Watermelon Stack Cake
8
servingsChef de Cuisine and Culinary Manager at the Bruschetteria Food Truck for Clif Family Wines in St. Helena, CA, Magnus Young shows us how to make a watermelon stack cake. This stack cake filling gets its beautiful color and sweet flavor from watermelon molasses and watermelon butter, and is inspired by a classic Appalachian dessert. Some historians believe that stack cake was a 19th century Appalachian wedding tradition, where each guest brought a single cake layer to the ceremony, which would then be assembled and spread with apple butter. This cake features sweet, jammy watermelon butter in between the layers.
Ingredients
- WATERMELON MOLASSES
13 lb., 12 oz Seedless watermelon
WATERMELON BUTTER8 cups Watermelon puree, (from about 4 lb. watermelon)
¼ cup Lemon juice
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp Apple pectin
CAKE4 cups All-purpose flour
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking powder
1 Tbsp Cinnamon, ground
1 tsp Ginger, ground
½ tsp Cloves , ground
1 ½ cups Butter, melted
1 ¼ cups Buttermilk
1 cup Watermelon Molasses
3 ea Eggs, large
2 tsp Vanilla extract
Ingredients1/2 cup Whipped cream (2 Tbsp. per slice)
Directions
- For the Watermelon Molasses: Break down watermelon into chunks.
- Puree in a food processor and strain through a fine mesh sieve over a receptacle. Press very gently on the solids for maximum extraction.
- Transfer watermelon juice to a shallow pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Skim the surface and reduce flame to a low simmer.
- Reduce the molasses by about 2/3, which takes about 4 hours depending on the pot used. Transfer to a smaller pot as this will prevent scorching around the sides. Simmer for about one more hour. The molasses is done when it has a thick syrupy consistency and a dark burgundy color.
- Transfer to a sterilized mason jar or airtight container. Cool and refrigerate.
- For the Watermelon Butter: Puree watermelon in a food processor.
- Transfer puree to a non-reactive pot and add lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and reduce by half, about 2 ½ hours depending on pot being used. When done, it should have a maple syrup consistency and burgundy color.
- Add sugar and bring temperature to 212°F, whisk in pectin, and continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Cool and transfer to a container and refrigerate.
- For the Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients in a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Fold together the dry and wet ingredients with a spatula, until a thick, homogeneous batter is formed.
- Using butter or pan spray, grease three 9”parchment-lined cake pans. If you do not have enough pans, bake the cakes in batches. Pour approximately 2¼ cups of batter in each pan. Gently tap the cake pans on a countertop to evenly distribute the batter.
- Bake cakes for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking process. When done, they should be pale golden in color. Use a cake tester to verify. Transfer the pans to wire racks to cool for 20 minutes.
- Once cooled, run a spatula around the edge of the cakes to free them from the pan and carefully invert them onto the racks. Remove the parchment paper from each cake. Cool for 3-4 hours.
- For Assembly: Carefully slice each of the three cakes in half horizontally to create six total layers.
- Using an offset spatula or pastry brush, liberally paint each layer with ¾ cup of Watermelon Butter and stack the layers on top of each other.
- Dust the cake with powdered sugar, as desired, and serve with whipped cream.
Watermelon Stack Cake
Notes
- Source: Magnus Young, Chef de Cuisine, Clif Family Winery and Bruschetteria Food Truck
