It was time for afternoon tea at the gorgeous Mowani Mountain Camp in Damaraland, Namibia. The tea and coffee station was set up, probably a jar of rusks that I didn’t pay too much attention to, and a glistening cake beneath a glass cloche.
We were about to head out for an afternoon game safari, with 20-or-so minutes to spare.
Fancy a piece of cake?
In we went for a closer look, lifted the cloche and were hit with the sweet smell of passionfruit and creamy frosting. The cake was pre-cut, so one slice would do us. I guess we were sharing the cake with other guests.
The first bite was enough to win us over. It was amazingly moist, a bit dense, yet light at the same time. And that frosting. No oily buttercream or fluffy whipped cream. Instead a mixture of mascarpone and cream cheese – so it’s sweet, thick, creamy and a tad sour.
I simply had to get the recipe. I asked one of the friendly guys that manned the floor, he asked the chef and a print-out of the recipe was given to me the following day.
The recipe calls for 400 g of blueberries, but seeing I only had half that quantity when I made it at home, I made up the other half with raspberries. In comparison to the one we tried, there were a lot more berries in my version. Had the chef used half the quantity the recipe called for? It seemed that way. Perhaps frozen blueberries come at a premium price in Namibia?
This one is a lot more moist than the Namibian original – it’s still a beautiful cake, but I find it’s best eaten the same day and at room temperature. Keeping it in the fridge makes the cake very dense, so a gentle warming is needed if it does end up in the chiller.
Next time I’ll cut the quantity of berries to 300 g, or maybe just stick to blueberries.
Course | Dessert |
Servings |
servings
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Ingredients
Cake
Icing
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Try cutting the quantity of berries to 300 g, or maybe just stick to blueberries, as the cake can get a bit too wet.