Hot summer days remind me of my mom’s chocolate whipped cream layer cake. My mother, an excellent baker, was famous for her orange cake. However, she didn’t bake cake in the summer because she didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. Instead, Mom bought a sponge bread from the store. She cut the cake into layers and frosted the layers and sides with chocolate whipped cream.
Cream cakes, or ice box cakes as they used to be called, have been around for years. Fannie Farmer’s “Boston Cooking School Cookbook,” first published in 1898, contains a recipe for French creme filling. The filling is made with heavy cream, powdered sugar, whipped egg white, and vanilla.
The war edition of “The Victory Cook Book” has a recipe that is almost identical to Fannie Farmer’s recipe. Gelatin powder is added to whipped cream to keep it stiff. The original “Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion rombauer Becker also has a recipe for Whipped Cream Frosting, only they call it Sweetened Whipped Cream and Chantilly Cream Frosting. His recipe has many variations: almond butter (roasted sliced almonds or almond paste), toasted coconut, orange or other marmalade, and fresh berries, to name a few.
In her two-volume book, the “Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking,” Meta Given devotes an entire section to chilled cakes and iced cakes. “Refrigerated cakes are ideal party cakes because they’re usually made the day before they’re served,” she writes. I certainly felt like I was at a party every time I ate Mom’s Chocolate Whipped Cream Layer Cake. You’ll turn an ordinary meal into a party when you serve this creamy, chocolaty, decadent dessert.
Ingredients
1 10.75-ounce frozen biscuit
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin powder
2 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup (mom used Hershey’s).
1 bar of dark chocolate
method
Cut the thawed cake into three layers. Dissolve gelatin in water and set aside for five minutes. Combine powdered sugar and heavy cream in a small mixing bowl. Whip the cream until it begins to thicken. Gradually add the chocolate syrup and the dissolved gelatin. Continue beating until cream forms soft but not stiff mounds.
Top layers with whipped cream mixture. Stack the layers and frost the outside of the cake. Decorate the top with grated dark chocolate. Stick two toothpicks into the top of the cake (to protect the frosting) and cover with foil. Check the cake for at least four hours. For the Coffee Whipped Cream Layer Cake, substitute two tablespoons cold extra-strength coffee for the chocolate syrup. Makes 6-8 servings.
Copyright 2008 by Harriet Hodgson