I’m a huge fan of whipped cream. It’s rich, smooth, and fluffy, which
makes it a great contrast to a wide range of textures common in baked
goods. And it’s usually better without adding sugar.
Desserts are usually too sweet. I want them to have enough sugar that
they feel like a dessert, but it’s common to have way more than that.
Some of this is functional: in most cakes the sugar performs a
specific role in the structure, where if you cut the sugar the
texture will be much worse. This means that the cake layers will often
be sweeter than I want for the average mouthful, and adding a layer of
unsweetened whipped cream brings this down into the range that is
ideal. It’s good in helping hit a target level of sweetness without
compromising texture.
(This is a flourless chocolate cake with precision fermented (vegan) egg.)
I also really like how the range of sugar contents across each bite
adds interesting contrast!
Cream isn’t the only place you can do this. I like pureed fruit,
ideally raspberries, to separate cake layers. Same idea: bring it
closer to balanced while increasing contrast.
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