Romeo & Juliet Cake

Posted by -Lena

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Probably this is one of the most famous lines in  Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet story. But have you heard of a Romeo and Juliet cake? If you google Romeo and Juliet cake, you probably wont find many listed under the search. I have used the recipe here from Talitha of Chocorango. There is a unique combination here in the cake that calls for grated parmesan cheese to be used in the cake and guava paste as topping or filling if you like. In South America, the combination of cheese and guava paste is also known as Romeo and Juliet, i do not know why..maybe because we never have thought of cheese pairing with guava and yet they make a perfect couple. There isnt any guava paste available in my place here so i make the my own guava paste instead. The recipe for the guava paste can be found here. I only made half of the recipe for the paste..just enough for this cake.I do not know whether if i have made the guava paste correctly, the color of the guava paste is quite different from those store bought ones available in overseas. The guava paste has a strong flavour of guava but i find it a little bit too sweet for me.  As for the cake, i could have overbaked it causing it to be a little dense, a little aroma of the cheese but if you eat that with guava paste, then you wont get to taste the cheese flavour. Thanks also to HTC( Have the Cake) for organising this Romeo and Juliet cake for this month so that i have the opportunity to know the cake and the new discovered combination.

Recipe from Chocorango
3 large eggs
200gm sugar
200gm flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1tbsp baking powder ( i used 1/2 tbsp)
20gm grated parmesan cheese ( i replaced with parmesan powder)
200ml milk
40ml oil

Topping
300gm goibada cubed ( guava paste)
water

I used my home made guava paste and did not any in any water cos that's already spreadable.

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 350F.Grease a 22cm round tin. Sift the flour, cornstarch and baking powder and set aside.
2. Beat the eggs with sugarfor 10minutes on high speed. Beat for 2 minutes more on low speed. Fold in the sifted ingredients.
3.Mix in 1/4of the batter with oil and milk.
3. Fold in the remaining batter and add in parmesan cheese.
4.Spoon into the pan and bake for 25minutes. Let cool on rack. Cover with guava paste/goiabada.
 ( i baked mine at 160C for almost 50mins)

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #4- Love is in the Air ( feb2011) hosted by Cuisine Paradise and also linking to HTC ( Have The Cake).