Whip Up a Cake In a Jiffy: Whipped Cream Cake

Last night I was looking for a recipe to use up an open carton of heavy cream, and I happened to come across a Rose Levy Beranbaum recipe for "Whipped Cream Cake" in Rose's Heavenly Cakes.  This recipe had instant appeal because: it only calls for a few ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, heavy cream, eggs, vanilla, and sugar); the batter can be mixed together in a few minutes; and cake bakes relatively quickly (25-35 minutes).  The only thing that requires some advance planning is that your eggs are supposed to be at room temperature.  I took a shortcut by taking out my eggs from the fridge and putting them in a bowl of very warm water; by the time my oven was preheated, my eggs were at the proper temperature. 

Beranbaum points out that while this cake might appear healthy at first glance (due to the absence of any butter or oil), the heavy cream provides plenty of fat.  To make the batter, all you have to do is whip the cream with the sugar until it holds stiff peaks, mix in the eggs and vanilla, and then fold in the sifted dry ingredients.  My cake took 35 minutes to finish baking and released cleanly from the pan.

I think that a sprinkle of powdered sugar really enhances the appearance of this cake.  The interior is lightly colored, with a fine, tender crumb.  This cake has a flavor that is pretty similar to traditional pound cake, but the texture is much lighter.  

I thought the cake was tasty, and it was surprisingly light.  The fact that it's so easy to make is a bonus -- you can literally whip up this cake in no time!

Recipe: "Whipped Cream Cake," from Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum, recipe available here at Real Baking with Rose, or here on Amazon.com.