The sponge cake is a soft and airy biscuit that serves as a base for preparing many desserts. But when eaten alone, it can be a little dry when tasting. However, it can be garnished with many creams to make it even more delicious. What creams exactly? This is the subject of the following article, and you will see that you will be spoiled for choice.
A Whipped Cream
Chantilly cream is a cream whose light texture blends perfectly with the airy texture of the sponge cake. It is not for nothing that it is an integral part of the traditional black forest recipe, combining cocoa sponge cake, kirsch cherries, and light whipped cream. It is also straightforward and quick to prepare, making it the ideal cream to garnish all your sponge cakes. Combine it with a fruit compote and fresh fruit, and you will obtain a fresh, light cake that will surely please all gourmands.
How To Prepare It?
You must choose an icy liquid cream with at least 30% fat for your whipped cream to rise. Also, place the bowl of your pastry robot or whisk in the refrigerator for around fifteen minutes before assembling your whipped cream to make your task easier. Place 500g of cream with the seeds of a vanilla pod or the flavor of your choice in the bowl of your mixer, then start rotating it at medium speed to make the cream rise.
When your cream becomes foamy, add 40g of icing sugar, then whisk again until the cream is well whipped. Stop the mixer when your cream has a good hold and smooth texture! Don’t whip your whipped cream too much; it will “curd.” Garnish your sponge cake previously soaked in a syrup of your choice with this whipped cream, then place everything in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before enjoying it!
A Mascarpone Whipped Cream
Adding a little mascarpone is possible if whipped cream is traditionally prepared with only liquid cream. You will then obtain a cream with a richer texture but with a foolproof hold.
How To Prepare It?
To prepare mascarpone whipped cream, follow the same steps as preparing classic whipped cream. The only difference is that we replace part of the liquid cream with mascarpone. Allow approximately 190g of mascarpone for 310g of liquid cream, and be careful not to whip the cream for too long. With mascarpone, the whipped cream rises quickly and can be sliced much more quickly!
A Pastry Cream
If pastry cream is traditionally used to garnish choux pastry, it can also garnish sponge cakes. You will then obtain a very creamy cake! Easy to make, it can be flavored with different aromas and serve as a basis for preparing other creams such as diplomate or mousseline cream. As is, it is also delicious and is one of the most miniature-rich creams in French pastry.
How To Prepare It?
Heat 500g of whole milk, preferably (but you can use semi-skimmed milk), with a vanilla pod split and scraped with the tip of a knife. Meanwhile, mix 5 egg yolks with 50g of caster sugar. Once this mixture has whitened, add 45g of cornstarch, then mix again. When the milk boils, filter it and add half to the egg-sugar-starch mixture while mixing.
Pour everything back into the saucepan with the remaining milk, then cook over low heat for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Your pastry cream is ready when it has thickened nicely. Mix a sheet of gelatin previously rehydrated in cold water to improve its hold when the cream is still hot. This addition is, however, wholly optional. You can also add a knob of butter before cooling it in the fridge, filming it in contact.
You can garnish your sponge cake with your pastry cream once thoroughly cooled. Don’t forget to remix your cream to homogenize it before filling your cake. Instead of vanilla, note that it is possible to flavor your pastry cream with chocolate, coffee extract, rum or another alcohol, pistachio paste, or praline, among other delicacies. Then, add the flavoring of your choice at the end of cooking the cream.
With A Diplomatic Cream
Diplomat cream is a creamy, light cream that can also be used to garnish all sponge cakes. Made up of a gelled pastry cream and a whipped cream, it requires a little more time and technical skill to prepare it to perfection. But, indeed, the game is worth the effort since it is of unparalleled finesse and lightness!
How To Prepare It?
Prepare a pastry cream according to the methodology explained in the previous paragraph with 350g of milk, 1 vanilla pod, 50g of powdered sugar, 3 egg yolks, and 35 g of cornstarch. Add 3 sheets of rehydrated gelatin to your still-hot cream at the end of cooking. Mix thoroughly so the gelatin melts completely and is well integrated into the cream. Cover with film and leave to cool completely in the refrigerator.
You can spread your pastry cream on the bottom of a large dish to speed up the cooling. Once your pastry cream has cooled, whip 380g of 30% fat liquid cream with a mixer for whipped cream without adding any flavoring or icing sugar. Take your pastry cream out of the refrigerator, mix it well to smooth it, and then delicately incorporate the whipped cream with a spatula. Your diplomatic cream is now ready to garnish the heart of your sponge cake!
With Mousseline Cream
Chiffon cream is one of the most delicious cake creams. It traditionally garnishes Paris-Brest in its praline version or even peach and strawberry in its vanilla version. We can, therefore, perfectly combine it with a sponge cake! Also known as German buttercream, it is prepared using a pastry cream to which creamed butter has been incorporated. To appreciate the mousseline cream at its actual value, it is advisable not to consume it straight out of the refrigerator but to let it soften for thirty minutes to an hour before eating it.
How To Prepare It?
Prepare a pastry cream in the same proportions as for a diplomat cream. Remove it to a dish, cover it with film, and let it cool in the refrigerator. In the meantime, take out 150g of butter and let it soften at room temperature until it becomes creamy. Put your cold pastry cream in the bowl of your food processor, then whisk it to smooth it. Your mousseline cream is ready. Use it immediately to garnish your sponge cake.
A Traditional Buttercream
Having fallen into disuse a little, buttercream has nevertheless proven that it works wonders with a sponge cake, as evidenced by the traditional mocha, which combines a soft sponge cake punched with coffee syrup and a creamy buttercream flavored with coffee. What if you reinterpreted this great classic by garnishing your sponge cake with a delicious buttercream?
Many buttercream versions (Italian or Swiss meringue, American, Russian, etc.). Still, the tastiest and finest tasting version is prepared using a bombard dough into which softened butter is incorporated little by little. Enjoy it once it has returned to room temperature and regains a silky texture in the mouth.
How To Prepare It?
Heat 70g of water and 200g of caster sugar in a saucepan. While waiting for the sugar syrup to heat, whisk a whole egg and 3 egg yolks at medium speed. When the syrup reaches 121°C, lower the speed of your whisk and pour your syrup in a thin stream over the eggs. Then, increase the speed of the whisk and continue to whisk the mixture, which should gain volume until it reaches 30°C.
Then add 240g of softened butter, gradually continuing to whisk at low speed. You can flavor your buttercream with liquid coffee extract, vanilla beans, melted chocolate, praline, etc. Then, add these ingredients at the end. Garnish your sponge cake with your still-soft buttercream without waiting.
A Whipped Ganache
Light in the mouth like whipped cream but with a pronounced chocolate flavor, the whipped ganache will surely delight cocoa lovers! It nevertheless requires a rest period of at least one night in the cold before being able to garnish a sponge cake, the time to let the chocolate crystallize.
How To Prepare It?
Boil 100g of 30% fat cream, then pour it in 3 batches over 100g of melted dark chocolate, mixing from the center between each addition of cream. Once your ganache is smooth and shiny, add 200g of cold liquid cream, then mix again. Cover your container with film and let your ganache crystallize in the cold overnight. Whip your ganache in a mixer the next day until you obtain a foamy and lightened mixture.
Be careful not to whip your ganache too high and too quickly. Otherwise, it will slice. i.e., To prepare a ganache with other types of chocolate, simply adjust the quantities of cream. Allow 250g of cream for 100g of milk chocolate and 240g for 100g of white chocolate. Don’t hesitate to infuse aromatic herbs or coffee beans into your cream or replace part of it with heated fruit puree! Everything is allowed to vary the pleasures and prepare original cakes!
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