Neapolitan Cake | Festive Holiday Cakes

The Neapolitan cake is a festive and decorative cake layered with jam, whipped cream, and coconut flakes. Each bite is filled with a burst of flavors!

December is the month for baking cakes and cookies. Here I am with this month's challenge from the Baking Partners.

We had three different cake recipes that we could choose from, and I chose this particular Neapolitan cake for its very festive colors and theme.

Also, as this is my first challenge with the group, I wanted to try something new that I have never made before, and this cake had a few techniques that were new to me.

This recipe, the Neapolitan Christmas cake, was suggested by Suja of Kitchen Corner. Thanks, Suja, for introducing us to a great recipe. This recipe is from the 'FamilyCircle-Best-Ever Cakes and Cookies' Book. The recipe is a little bit time-consuming, but trust me, it is a must-try cake.

Ingredients to make Neapolitan Cake (Make 12 slices)

For the Neapolitan cake -

• Cake flour(not self rising)- 1 cup * ( Substitution: see notes)
• Ground almonds - ½ cup
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - ¼ tsp
• Egg whites - from 8 eggs (about 1 cup)
• Cream of tartar - ¼ tsp
• Granulated sugar - ¾ cup
• Almond extract - ¼ tsp
• Green and red food coloring - to get the preferred color in the cake batter

Ingredient note

Cake flour Substitute: For 1 cup cake flour - 2 tablespoons cornstarch + the rest of all-purpose flour/Maida.

The easiest way to make it is by putting cornstarch in a cup and then filling up the cup with all-purpose flour.

Filling and topping -

• Corn starch - 2 tbsp
• Heavy cream - 2 cups
• Confectionery sugar - 2 tbsp
• Strawberry jam - ¼ cup
• Coconut flakes (sweetened) - ¾ cup

Procedure to make Neapolitan Cake

To make the cakes -

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat three 8 ½ X 4 ½ loaf pans with nonstick spray and keep aside.

• To make almond flour - use about ½ a cup of blanched and skinned almonds and pulse them slowly in a food processor/chopper until you get a smooth flour. I bought a bag of blanched-skinned almonds and used them to make my almond flour. If blanching the almonds yourself, make sure that the almonds are really dry before pulsing them.

• Whisk together the cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.

• In a mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy.

• Now add the cream of tartar and beat it more.

• Now, gradually add the granulated sugar to the egg whites and beat it at medium speed until stiff peaks form. A confession to make here - I have never beaten egg whites before, and I had no idea that I had to add the sugar really slowly, like about a tablespoon at a time, and beat it really well. My egg whites never formed any peaks. I still decided to proceed with it, and my cake did come out quite well. So do not panic if you make the same mistake as me, but if you have never done this before, take some time to watch some tutorials on Google.

• Once the egg whites are beaten and peaks are formed, sprinkle half the flour and fold it in. Now add the remaining flour and fold it in gently. Now add the almond extract and slowly fold it in.

• Divide the batter into 3 different bowls. Add the food coloring to 2 of the batter and mix them. Keep the third batter white. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake them for about 12 minutes. My cakes took
  about 18 mins.

• Keep an eye on them and test them for doneness. Invert the cakes onto wire racks and let them cool entirely.

To prepare the filling and topping -

• With a mixer on medium speed, beat the heavy cream until it thickens and becomes frothy (about 2 mins). Now add the confectionery sugar and the corn starch and beat it until stiff peaks form (about 2 more minutes).

• It helps to keep everything cold when making the whipped cream. Keep the bowl and whisk in the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill, and also leave the heavy cream in the refrigerator until ready to whip.

• The original recipe used gelatin to stabilize the cream, but since we don't use gelatin, I used corn starch to stabilize it. It worked great, and my frosting held up well.

To assemble the cake -

• Place the green cake on the platter and spread about 2 tablespoon of strawberry jam evenly over the cake.

• Now spread about ⅓ of the whipped cream and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Place the white cake on top of this and repeat the same process.

• Then place the pink/red cake on top. Layer it with the whipped cream and cover the entire cake. Sprinkle the remaining coconut and decorate as you wish.

• Refrigerate the Neapolitan Cake for about 45 minutes to firm up the whipped cream and enjoy.

 If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | twitter

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Recipe

Neapolitan Cake

Neapolitan cake is a festive and decorative cake layered with jam and whipped cream and coconut flakes. Each bite is filled with burst of flavors!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 320kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup Cake flour (not self rising)* ( Substitution: see notes)
• ▢ ½ cup Ground almonds
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ 8 Egg whites (about 1 cup)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Cream of tartar
• ▢ ¾ cup Granulated sugar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Almond extract
• ▢ Green and red food coloring to get the preferred color in the cake batter
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Corn starch
• ▢ 2 cups Heavy cream
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Confectionary sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup Strawberry jam
• ▢ ¾ cup Coconut flakes Sweetened

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat three 8 ½ X 4 ½ loaf pans with nonstick spray and keep aside.
• To make almond flour - use about ½ a cup of blanched and skinned almonds and pulse it slowly in a food processor/chopper until you get a smooth flour. I bought a bag of blanched skinned almonds and used to make my almond flour. If blanching the almonds yourself, make sure that the almonds are really dry before pulsing it.
• Whisk together the cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In a mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Now add the cream of tartar and beat it more. Now gradually add the granulated sugar to the egg whites and beat it at medium speed until stiff peaks form. A confession to make here - I have never beaten egg whites before and I had no idea that I had
• to add the sugar really slowly, like about a tablespoon at a time, and beat it really well. My egg whites never formed any peaks. I still decided to proceed with it and my cake did come out quite well. So do not panic if you make the same mistake as me, but if you have never done this before, take some time to watch some tutorials on google.
• Once the egg whites are beaten and peaks are formed, sprinkle half the flour and fold it in. Now add the remaining flour and fold it in gently. Now add the almond extract and slowly fold it in.
• Divide the batter into 3 different bowls. Add the food coloring to 2 of the batter and mix it. Keep the third batter white. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake them for about 12 minutes. My cakes took about 18 mins.
• Keep an eye on them and test them for doneness. Invert the cakes onto wire racks and let it cool entirely.
• With a mixer on medium speed, beat the heavy cream until it thickens and becomes frothy
• (about 2 mins). Now add the confectionery sugar and the corn starch and beat it until stiff peaks form (about 2 more mins).
• It really helps to keep everything cold when making the whipped cream. Keep the bowl and whisk in the freezer for about 10 mins to chill and also leave the heavy cream in the refrigerator until ready to whip.
• The original recipe used gelatin to stabilize the cream, but since we don't use gelatin I used corn starch to stabilize. It worked great and my frosting held up really well.
• Place the green cake on the platter and spread about 2 tablespoon of strawberry jam evenly over the cake.
• Now spread about ⅓ of the whipped cream and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Place the white cake on top of this and repeat the same process.
• Then place the pink/red cake on top. Layer it with the whipped cream and cover the entire cake. Sprinkle the remaining coconut and decorate as you wish.
• Refrigerate the Neapolitan Cake for about 45 mins to firm up the whipped cream and enjoy it.

Notes

• Cake flour Substitute: For 1 cup cake flour: 2 tablespoon cornstarch + rest of all-purpose flour/Maida.
• The easiest way to make it is by putting cornstarch in a cup then fill up the cup with all-purpose flour.

Nutrition

Calories: 320kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 142mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 583IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!