a smooth liquid, take the pan off the heat and leave the mixture to cool a little.
Meanwhile, measure the baking powder, flour, baking soda, unsweetened cocoa powder and salt into a bowl. Loosely whisk the eggs, soured cream and vanilla extract together in a measuring jug.
Tip the dry ingredients into the saucepan, and whisk slowly and carefully until smooth. Then gradually whisk in your jug of wet ingredients until everything’s incorporated and the batter is dark and glossy.
Divide the batter equally between the prepared tins, and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes: the top of the cakes should be set (don’t worry about the cracks) and coming away from the tins at the edges. A cake tester will come out mostly dry but still slightly smudged with chocolate.
Leave to cool on a rack for 15 minutes or until you can handle the tins without oven gloves. Turn the cakes out, peel off the baking paper, and leave until cold.
While you wait, tip the frozen raspberries onto a lipped plate in one layer and leave to thaw.
You can leave the cold cakes, covered, for a couple of hours, if needed, before icing them. But once the cake is filled and iced, it really is at its best served within 1½ hours.
Now to the icing, which requires a bowl and pan that you can fashion into a double boiler. Put 2cm/¾in of water into the pan, and bring to a simmer. Put the egg whites into a wide-ish heatproof bowl that will fit over your pan (if you’re using the meringue powder, make it up first according to packet instructions). You want the gentle steam from the water to heat the base of the bowl, but no water should touch it ever! Add the golden syrup or light corn syrup, superfine sugar, lemon juice and salt and, using an electric hand-held whisk, beat the mixture vigorously for 5 minutes: it starts off rather yellowy and very liquid, but when the 5 minutes are up, you will have a firm, thick voluminous and snowy meringue mixture. Lift the bowl immediately off the saucepan and place it on the cool kitchen surface.
Sit one of the sponges, domed side down, on a cake stand or plate — 23cm/9in diameter at most or it will look lost — and spread enough of the icing to give you a layer of about 1cm/½in thick. Then top with the thawed raspberries, leaving a pure white ring of icing about 2cm/¾in wide all around the edge.
Gently sit the other sponge, domed side uppermost, on top. Ice the top and sides, using a couple of spatulas for ease, swirling the top and smoothing the sides as best you can.
Adorn with Christmas decorations if you wish, then leave for 30 mins or up to 1½ hours before you slice into it. Serve with the extra soured cream, if you like, and joy in your heart. Store leftovers for 1 day in an airtight container in a cool place.

Additional Information

Tip
If you only have loose-bottomed tins, then cut the baking paper circles slightly bigger than the bases so they go up the sides of the tins just a little.

Note: if using fresh egg whites, the icing is only lightly cooked, so may not be suitable for people with a weakened immune system. If this is a worry, we suggest using the powdered egg white option.

MAKE AHEAD / STORE:
The sponges can be made 1 day ahead. Cool completely, carefully wrap in food wrap and store in an airtight container. The sponges can be frozen. Cool completely, carefully wrap each in a double layer of food wrap and a double layer of foil and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap the sponges and leave on a wire rack for about 2 hours. Use the same day.
Leftovers can be stored for up to a day in the fridge, but the cake really is at its best eaten on the same day.

Tip
If you only have loose-bottomed tins, then cut the baking paper circles slightly bigger than the bases so they go up the sides of the tins just a little.

Note: if using fresh egg whites, the icing is only lightly cooked, so may not be suitable for people with a weakened immune system. If this is a worry, we suggest using the powdered egg white option.