Squishy Rainbow Dumpling Cake

Bake the sponge

1. Preheat the oven to 170 °C convection. Line the base of a springform tin (Ø 16 cm) with baking paper, but do not grease the sides.
2. Whisk the whole eggs and sugar for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture is very pale, thick and airy and falls from the whisk in ribbons. This step is pretty much the most important one for a stable, fluffy sponge. You don’t need baking powder for this recipe, the eggs provide all the lightness.
3. Sift the flour over it in portions and fold in carefully so that as much air as possible is retained.
4. Immediately pour into the tin and bake for about 30–40 minutes, until the sponge springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer comes out clean. If you have a thermometer available: the cake’s core temperature should be 94-96°C. It is actually helpful to measure this from time to time to get a feel for it. I tend to bake my cakes for too short a time.
5. Leave to cool completely and cut horizontally into three layers.

Raspberry compote

1. Thaw the frozen raspberries in a saucepan.
2. Take out a little liquid, stir the starch into it until smooth, return to the saucepan and simmer for at least one minute.
3. Add a little lemon juice if desired. Leave to cool completely

Vanilla pudding

1. Mix the starch, sugar and salt with about 60 ml of the cold milk until smooth.
2. Heat the remaining milk with the vanilla.
3. Stir in the starch mixture, bring to a gentle boil while stirring constantly and simmer for 1–2 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
5. Place cling film directly on the surface and chill completely. The pudding becomes very firm, that is how it should be.

Make the vanilla cream

1. Briefly beat the cold pudding with a hand mixer until it is completely smooth and creamy again.
2. Whip 150 ml cream separately with the stabiliser
3. First fold about a third of the whipped cream into the pudding. Then gradually fold in only as much more cream as needed for the cream to be airy and spreadable, but still hold its shape.
4. Keep any whipped cream that is not needed.

Layer the cake

1. I always do this in a cake ring. Place the first sponge layer on a cake board.
2. Spread thinly with raspberry compote, then spread vanilla cream over it.
3. Do the same with the second layer.
4. Place the third layer on top and chill the cake, preferably overnight.
5. Keep any leftover cream for a crumb coat.

Layers from bottom to top: sponge → raspberries → vanilla cream → sponge → raspberries → vanilla cream → sponge.

Coat the cake and shape the whipped cream dome

1. Mix the leftover vanilla cream with the remaining whipped cream to make a lighter cream. Coat the cake thinly with it to bind crumbs and smooth out uneven areas. Chill.
2. Whip the additional cream until it holds its shape, but does not become grainy.
3. Shape it into a generous, rounded dumpling dome on the cake. Chill thoroughly.

Cover with marzipan and decorate

1. Knead the marzipan until pliable, take off a walnut-sized piece for the dumpling tip and another very small amount for the eyes and mouth (10-15 g is enough for that). Roll the rest into a circle about 2–3 mm thick (32 cm in diameter). The surface must be large enough to cover the dome and sides. I always roll it out between two layers of cling film.
2. Shape the tip, colour 10 g marzipan black.
3. Paint soft rainbow stripes that blend into one another using diluted food colourings. Leave to dry.
4. Place the marzipan tip on the cake first. It provides the shape beneath the marzipan covering. Cover the painted marzipan sheet with cling film again and carefully lay it over the well-chilled cake. Gently smooth it down and trim at the bottom. Tip: If you have never covered a cake with marzipan before, it is best to watch a video beforehand. Tutorials for Swedish Prinsesstårta are particularly helpful. The whipped cream dome makes the surface underneath quite soft.
5. Roll out the black marzipan and cut out the eyes. Shape a thin roll for the mouth. The pupils are made from uncoloured marzipan, which can be taken from the leftovers.
6. Finally, carefully press the dumpling folds into the marzipan covering with the blunt side of a breakfast knife.

Keep chilled until serving.