What's Inside That Counts : Neapolitan Birthday Cake

Salam folks! First and foremost, I want to shout out again to my sis; Happy birthday girl! Yes, that was her birthday cake. I kinda impressed myself with the outcome. To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed when it first came out of oven. I thought it will puff up more (it only came out at one inch high) since I wanted to do a layer cake for my sister. But, I'm really not good at dividing a cake.

Still. I. Want. Layers.

So, I cut the cake into two so we can have two semicircular cake halves! Oh yeah, I did patted myself on the back. Now we were good to go. The cake was tasty, not too dense though it looks like it. It was moist and the flavors came through wonderfully. I used whipped cream to fill and coating the cake with. The subtle sweetness of whipped cream was enough to enhance the cake without overshadow it. 

Since it was a birthday cake, why not add a little flair to it. So I stuck rolled wafer sticks around the circular side and crumble some on top. Not so fancy really, but the humble look works in showcasing the lovely colors inside!

Ta-da! Pardon the messiness...

Neapolitan Birthday Cake

Makes one 8 inch round cake
Adapted from cookiemadness and allrecipes

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup corn oil

1 cup superfine sugar

1 large egg + 1 large egg white

3/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp strawberry emulco (or just 1/2 tsp as the strawberry flavor kind of overpowering the chocolate and vanilla)

1/8 cup chocolate syrup + 2 tsp cocoa powder (mix thoroughly to become a smooth paste)

2 cups whipping cream (I used non-dairy)

1. Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Grease and line with baking paper the bottom of 8-inch (20 cm) round pan
2. Mix and whisk together flour + baking powder + salt
3. In another mixing bowl, combine oil + sugar with mixer until the sugar almost dissolve in the oil. Add eggs and vanilla one at a time beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium high and beat until pale and glossy
4. Reduce speed to low : Add flour alternating with milk in three addition (flour-milk-flour-milk-flour)
5. Beat on high for 2 minutes, then stop
6. Divide batter into 3 small bowls. Add strawberry emulco in one  bowl and chocolate paste in another. Mix until fully combine
7. Pour the chocolate batter first into prepared pan. Then spoon in or slowly pour the plain batter at the middle of chocolate batter. The same with strawberry batter, start at the middle of plain batter
8. Bake in preheated 175 C oven for 30 - 35 minutes. Tester should comes out clean and the cake only shrinks away from pan after taken out from oven
9. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on wire rack
10. To assemble : Cut the cake vertically (or if you can halve it horizontally even better) at the middle, set aside. Whip the cream on high speed until stiff peak forms. Slap some cream on a cake plate, put half a cake on it. Put some more cream on the cake and smooth it out with a spatula. Stack the other half on top and cover the whole cake with remaining cream. Decorate with wafer sticks or other sprinkles you might fancy. 
11. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to set the cream before serving.

Notes:

* Pretty sure a 6-inch pan will make a smaller but higher cake that could be easily cut horizontally. Should invest in that one 

** Adding another egg white might add some more fluffiness to the cake

Bon appétit!