White Chocolate Layer Cake with Blueberry Curd Filling

Okay I'm slacking, I'm sorry.  Normally I write these posts in advance and schedule them to go live in the mornings but when I got into work today I realized that not only did I not schedule this post but I hadn't even written it yet!  Yikes!  I guess that's what happens when you're busily trying to can 21 pounds of tomatoes or buy 1/16th of a cow (more on both of those at a later date).

So here we are, the grand finale of Emily and my Summer Seasonal Fruits and Veggies Extravaganza.  So far we've already shared the following:

• Watermelon Slush - TOTALLY refreshing and only about 80 calories per serving!
• BLT Corn Salad Wrap - Fresh and crisp take on an old classic.
• Cherry BBQ Pulled Pork Grilled Pizza - Bursting with all the delicious flavors of summer but I just wished the cherry flavor was more pronounced than it was.
• Black Raspberry Frozen Yogurt - Another healthy treat! If you use fat free yogurt like we did, the only fat comes from the black raspberries...which...who knew those had fat??

And now, without further delay than I've already caused today, here's the final course, a layer cake filled with  vibrant blueberry curd!

For those of you that follow me on facebook or twitter you probably saw me post something a few weeks ago when this was all happening about my little butter mishap.  Somehow I had completely managed to misread the instructions and put just 1/2 stick of butter in the frosting instead of 1/2 POUND.  Yep...that's only 1/4 of what was necessary and would totally explain why the texture of my frosting was marshmallow fluffy and a bit weird.  All in all, it didn't affect the overall flavor of the cake but apologize for the presentation since the frosting was a shapeless goop!

Flavorwise, this was really good.  I loved the flavor of the blueberry curd, especially.  And the petite 6" cake size was the perfect way to end our Extravaganza evening!  Looking at the directions is daunting (and I'm sure you can see how I easily misread the butter content!) but no step is particularly difficult.

I hope you enjoyed this series (also check out our last one on Apples!).  Emily and I really look forward to doing them so if you have suggestions for themes or even recipes you'd like to see made in the future, please let us know.  She might be quite busy soon with the pending arrival of twins and all but we'll do our best!  After all, a girl has still got to eat!

PS: Last day to enter the Beer Flats giveaway!  Ends tonight.  Commenting takes just a few seconds and your chances to win are just 1 (or more if you do additional entries)  in 14 right now!

White Chocolate Layer Cake with Blueberry Curd Filling

Photo Credit: Emily H.

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 4 oz white baking chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp milk

For the Swiss meringue buttercream

• 2 oz egg whites (1-2 large egg whites or about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 lb unsalted butter, room temperature (see, it DOES say pound, NOT stick...oops!)
• 2 tsp lemon extract, almond extract, orange extract, or vanilla extract

For the Blueberry curd

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

For decorating

• Swiss meringue buttercream
• 1 cup blueberry curd
• 2 oz white chocolate shavings/curls for garnish
• Blueberries for garnish

Instructions

To Make the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and lightly flour two 6-inch round cake pans.  Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper.
2. In a medium saucepan, cook and stir the white chocolate over low heat until melted.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter with mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Gradually add the sugar, beating until combined.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.  Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined.  Beat in melted white chocolate just until combined.
5. Spread batter into the prepared cake pans.  Bake 30 minutes of until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Meanwhile, prepare the blueberry curd and buttercream.  Cool the cake layers in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove layers from pans and peel off parchment paper.  Cool completely on the wire racks.

To Make the Blueberry Curd

1. Put blueberries and water in saucepan and cook over low heat until blueberries are very soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Press the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and put the resulting liquid back into the saucepan off of the heat.  Stir everything together and cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes.  The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.

To Make the Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1. Lightly whisk egg whites and sugar together over simmering water until egg white mixture is hot to touch or candy thermometer reads 140F (60C)
2. Pour hot whites into a room temperature bowl and whip with whisk attachment of electric mixer on medium-high speed until double in volume.  The meringue should not move around in the bowl.  Meanwhile, cut up butter into 2-inch pieces.  (The butter should be slightly moist on the outside but cold inside.)
3. Attach the paddle attachment to your mixer.  Add half the butter into the bowl and pulse the mixer until the meringue has covered the butter completely, forcing the butter to the bottom of the bowl.  Add the remaining butter and pulse several more times.  Slowly increase the mixer's speed, starting with the lowest speed and continuing to increase the speed every 10 seconds until you read medium-high speed.
4. Continue to beat until the mixture looks light and fluffy.  Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl.  Reduce speed to low.  Add flavoring and continue to beat on low speed for 45 seconds.  Then beat on medium-high speed for an additional 45-60 seconds.

To Assemble the Cake

1. Use a long serrated knife to cut each layer in half horizontally.  Place one layer, cut side up, on a serving plate.
2. Spread 1/3 of the filling on the first layer.  Top with second layer; spread with 1/3 of the filling.  Top with the third layer and spread with the remaining filling (reserve a couple tablespoons if you want a swirl on top like I did).  Top with the fourth layer, cut side down.
3. Frost cake with buttercream and decorate with chocolate shaving and blueberries.  To create a swirl as I did, put reserved dallop of blueberry curd on frosting and use a knife to swirl.

Source: As seen on Beantown Baker as components are originally from - Cake from Better Homes and Gardens, Blueberry Curd from Fake Ginger, Swiss Meringue Buttercream from Epicurious