Durian Fresh Cream Cake

This was done especially for K, who had a piece of my durian cake 4 years ago by default (I gave a piece to a friend who gave part of that to her friend who gave it to her son, K) and has wanted to eat it again ever since. K came back for holidays recently and told me that he dreamt of eating my durian cake and that if I ever bake, to let him know, and he'd come and watch me bake. And he did come today, along with his cousin Kim, and their sponge turned out better than the one I made last night for these photos.

I didn't want to bother with my long-trusted fresh cream durian cake of sponge cake layered with durian mousse. That recipe is a lot of work and ingredients. It calls for coconut milk, gelatine leaves, eggs and durian to be cooked, chilled and then mixed with whipped cream and layered with sponge tiers, and set in a ring pan overnight. A much faster and easier way would be to just mash up some durian flesh and mix it with whipping cream. We used to get a very good whipping cream called Rich's, but now it seems to be impossible to find. I don't like the whipping creams available; they taste waxy and are heavily scented. I like fresh dairy cream but it doesn't have volume, can turn into butter and whey if you overbeat it and it melts easily. It doesn't make very impressive looking cakes but since I'm a health first and taste second kind of cook, I used dairy cream for this cake.

Durian cakes are hard for me to decorate. With carrot cakes, you can use nuts and miniature carrots, choc cakes and other cakes with fresh fruits. So I went wild and covered the whole cake with durian fresh cream. Wah, what a luxury! Trust me, even if you don't like durian, you'll like durian fresh cream cake. The hardest thing though when it comes to making durian cake is controlling myself from devouring the durians and keeping some for the cake. And then after making the cake, it's hard to stop eating until it's all gone.

I prefer this durian cake than the one I posted before. And it is real easy to make too. Durians have just come into season again I'm told. Grab hold of one and make this cake. You'll LOVE it.

Durian Fresh Cream Cake (amended)
A ingredients:
210g Softasilk cake flour + 30 g corn flour
2 t double action baking powder
6 large egg yolks
90g sugar
130 ml or 4 1/2 fld oz milk
90 ml or 3 fld oz corn oil

B ingredients:
6 large egg whites
75g sugar
1/4 t cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 160 C. Get an 11 or 12 " (28 to 30 cm) round cake tin.

2. Mix all the A ingredients in a bowl with a hand whisk until smooth.

3. Whisk the whites with the cream of tartar by machine until slightly foamy, then add the sugar and whisk until stiff. Do not overwhip or the whites will not be strong enough to hold the batter.

4. Mix A batter into B, by hand, very quickly and thoroughly.

5. Pour into the cake tin and bake 45 minutes. Test by plunging a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake; if it comes out clean, cake is done. Turn onto a cake board and let cake hang until thoroughly cooled.

6. Ease cake out by running a spatula around the sides, tap it and turn over onto a cake board. Cut cake horizontally into 2 or 3 layers and sandwich each with the durian cream, covering the top and sides too.

7. Durian cake is best when served very cold.



Durian Fresh Cream
I didn't measure the amounts and this is an estimate. You can use more or less durian or cream to your liking.

300g to 400g durian flesh, mashed well with a fork
300-400 ml whipping cream or 500-600 ml fresh dairy cream
1 to 2 heaped T caster sugar (omit sugar if using whipping cream which is usually sweetened)
--whip the cream with the sugar until it just begins to come together and makes stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted. Add the durian flesh and mix well quickly.