cake 9: sunshine cake

this is Ryan's Sunshine Cake! it was super delicious, but the angel food cake collapsed on me. the point is, it still tasted good. first, lets get to the ingredients:

- 9 egg yolks

- 7 egg whites

- 1 1/2 cups of sugar

- 1 2/3 cups of flour

- 3 tablespoons of grated orange rind

- 1/4 cup of orange juice

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 2 cups of chopped strawberries

- 1 1/2 cups of raspberries

- 1/2 cup of mango

if you have ever wondered what nine egg shells look like when piled on top of each other, well, there you have it. pretty awesome. first, prep your pan with shortening and flour. in a large bowl, beat together all nine of the egg yolks, half of the sugar, the flour, orange rind and orange juice until it's well blended. 

in another bowl and using clean beaters, beat the eggs whites with the salt until soft peaks form. add the remaining sugar, about two tablespoons at a time, until stiff peaks start to form. 

with a spatula, gently fold in one-third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture. fold in the remaining whites, until no streaks are left. scrape it into your pan and smooth the top. bake it in a 350℉ oven until the top springs back when you touch it lightly, which is about fifty minutes. i will tell you why my cake probably collapsed. firstly, if you see that your cake is getting brown on top well before it's supposed to be done, use tinfoil to make a tent on top to prevent it getting any darker and then continue baking it until it's done. what happened was, while i was checking it, i kind of pushed it back into the oven forcefully, and i think it was just too much movement for an uncooked cake, so it folded on itself, and hence, it was not as tall as it was supposed to be. here is a picture of what it looks like without anything on it.

so as you can see, that's sort of a disaster! like i said before, it still tasted great. now you have to let it cool for three hours. 

the next step is the citrus (lemon) curd. here is what you need:

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup of sugar

- 1/2 cup of orange juice

- 1/2 cup of lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch

- 1/4 cup of butter

this is where i made a mistake! you have to mix all these ingredients in the pan (save the butter) and then bring it to a boil. DON'T TURN ON THE BURNER BEFORE YOU DO THIS! i wasn't thinking and cracked an egg into a hot pan and it cooked the egg instantly. it was one of those moments where i cracked the egg and was opening the shell over the pan, and it was slow motion and i wanted to stop myself, but i couldn't! so, put all your ingredients in the pan, whisk them together, and then turn on your burner and bring it to a boil. let it boil for exactly one minute, constantly whisking. remove it from the heart, whisk in the butter until it's all melted, and then strain it through a fine sieve. this part is crucial, because there will be small pieces of egg in there which you don't want in your curd. once you do this, your curd will look clean and perfect!

put some plastic wrap on it right away and put it in the fridge to cool for at least two hours, but at most, two days. 

your fruit should have been chopped up by now, but if it isn't, GO! a quick tip for all you folks out there: mangoes are impossible to cut! it is the worst job ever. i swear that i will never do it again, it is so not worth it. next time, canned stuff. when everything is ready, spread some of the curd on top of your cake, and then top it with your fruit! 

and there you have it! a delicious Sunshine Cake! hopefully someone reading has learned from my many mistakes with this one. next up is my dad!!!! can't wait!