Cake is considered to be the pinnacle of confectionery art. Its preparation requires not only sufficient knowledge and skills, but also a lot of time. And if baking cakes, in principle, is not so difficult, then the creation of a cream should be approached with a much greater responsibility. After all, it is the cream filler that is the main component of most cakes.
Usually it takes just the majority of the time to cook it. We all remember how our mothers and grandmothers beat the mass for hours for homemade Napoleon or another cake popular then. But there are recipes that are much less complex and time-consuming. Moreover, now, with a mixer in almost every house, the whipping process is no longer so tiring.
One of the most popular fillers for cakes has been and remains a cream. Very fast to prepare, lush and light, it has a pleasant delicate taste with a slight sourness (option with sour cream). Such a cream will appeal to those people who do not like too sweet confectionery. At the same time, it is highly nutritious and goes well with exotic fruits.
Storage and use
The cream is stored for about a day, the maximum period, if kept cool, is 36 hours. Such a filler is good to use in any cakes, fill them with wafer rolls. Also, the cream is ideal for making biscuit cakes. But with cakes of puff and shortcrust pastry it combines worse. For them, it is better to use other types of creams.
Cooking features
To make such a cream delicious, it is important to follow a few simple rules. Firstly, it is better to whip it in a cold state, since at a high temperature the cream (or sour cream) spreads and complicates the process. Secondly, it cannot be whipped at too high speeds of the mixer, otherwise excess liquid will appear. But if this still happened, the cream will have to be thrown back onto the cheesecloth folded in several layers and let the rest drain before continuing to cook.
How to Make Cream Cake Cream
The main ingredient of such a cream is cream, so the choice of this product should be treated with particular care. It is best to purchase cream with an initially thick consistency (about 35 percent fat). This will greatly simplify further work. But if those were not found in the store, you can limit yourself to 20 percent fat content. True, in this case you will have to add gelatin or a special thickener, which is purchased in the store. Otherwise, such a mass cannot be whipped.
To describe the cooking process, take 20 percent cream, as they are more common in the store. It will take only three products: half a glass of cream, half a teaspoon of gelatin and half a glass of powdered sugar.
We wash the gelatin in water (you can in a sieve), let the water drain and put it in a glass. Pour the cream there and mix everything thoroughly. In this form, the composition should be left for about two hours, until the gelatin swells. Next, we pour hot water into a wide container and put a glass in it - this is necessary in order to warm the mass. Stir the contents of the glass thoroughly until the gelatin dissolves and allow it to cool.
The remaining cream at this time should be whipped with a whisk or a mixer, while maintaining a low temperature. When they turn into a lush, dense foam, the contents of a glass with gelatin are poured into them with a thin stream. It is important not to stop whipping the mass. After a little whipping all together, we get our cream. Since the cream was liquid, and we had to use gelatin, we must add flavoring at the end. This will remove a particular aftertaste.
As a flavoring, you can use almond essence. A few drops will be enough for our cream to acquire a characteristic bitter-sweet aroma.
Creamy Cream Soup with Pumpkin
The recipe for sweet cream was described above, but when we hear the phrase “cream”, it does not necessarily mean something confectionery. After all, there is a wonderful recipe for cream-based soup.
For it we will need: one and a half liters of broth (chicken or vegetable, depending on preference), about 400 grams of pumpkin pulp, 2 medium onions, one carrot, one package (200 grams) of heavy cream, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper taste. As well as a pinch of chopped nutmeg. For serving, you need to prepare mint leaves and a little cottage cheese.
Rub carrots on a fine or medium grater, chop the onion. Stew vegetables in olive oil in a pan. The fire should be medium, stir the mass for 8 minutes. Then pour the same pumpkin, previously cut into small cubes. Stew for another 10 minutes. Now fill it all with broth and wait for it to boil. Then we cook the soup until the pumpkin is ready. In the finished state, grind the contents of the pan with a blender to the state of the cream and put it on fire again.
We are waiting for the soup to boil for the second time, reduce the heat to a minimum and add the remaining ingredients: cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg. After 3-5 minutes, remove from heat, cover the pan with a lid, leave it for another 15 minutes. The soup is served hot, spilling on plates and putting in each spoonful of soft cheese and a few leaves of mint.