Berry Delicious Cake

Last week my friend Michele hosted a "Pizza and Piazze" party at her house in honor of her company's National Party Day. Michele owns her own business as a consultant for Willow House and most recently they launched a new jewelry line called Sarah Blaine. In honor of the company's national party day, Michele hosted a party at her house and invited all of her friends over to participate!

You can tell right away that Michele has a lot of passion and enthusiasm for her business. She is always very excited to talk about it and share her experiences with us. Most recently she even got to go away for a week to a convention at five star resort in Mexico and was sharing beautiful pictures of her trip with us. You can tell that she invests a lot of time and energy in her business because she truly believes in it and enjoys it.

Michele had the table impeccably decorate and filled with lots of jewelry for us to try on. And for every three items you tried on she gave out raffle tickets for prizes later on. I needed no encouragement to try on all the pieces. No like I literally tried on every piece at once at the end of the night since I was having so much fun admiring all the pieces. I decided to splurge a little bit and treated myself to a nice pair of earrings and a matching necklace. The earrings were very reasonable at just $30, and I even got them for half off with my necklace purchase under the promotion they were running. And all my raffle tickets scored me free shipping on my jewelry order that night. Score!

Anyway for the party that night I knew Michele was providing the pizza so I thought I would bring a sweet treat along for dessert, since I love to bake. I found the perfect summer dessert to make a nice light finish after the pizza. This is seriously my new favorite summer dessert, second only to my favorite Skinny Taste angel food cake recipe that Mom V always makes, that's pretty incredible too. This was a tab bit more work though.

The 'hardest' part about this recipe was learning to make the meringue. I never made meringue before, so after the first batch did not work I turned to google for some helpful tips on how to properly whip my eggs into shape! I learned that it is best to start with room temperature eggs, if your eggs are still cold put them in a warm bowl of water to bring them up to temperature quicker. You should also add the sugar in slowly versus all at once. And you can also add a little cream of tartar to help firm it up. It took me two tries, and 6 eggs to get it right but the second time around it was much easier to see when they were done thanks to the helpful preparation tips.

I'm happy to report that this cake turned out incredible, it was worth the extra work of making the meringue. It was also a little difficult to get the meringue out of the pan and flip it on top so mine did not win points for being pretty but it made up for it in taste. I think it was even more delicious the next day when I ate the crumbs of the last piece. The cake itself was so light and I absolutely loved the taste the almond extract added to it. Paired with all the fresh berries inside it was so light and delicious. The whole thing practically went and got many compliments. I def enjoyed it and can't wait to make it again perhaps for a bbq.

Blitze Berry Torte (5 pt +)
Source: Weight Watchers

3 large egg white(s)
1/2 cup(s) sugar
1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 cup(s) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce
2 large uncooked egg yolk(s)
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup(s) fat-free half-and-half (I used my coffee mate vanilla creamer)
2 Tbsp sliced almonds
3 Tbsp light sour cream
1 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup(s) strawberries, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup(s) fresh blueberries, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup(s) raspberries, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Whip egg whites just until they hold a soft peak. Next, add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, while beating, until the egg whites are stiff and glossy; set meringue aside.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl; set aside. Beat butter with an electric mixer until light and airy. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and cream the mixture until light and fluffy; add the applesauce, beat to combine and then add the egg yolks and almond extract; beat to combine. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the half-and-half, mixing to combine.

Pour batter into prepared pans and smooth the tops; gently spread each with half the meringue and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of almonds. Bake until meringue begins to turn golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sour cream and brown sugar; mix in berries and set aside. Allow cakes to cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, turn meringue-side up and cool completely. Place one cake layer, meringue-side down, on a serving plate, spread with berry mixture and top with second layer, meringue-side up. Slice into 10 pieces and serve.