The Neapolitan cake is a festive and decorative cake layered with jam, whipped cream, and coconut flakes. Each bite is filled with a burst of flavors!
December is the month for baking cakes and cookies. Here I am with this month’s challenge from the Baking partners.
We had three different cake recipes that we could choose from and I chose this particular Neapolitan cake for its very festive colors and theme.
Also as this is my first challenge with the group, I wanted to try something new that I have never made before and this cake had few techniques that were new to me.
This recipe, The Neapolitan Christmas cake was suggested by Suja of Kitchen Corner. Thanks, Suja for introducing us to a great recipe. This recipe is from the ‘FamilyCircle-Best-Ever Cakes and Cookies’ Book. The recipe is a little bit time-consuming, but trust me, it is a must-try cake.
Ingredients to make Neapolitan Cake (Make 12 slices)
For the Neapolitan cake –
- Cake flour(not self rising)- 1 cup * ( Substitution: see notes)
- Ground almonds - ½ cup
- Baking powder - 1 tsp
- Salt - ¼ tsp
- Egg whites – from 8 eggs (about 1 cup)
- Cream of tartar - ¼ tsp
- Granulated sugar - ¾ cup
- Almond extract - ¼ tsp
- Green and red food coloring – to get the preferred color in the cake batter
Ingredient note
Cake flour Substitute: For 1 cup cake flour - 2 tablespoons cornstarch + rest of all-purpose flour/Maida.
The easiest way to make it is by putting cornstarch in a cup and then filling up the cup with all-purpose flour.
Filling and topping -
- Corn starch – 2 tbsp
- Heavy cream - 2 cups
- Confectionary sugar – 2 tbsp
- Strawberry jam - ¼ cup
- Coconut flakes (sweetened) - ¾ cup
Procedure to make Neapolitan Cake
To make the cakes –
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat three 8 ½ X 4 ½ loaf pans with nonstick spray and keep aside.
- To make almond flour – use about ½ a cup of blanched and skinned almonds and pulse it slowly in a food processor/chopper until you get a smooth flour. I bought a bag of blanched-skinned almonds and used them to make my almond flour. If blanching the almonds yourself, make sure that the almonds are really dry before pulsing it.
- Whisk together the cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy.
- Now add the cream of tartar and beat it more.
- Now gradually add the granulated sugar to the egg whites and beat it at medium speed until stiff peaks form. A confession to make here – I have never beaten egg whites before and I had no idea that I had to add the sugar really slowly, like about a tablespoon at a time, and beat it really well. My egg whites never formed any peaks. I still decided to proceed with it and my cake did come out quite well. So do not panic if you make the same mistake as me, but if you have never done this before, take some time to watch some tutorials on Google.
- Once the egg whites are beaten and peaks are formed, sprinkle half the flour and fold it in. Now add the remaining flour and fold it in gently. Now add the almond extract and slowly fold it in.
- Divide the batter into 3 different bowls. Add the food coloring to 2 of the batter and mix it. Keep the third batter white. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake them for about 12 minutes. My cakes took
about 18 mins.
- Keep an eye on them and test them for doneness. Invert the cakes onto wire racks and let them cool entirely.
To prepare the filling and topping –
- With a mixer on medium speed, beat the heavy cream until it thickens and becomes frothy (about 2 mins). Now add the confectionery sugar and the corn starch and beat it until stiff peaks form (about 2 more mins).
- It helps to keep everything cold when making the whipped cream. Keep the bowl and whisk in the freezer for about 10 mins to chill and also leave the heavy cream in the refrigerator until ready to whip.
- The original recipe used gelatin to stabilize the cream, but since we don’t use gelatin I used corn starch to stabilize it. It worked great and my frosting held up well.
To assemble the cake –
- Place the green cake on the platter and spread about 2 tablespoon of strawberry jam evenly over the cake.
- Now spread about ⅓ of the whipped cream and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Place the white cake on top of this and repeat the same process.
- Then place the pink/red cake on top. Layer it with the whipped cream and cover the entire cake. Sprinkle the remaining coconut and decorate as you wish.
- Refrigerate the Neapolitan Cake for about 45 minutes to firm up the whipped cream and enjoy.
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | twitter
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Recipe
Neapolitan Cake
Neapolitan cake is a festive and decorative cake layered with jam and whipped cream and coconut flakes. Each bite is filled with burst of flavors!
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Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 320kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cake flour (not self rising)* ( Substitution: see notes)
- ½ cup Ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 8 Egg whites (about 1 cup)
- ¼ teaspoon Cream of tartar
- ¾ cup Granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Almond extract
- Green and red food coloring to get the preferred color in the cake batter
- 2 tablespoon Corn starch
- 2 cups Heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon Confectionary sugar
- ¼ cup Strawberry jam
- ¾ cup Coconut flakes Sweetened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat three 8 ½ X 4 ½ loaf pans with nonstick spray and keep aside.
- To make almond flour – use about ½ a cup of blanched and skinned almonds and pulse it slowly in a food processor/chopper until you get a smooth flour. I bought a bag of blanched skinned almonds and used to make my almond flour. If blanching the almonds yourself, make sure that the almonds are really dry before pulsing it.
