Summertime Cake

I find fresh berries and a whipped icing are so great when making a summertime dessert.  The vanilla cake recipe I used can be found here.

To get a more flavorful berry, fresh is always best.

Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of extract flavor of choice

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon orange/lemon zest

2 cups heavy cream

Directions

1. Chill bowl and beaters for 30 minutes before using.  Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) CAN'T be beaten into the peak stage with any presence of fat or grease in the bowl or on the beaters- it won't whip. This is why many recipes will specifically say "start with clean bowl and beaters".

2. The cream needs to be beat to stiff peaks FIRST & separately. I also would suggest adding 1 tsp of cream of tartar to the cream to help stabilize it. Place cream, cream of tartar in CLEAN bowl (I always use stainless steel one when whipping cream) and clean beaters into the fridge to chill. After it's chilled whip it to stiff peaks then place back in fridge while you do the other part. 

3. Beat the cream cheese, extract, sugar (I used powdered sugar to again help with keeping it stiff) and I added orange zest, so its combined.

4. Then I added about 1/3 of the whipped cream to the cream cheese and gently folded it together, then I added the remaining whipped cream. Folding a smaller amount first lets things mix better and requires less folding/mixing in the end. The taste was great! Still the great tang from the cream cheese (although subdued a tad) but not overly sweet as cream cheese frosting can be.  

This is really a simple cake to make and decorate. It's basically a naked cake.