A fruit cake for my mother / Un cake de frutas para mi madre

ENGLISH VERSION

Hello dear friends of this lovely community. Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a sweet recipe that I made inspired by my mother.
In my country we call cake to the birthday cakes or biscuits even though it is an English word. The purpose is the same everywhere, it is usually to celebrate birthdays or an important event.
In order to celebrate the most beautiful of days, Mother's Day, I wanted to make a sweet that would pay tribute to her. I went to the market and a can of canned fruit containing peaches, pears, grapes and cherries caught my eye. I immediately remembered that my mother loves these fruits, especially pears and peaches, but we don't have them within reach, so they are exotic for us.
I took the preserves and asked myself... what can I make with these fruits? it occurred to me that I could make a fruit cake. I had never prepared it before and immediately my imagination began to fly to celebrate this important day with something different and special dedicated to that wonderful being that is my mother.
The first thing I am going to tell you is that I used only 3 eggs, are you surprised? Yes, it is the most economical recipe to make a cake. Now I will share with you the recipe that a friend of mine taught me many years ago, from which you can make all the variations you can think of.
Join me in the preparation.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of hot fluid milk at 35-38 0Celcius.
• 1 can of canned fruit, 820 g (820 oz)
• 4 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Preparation of the dough:

1. Separate the yolks from the whites of the 3 eggs.
2. To prepare the dough we will use the yolks, place them in a large bowl.
3. Add the hot milk little by little and beat with a whisk. We can see that it changes color from yellow to white and its volume increases considerably.
4. Mix 1 ½ cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
5. We begin to add this dry mixture to the beaten yolk with the low speed of the whisk.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar. The function of the vinegar and baking soda is to replace the baking powder if you do not have it.
7. Add 2 tablespoons of vanilla.
8. To prepare the mold we spread butter on all its surface and sprinkle flour, to prevent the dough from sticking once cooked.
9. Pour the dough mixture into the mold and place in the oven.
   After 30 minutes check if it is cooked by inserting a thin knife in the center of the dough, if it comes out dry it indicates that it can be removed.
   Allow to cool and remove on a plate.

Preparation of the Italian style meringue:

1. Make a thick syrup with 1 cup of sugar, 80 ml of water and 2 tablespoons of vanilla. Place on the heat until it is very thick.
2. Place the egg whites in the bowl, add 1/8 teaspoon of salt and start beating with the whisk on high speed.
3. Add the very hot syrup in a steady stream, the meringue begins to form, increase its volume and density. Beat until all the syrup is added. Continue beating until it cools and the meringue is very strong.

Assemble the cake:

1. Divide the baked dough in half.
2. Open the can of canned fruit. Separate the fruits from their syrup. Moisten the lower portion of the dough with this syrup as desired.
3. Place a layer of meringue on this portion, then the fruits distributed over the entire surface and cover with meringue.
4. Place the upper portion of the baked dough.
5. Cover with meringue and garnish with some fruit.
6. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours to intensify and set the flavor.

I will tell you that at home we were all satisfied with this cake and my mother was super pleased, she told me that she never imagined this surprise I made for her, I like to see her happy and give back all the love she has always given me.
I hope you liked this inexpensive recipe to make a special cake to celebrate any occasion.

All content is original, of my authorship. The photos present in this post are taken by me with my cell phone. The images were designed and edited in Microsoft Office. My native language is Spanish, the translation into English was done on DeppL.com.

See you soon!

Preparación de la masa:

1. Separar las yemas de las claras de los 3 huevos.
2. Para preparar la masa utilizaremos las yemas, las colocamos en un bol amplio.
3. Le añadimos la leche caliente poco a poco y vamos batiendo con un batidor de mano. Podemos apreciar que va cambiando la coloración de amarillo a blanco y va aumentando considerablemente su volumen.
4. Mezclar 1 ½ taza de harina, 1 taza de azúcar y 1 cucharadita de bicarbonato.
5. Comenzamos a añadir esta mezcla seca a la yema batida con la velocidad baja del batidor.
6. Añadir 1 cucharada de vinagre. La función del vinagre y el bicarbonato es sustituir el polvo de hornear en caso de no tenerlo.
7. Añadir 2 cucharadas de vainilla.
8. Para preparar el molde untamos mantequilla en toda su superficie y le espolvoreamos harina, para evitar que se pegue la masa una vez cocinada.
9. Verter la mezcla de la masa en el molde y colocar en el horno.
   A los 30 minutos verificar si está cocinada introduciendo un cuchillo fino en el centro de la masa, si sale seco indica que ya se puede sacar.
   Dejar refrescar y desmontar en un plato.

Preparación del merengue estilo italiano:

1. Hacer un almíbar espeso con 1 taza de azúcar, 80 ml de agua y 2 cucharadas de vainilla. Colocar al fuego hasta que esté bien espeso.
2. Colocar las claras en el bol, añadir 1/8 cucharadita de sal y comenzar a batir con el batidor con velocidad alta.
3. Agregar el almíbar bien caliente en forma de hilo de manera constante, el merengue comienza a formarse, aumentar su volumen y densidad. Hay que batir hasta añadir todo el almíbar. Seguir batiendo hasta que refresque y quede bien fuerte el merengue.

Montaje del cake:

1. Dividir a la mitad la masa horneada
2. Abrir la lata de frutas en conservas. Separar las frutas de su almíbar. Humedecer a su gusto con este almíbar la porción inferior de la masa.
3. Colocar una capa de merengue en esta porción, luego las frutas distribuidas en toda la superficie y cubrir con merengue.
4. Colocar la porción superior de la masa horneada.
5. Vestir todo con merengue y adornar con algunas frutas.
6. Refrigerar al menos 3 horas para que se intensifique y se fije el sabor.

Les diré que en casa todos quedamos satisfechos con este cake y mi madre quedó supercomplacida, me dijo que nunca imaginó esta sorpresa que le hice, me gusta verla feliz y retribuir todo el amor que me ha dado siempre. Espero que les haya gustado esta receta económica para hacer un pastel o torta especial para celebrar cualquier ocasión.

Todo el contenido es original, de mi autoría. Las fotos presentes en este post son tomadas por mí con mi teléfono celular. Las imágenes fueron diseñadas y editadas en Microsoft Office. Mi lengua materna es el español, la traducción al inglés la realicé en DeppL.com.

¡Hasta pronto!