Cakes or Something

Last year, maybe a year and a half ago, I tried making a souffle style cake.... and it was massive failure. It was eggy, flat as a pancake run over by a truck, yet so incredibly delicious... it made me afraid to try it again. there was a reason to celebrate so i decided to give it another shot, but with some amount of reservation.

For A's birthday, I made this:


JAPANESE STRABERRY SHORTCAKE

recipe from here

serves many, tastes delicious. I wish I had a picture of the final product.. I think it was hailed as the 27... or was that the tiramisu


WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING
1/4C sugar
1T cornstarch
3C chilled heavy cream
1 1/2t vanilla extract

• Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir in 1/2C of cream.
• Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer briefly until the mixture thickens. Set aside to cool to room temp.
  
• In mixing bowl, beat remaining cream and vanilla on low speed until bubbles form. Add cornstarch mixture and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Don't over mix! Cover and chill in fridge.

SPONGE CAKE
4T butter
1C all-purpose flour
1/2t salt
6 eggs
1C sugar
1t vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350. Line bottom of a 9" springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper and sides of the pan.
  
• Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat and set aside.
  
• Blend flour and salt together in a separate bowl.
  
• Whisk eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, whisking constantly until the mixture reaches about 110 degrees... It became really foamy and delicious looking at this point.
  
• Beat at medium-high speed (this is important. I didn't beat at med-high speed... maybe just medium speed and the texture of the cake didn't turn out like I wanted) until the eggs are pale and fluffy. Gently beat in the vanilla.
• Stir 1C of the batter into the melted butter.
  
• Blend the flour mixture into the batter and gently fold the butter mixture back into the batter.
• Gently pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 35 min until the cake springs back when pressed lightly. Remove cake from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
  

STAWBERRY FILLING
2lbs strawberries, sliced
1/2C sugar
pinch salt
1C strawberry jam
2T lemon juice

• Toss berries, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Let stand until berries have released juice and the sugar is dissolved. Save some fresh berries for decorating.

• Heat jam in small sauce pan, stirring frequently. Bring jam to a simmer over medium-high heat until color darkens. Stir in lemon juice. Pour over strawberry mixture and combine until berries are well coated.

CAKE ASSEMBLY!!! (THE BEST PART!!)

First, begin by making the whipped cream. Don't overwhip and keep it chilled. While the cream was chilling, I baked the cake. When the cake was finished, I made the filling while the cake cooled, and timing worked out perfectly. The whipped cream was nice and cold, the cake was cooled to a great temperature, and the filling had settled with just enough juice to allow for cake soaking to begin.

Cut the cake horizontally into two halves and scoop the strawberry filling mixture onto the bottom half being sure to generously douse the cake in strawberry juices. The top half was flipped up side down so that the center of the cake was exposed. Scooping up more juices, cover the top half of the cake as well to maximize strawberry goodness. While the two layers are soaking up the delicious strawberry juices, take the chilled whipped cream out of the fridge and apply generous dollops on top of the strawberries.



This picture is of the half cake, loaded up with strawberries and whipped cream. Top it off with the remaining half and cover with whipped cream.

After chilling it all night, the whipped cream and moisture from the strawberry filling definitely kept the cake nice and moist. The whipped cream held its shape well. Garnish with whole or halved or sliced strawberries and serve chilled!

yum.


until next time.... eat well, drink well, live well.