Victorian Savoy Cake

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Brush the inside of a 10-cup Bundt pan with lining paste. Make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Dust with caster sugar and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Sift flour and cornstarch together with the salt and set aside.
3. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
4. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg yolks and powdered sugar together on high until thickened and pale in color and ribbons form when the whisk is lifted from the bowl, about 10 minutes.
5. Combine grapefruit and lime zest with flour mixture and gently fold one third of the dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture by hand, followed by one third of the egg whites. Repeat twice more until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
6. Slowly pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan and place in the center of the oven for 5 minutes. Reduce temperature to 285°F and bake for another 30-35 minutes until well risen, golden, and a skewer inserted midway between the side and center of the pan comes out clean. Do NOT open oven during baking time.
7. Leave in pan for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto a wire rack to cool completely.
8. NOTE: If you plan to make a plain round cake for the base, brush the inside of a 9- or 10-inch springform pan with lining paste, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Brush the paper with lining paste and dust the inside of the pan with sugar. Then repeat the above recipe just like for the Bundt cake.

1. Zest two grapefruits (should yield 1 tablespoon zest), then cut them in half and squeeze them to extract the juice. (You’ll need 1½ cups juice.) Strain the juice through a medium strainer.
2. In a small saucepan, mix juice and zest together and simmer the mixture on the stove for about 25 minutes until it’s reduced to 6 tablespoons of liquid.
3. To make the pastry cream: In a medium, noncorrosive pan, combine ¼ cup granulated sugar with milk and salt and bring to a boil.
4. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip egg yolks with remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the sifted cornstarch until smooth. Continue whisking while slowly pouring in the hot milk and sugar mixture.
5. Return mixture to pan and whisk by hand while bringing the pastry cream to a boil, making sure the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Let boil for 30 seconds, whisking continuously, then transfer to a clean bowl.
6. Whisk in the grapefruit reduction. Cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and cool to room temperature. When ready to use, whisk until smooth. [NOTE: The pastry cream can be made a day in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight. Before making the buttercream, bring both the butter and pastry cream to room temperature.]
7. To make the buttercream: First, make sure the pastry cream and butter are the same temperature. Weigh out 16 ounces of pastry cream and set aside. (Reserve the rest for another purpose.)
8. Place the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat the butter on high speed until fluffy and lightened in color (3-5 minutes).
9. Reduce mixer speed to medium and begin to gradually add pastry cream, one spoonful at a time (approx. 1-2 tablespoons), allowing the first spoonful to be completely incorporated before adding the next.
10. Once all pastry cream has been added, add powdered sugar and slowly increase mixer speed to medium-high, beating until you have a fluffy frosting. [NOTE: If the buttercream seems to split, use a hairdryer set on hot and point it at the bowl while beating the frosting. Heating up the bowl should bring the elements back together again.]

1. In a small saucepan, bring water and sugar to a simmer, stirring to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.
2. Add berries to the saucepan and swirl them in the sugar syrup until completely coated. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.
3. Remove berries from syrup and allow to dry on a paper towel for about an hour. (Reserve syrup for another use.)
4. Transfer berries to a shallow bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Swirl or toss lightly to coat berries with sugar.

1. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip mascarpone and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Add whipping cream and whisk until soft peaks form.
3. With mixer on low, add Champagne, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you are satisfied with the flavor. Increase mixer speed to high for a few seconds until stiff peaks form.

1. In a heat-proof mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites with half of the powdered sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering hot water over low heat. (The bottom of the bowl should be higher than the surface of the water.) Whisk the egg white and powdered sugar mixture constantly until it reaches 160°F. This will cook the egg whites enough so they are safe to eat.
2. When the mixture has reached 160°F, remove the bowl from the pan and, using an electric mixer, beat the egg white mixture on medium speed while adding the remaining 1 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, a spoonful at a time. When all the sugar is incorporated, beat on high speed until the icing holds stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted out of the bowl. (If needed, add more powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time.) Place a clean, damp towel over the bowl of icing to prevent it from drying out until you’re ready to use it.
3. Fill a piping bag fit with a small round tip (or a freezer bag with a small hole cut from a corner) with royal icing. Twist the top closed, and tie it tightly with a string or wire twist-tie to keep the icing from squeezing out the top.
4. Use the Bundt pan that you made the cake in to create a pattern for the decorations. On a sheet of parchment or waxed paper, pipe lattice decorations that will fit onto the Bundt cake. Leave to dry until you can peel them off the paper. Use more of the royal icing to adhere the hardened decorations to the cake.
5. NOTE: The royal icing decorations can be made a day or two in advance. To store the leftover icing, keep it in the piping bag and seal it in an airtight container. When ready to use it to adhere the decorations, simply poke the hole of the piping bag with a toothpick to loosen any hardened icing before piping.

1. Place the round cake on a platter. Fill a piping bag fitted with a replaceable tip with the buttercream.
2. Using a 1/2-inch plain round tip, pipe a circle of buttercream the same diameter as the Bundt cake in the center of the base cake. Fill in the circle with buttercream. Place the Bundt cake on top of the buttercream.
3. Replace the tip on the piping bag with a 1/2-inch star tip. Pipe a decorative shell border around the edge of the buttercream.
4. When ready to serve, fill center of Bundt cake with Champagne whipped cream and top with sugared berries. If desired, decorate cake with royal icing decorations. Serve immediately.

*The cake recipe is for one 10-cup Bundt pan or one 9- or 10-inch springform pan. To make both, as seen in the pictures shown here, the recipe must be made twice. I don’t recommend doubling the recipe, as it would be too difficult to fold in the egg whites completely.