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Sun cake recipe
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Sun cake

This delicious cake consists of a moist sponge cake, the delicate cream cheese cream and fruity mandarin orange filling. Decorated as a sun with the airy Italian meringue, it is an eye-catcher on the dining table and is perfect for a special occasion. With the recipe you can make the cake yourself without much effort.
Course Dessert
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Cooling Time 1 hour
Servings 10

Equipment

  • Ø 20 cm baking springform tin
  • kitchen thermometer
  • piping bag with leaf and star nozzle
  • piping bag

Ingredients

for the sponge cake

  • 3 eggs
  • 85 g sugar**
  • 90 g flour**
  • 8 g vanilla sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • juice of canned mandarin oranges (for soaking)

for the cream

for the filling

  • 175 g canned mandarins and oranges (drained weight)

for the Italian meringue (for decorating)

  • 3 egg whites (113 g for me)
  • approx. 226 g sugar** (twice as much as egg white)
  • 75 ml water (1/3 of the sugar amount)
  • 2 g apple pectin**
  • 1/4 tsp citric acid powder food grade
  • 1 pinch of salt

additionally for decorating

Instructions

Preparation of the filling

  • Drain the canned mandarins and oranges thoroughly, catching the juice in a clean bowl.

Preparation of the sponge cake

  • Line the bottom of the baking pan with baking paper.
  • Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt until fluffy and light.
  • Fold in flour to make an airy thick sponge batter.
  • Pour the batter into the baking pan, bake the sponge cake in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 25 minutes and let it cool.

Preparation of the cream

  • Whip cream cheese, cream and powdered sugar to a creamy mass.

Preparation of the cake

  • Cut the sponge cake lengthwise into two equally thick cake layers.
  • Soak the two cake layers with the mandarin orange juice collected from the can.
  • Spread all of the cream cheese cream on one of the two cake layers evenly.
  • Spread the drained mandarin and orange pieces on top of the cream.
  • Place the second cake layer on top and chill the cake for 1 hour.

Preparation of the Italian meringue

  • Put egg whites and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  • Put sugar, apple pectin and citric acid in a small saucepan with a thick bottom and mix.
  • Add water and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves before it reaches a boil.
  • Let the sugar syrup simmer over low heat until it reaches 118 °C.
  • In parallel, whip the egg whites until foamy (not stiff!).
  • Once the sugar syrup has reached the necessary temperature, immediately add it slowly to the egg white mixture in a thin stream, without stopping to continue beating.
  • After the sugar syrup is introduced into the egg white mixture, beat the meringue for about 7 minutes until it becomes firm.

Decorating the cake

  • Melt the dark chocolate, pour it into a piping bag with a small hole and pipe the "eyes" and the "mouth" for the "sun" onto a sheet of baking paper.
  • Let them dry briefly in a cool place and then carefully remove them from the baking paper.
  • Transfer a small amount of the Italian meringue into a clean bowl and color it with pink food coloring.
  • Color the remaining Italian meringue with yellow food coloring.
  • Coat the top and sides of the cake completely with the yellow Italian meringue.
  • Transfer the remaining yellow meringue to the piping bag with the leaf spout and pipe "sunbeams" around the sides of the cake.
  • Transfer the remaining yellow meringue to a piping bag with a small hole and pipe balls on the surface around the edge of the cake.
  • Place the "eyes" and "mouth" of the "sun" on the cake.
  • Pour a very small amount of the pink cream into a piping bag with a hole and pipe the "cheeks" of the "sun".
  • Fill the remaining pink cream into the piping bag with the star nozzle and pipe flowers on the "head" of the "sun".

Notes

  • You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the cream cheese cream to taste.
  • Apple pectin can be omitted from the Italian meringue. However, with pectin the meringue is more stable, so it is a little easier to work with.
  • Do not overdo it with the apple pectin, or the Italian meringue may become too firm.
  • To cook the sugar syrup for the Italian meringue, you will need a kitchen thermometer**.
  • For piping the "sunbeams", you can use open star nozzle or pleated piping nozzle, among others, instead of leaf nozzle.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the sun cake at the top of the post.