- Whisk together the cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Now add the cream of tartar and beat it more. Now gradually add the granulated sugar to the egg whites and beat it at medium speed until stiff peaks form. A confession to make here – I have never beaten egg whites before and I had no idea that I had
- to add the sugar really slowly, like about a tablespoon at a time, and beat it really well. My egg whites never formed any peaks. I still decided to proceed with it and my cake did come out quite well. So do not panic if you make the same mistake as me, but if you have never done this before, take some time to watch some tutorials on google.
- Once the egg whites are beaten and peaks are formed, sprinkle half the flour and fold it in. Now add the remaining flour and fold it in gently. Now add the almond extract and slowly fold it in.
- Divide the batter into 3 different bowls. Add the food coloring to 2 of the batter and mix it. Keep the third batter white. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake them for about 12 minutes. My cakes took about 18 mins.
- Keep an eye on them and test them for doneness. Invert the cakes onto wire racks and let it cool entirely.
- With a mixer on medium speed, beat the heavy cream until it thickens and becomes frothy
- (about 2 mins). Now add the confectionery sugar and the corn starch and beat it until stiff peaks form (about 2 more mins).
- It really helps to keep everything cold when making the whipped cream. Keep the bowl and whisk in the freezer for about 10 mins to chill and also leave the heavy cream in the refrigerator until ready to whip.
- The original recipe used gelatin to stabilize the cream, but since we don’t use gelatin I used corn starch to stabilize. It worked great and my frosting held up really well.
- Place the green cake on the platter and spread about 2 tablespoon of strawberry jam evenly over the cake.
- Now spread about ⅓ of the whipped cream and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Place the white cake on top of this and repeat the same process.
- Then place the pink/red cake on top. Layer it with the whipped cream and cover the entire cake. Sprinkle the remaining coconut and decorate as you wish.
- Refrigerate the Neapolitan Cake for about 45 mins to firm up the whipped cream and enjoy it.
Notes
- Cake flour Substitute: For 1 cup cake flour: 2 tablespoon cornstarch + rest of all-purpose flour/Maida.
- The easiest way to make it is by putting cornstarch in a cup then fill up the cup with all-purpose flour.
Nutrition
Calories: 320kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 142mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 583IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!
Deepali says
I have plans to bake neapolitan cake for my daughter's first bday. I will be surely using these colors. 🙂 great cake & post.
hop over to my space & send in your entries for my ongoing event - https://confusioncook.com/2013/01/01/lets-bake-love-eggless-valentine-bake/
Vardhini says
Beautiful cake. Love the layers. Thx for linking.
Vardhini
Event: New U - 2013
DeepthiDigvijay says
Awesome cake!!Thank you for the wonderful entry to
Good Food Recipes-Christmas Food Fair Event
shasan18 says
Thanks Deepthi!
Savitha Ganesan says
beautifully made ccake dear.
shasan18 says
Thanks Savitha!
Tina (PinayInTexas) says
Love how you decorated your Neapolitan Cake! So creative!
shasan18 says
Thanks Tina!
Amrita Vishal says
A beautifully done cake..great job
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Amrita!
Gheza e shiriin says
Beautiful decoration.
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks a lot!
DivyaGCP says
The cake looks so beautiful and delicious. Thanks for linking to the event..
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Divya and my pleasure 🙂
thoushaltcook says
Such fluffy sponges. Good Job 🙂
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks 🙂
Suja Manoj says
Perfectly made and the layers and decoration is wonderful,soft and spongy
my family also enjoyed,so happy to be part of the group,happy baking dear!
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Suja! happy to be a part of this group and getting to know you all 🙂
Priya says
Train train cake, catchy slices and beautiful cake.
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Priya!
Nivedhanams Sowmya says
such a delicious looking and tasting cake!!! wow... you have done it soooooo good!!!
Sowmya
Ongoing Event - Eggless Bakes and Treats
Ongoing Event - SYF&HWS - Ginger
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Sowmya! Yours look delightful too. Love the layers in your cake 🙂
cookcookandcook says
Lovely layers and colors.. Thanks for linking
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks 🙂
Manjula Bharath says
very colorful and yummy looking cake dear 🙂
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Manjula!
Priya R says
wow beautiful cake dear 🙂 sure looks like a train to me, i so want to make this cake
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Priya 🙂
Julie says
beautiful cake dear..loved the cake:)
Happy to have found your space too,following:)
Do drop by mine when u find time:)
Join EP event-Garlic OR Turmeric @ Spice n Flavors
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Julie 🙂 Happy to know you...
Swathi Iyer says
Beatiful and perfect cake, You did very well in first challenge.
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks to you Swathi for the inspiring group 🙂
Ramya Krishnamurthy says
yummy yummy.want to grab whole.thanks for linking ji.
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks Ramya!
Archana Potdar says
wow this is yum. thanks for linking
My Cooking Journey says
Thanks for the opportunity Archana!