It was my birthday at the end of July, and for the first time in seven years, I had a chance to celebrate it with my family in Poland. Living in the UK, I learnt that you receive cakes from others on your birthday. In Poland, it’s quite the opposite! On your birthday, you’re expected to buy – or make – a cake yourself, and share it with others. I love baking and rarely get a chance to do it these days, so naturally, I decided to bake a cake myself. In fact, I made two! I will share both recipes on this blog, starting with this delicious berry cloud cake on a shortbread base – perfect for the summer!

Ingredients for summer berry cloud cake

For a 33×20 cm tray you’ll need:

Shortbread base:

• 250g unsalted butter, cold from the fridge
• 2.5 cups plain flour (430g)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons of cold water

‘Cloud’ meringue:

• 5 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sunflower or rapeseed oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 16g vanillin sugar (popular in mainland Europe – replace with a dash of vanilla extract if you can’t buy it)
• 80g sugar free vanilla pudding mix powder (2x40g packs – popular in eastern Europe – scroll down for an alternative)

Fruit

• 500g (total) of blueberries or raspberries or strawberries

Pudding mix replacement

In Eastern Europe, puddings are a popular dessert, made from a powdered mix which is often also used in baking recipes. If you can get your hands on it, look for a cream or vanilla flavour, a sugar-free version. Dr. Oetker makes them – they usually come in packets of 40g.

Those pudding powders are essentially starch with flavouring. The ‘cloud’ layer of this cake mainly needs the pudding mix for stabilising the egg whites and adding a bit of flavour. If you can’t get the pudding mix, replace the 80g of pudding powder with 80g of potato starch and a dash of vanilla extract.

How to make a summer berry cloud cake

Making the shortbread base

This step needs to be done in advance – you can prepare the dough for the base of the cake the night before.

Place the cold butter, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl. Using a knife, chop through the butter until it turns into small crumbs covered with flour.

Add the egg yolks and sugar, and knead the dough with your hands until smooth. Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water if needed, if the mix is too dry and crumbly.

Split the dough into two parts: one larger and one smaller, around a 60% – 40% ratio. Form two balls out of the dough, place each in a plastic bag and put them in a freezer for 30 minutes or overnight.

Baking the base

Line a 33x20cm baking tray with paper. Take the larger ball of dough out of the freezer and grate it onto the tray. Lightly press down to create a base.

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (375°F).

Bake the base of the cake for 20 minutes, then remove it from the oven.

Preparing the ‘cloud’ meringue layer

Whilst the base of the cake is cooling down, prepare the next layer.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks, using an electric mixer. Then, continue mixing whilst slowly adding the sugar, spoon by spoon.

Do not stop mixing. Slowly add the starch (or pudding powder), spoon after spoon.

Keep mixing. If you replaced the pudding mix with starch, add a dash of vanilla extract. Slowly pour the oil into the mixture whilst whisking.

Assembling the cake

Gently pour the ‘cloud’ mixture onto the baked base. Smooth it with a spatula. Add around 500g fresh berries on top of the cloud layer. I used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Lightly press the fruit down.

Take the remaining small ball of dough out of the oven and grate it onto the fruit.

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Bake your berry cloud cake for 35 minutes, then take it out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Serve your cake lightly dusted with icing sugar.

Nutritional value of berry cloud cake

The whole recipe has approximately 5750 kcal, 305 grams of fat, 695 grams of carbs, 38 grams of fibre and 83 grams of protein.

Assuming you cut it into 18 slices, each slice will have approximately 319 kcal, 17 grams of fat, 38 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fibre and 4.5 grams of protein. It’s not exactly a salad, but it’s delicious!

How to store berry cloud cake

Depending on your climate, you might be able to store this cake in room temperature for a couple of days. I typically store it in the fridge – the fruit hold moisture, and we don’t want them to get mouldy! The cake should last 4 days in the fridge. I haven’t tried freezing it.

Ben Appetit!

So there you have it – a recipe for one of my favourite cakes of all times. I made it repeatedly a few years ago, but then forgot about it until this summer. And I’m obsessed again, it’s so good! I actually have a draft post with a recipe for this cake on the blog, written back in 2019! I never got to publishing that post, but I’m glad I finally shared this cake recipe with all of you. Trust me, it’s delicious!

Also see:

• Food
• Sweet