Hello all and a very Happy New Year!!! Welcome to a new decade hopefully filled with scrumptious food and yummy num nums…. Anyways, so over the Christmas break I perfected a cake I enjoy very much and that is Strawberry Shortcake. Although winter is generally not a season to be making anything involving fresh strawberries, this dessert goes well after heavy holiday feasts since it is deceivingly light (although filled with a million calories worth of whipped cream)
So here we go with the recipe and a couple hints:
For the sponge cake: A very easy recipe I learned from my mom that’s fail proof. You take a certain number of eggs, double that amount in tablespoons of sugar, and the same amount of tablespoons of flour. So for example, a regular 9inch spring form pan takes 7 eggs, 7 tbsp of flour and 14 tbsp of sugar (on average).
You separate the eggs and beat the whites to stiff peaks adding sugar halfway. You then incorporate the yolks with a hefty tsp of vanilla (or any other flavour you want to add to the cake) and fold in the sifted flour at the end. DON’T overmix when adding flour, a few turns of the spatula until clumbs of the flour are unseen is enough or the whole cake wont rise. Pour into a parchment lined spring form pan and bake for 30-40 minutes in a 300F (convec oven… or about 350 regular) until the top is springy and not at all tacky. Try not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes of baking (at least) so the temperature change doesnt drop the cake.
Make a simple syrup (half sugar/half water) with any added flavour you want and moisten the cake once it’s been cut and cooled.
To assemble, beat 1/2 liter of whipped cream with a little bit of gelatine (not necessary but it’ll hold in the fridge for a few days). Keep half for frosting the cake and fold in chopped strawberries into the other half to spread in between layers of sponge cake. If the dough feels too dry even after the syrup, it helps to add a little strawberry jam underneath the layers of whipped cream.
This particular cake is very yummy if kept in the fridge for at least one day (the gelatine helps keep the whipped cream stabilized this whole time). Enjoy!
So yummy!