Saturday, June 6, 2009

Strawberry Cream Cake


I mentioned before that I made my boyfriend two cakes for his birthday - one was chocolate mousse layer cake and the other was this strawberry cream cake. I was convinced that I'd like the chocolate mousse cake better because I don't usually like baking with fruit (waste of fruit! I like eating it fresh) and I also don't like the sourness and mush that fruit can add to baked goods. BUT, this cake was outstanding. I must make it at least once a year, maybe more. It is absolutely worth sacrificing some delicious strawberries for.




The cake that's used is like a sponge cake, that is then layered with a strawberry sugar filling in the middle and halved strawberries around the edge, then on top of that goes the most amazing whipped cream concoction in existence - and the layers continue like so. The whipped cream is mixed with cream cheese, which is really brilliant. If you haven't tried this before you must, whether it's with this cake or another or just on top of something else or just in a bowl even. And on top of that, the cake is pretty easy to make.




If this sounds good, you might also like:
Raspberry and White Chocolate Pie
Creamy Coconut Cake
Lemon Cheesecake
Perfect Party Cake


Strawberry Cream Cake
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated May/June 2006 (found on Simply Recipes)

Cake
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs (2 whole and 3 separated), room temperature
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tbsp water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Strawberry Filling
2 pounds fresh strawberries (medium or large, about 2 quarts), washed, dried, and stemmed
4-6 tbsp sugar
Pinch table salt

Whipped Cream
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 cups heavy cream

Bake the cake:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a round 9x2 inch cake pan or and line the bottom with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and all but 3 tbsp of the sugar in mixing bowl. Whisk in 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks (reserving whites), butter, water, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.

2. Using a mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat remaining 3 egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. With machine running, gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form, 60 to 90 seconds. Stir one-third of whites into batter to lighten. Add the remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert cake onto wire rack; peel off and discard parchment. Invert cake again; cool completely, about 2 hours.

Strawberry filling:
3. Cut in half 24 of best-looking berries and reserve. Slice or quarter remaining berries; toss with 4 to 6 tablespoons sugar (depending on sweetness of berries) in medium bowl and let sit 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The sugar will macerate the strawberries, making them soft, and generating liquid. Strain the juices from berries and reserve (you should have about 1/2 cup). Put the strawberries in a bowl and mash them; set aside.

In small pot over medium-high heat, simmer reserved juices until syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour reduced syrup over macerated berries, add pinch of salt, and toss to combine. Set aside until cake is cooled.

Whipped cream:
4. When cake has cooled, place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Reduce speed to low and add heavy cream in slow, steady stream; when almost fully combined, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture holds stiff peaks, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes more, scraping bowl as needed (you should have about 4 1/2 cups).

Assemble the cake:
5. Using large serrated knife, slice cake into three even layers. Place bottom layer on cardboard round or cake plate and arrange ring of 12-20 strawberry halves, cut sides down and stem ends facing out, around perimeter of cake layer. Pour one half of puréed berry mixture (about 3/4 cup) in center, then spread to cover any exposed cake. Gently spread about one-third of whipped cream (about 1 1/2 cups) over berry layer, leaving 1/2-inch border from edge. Place middle cake layer on top and press down gently (whipped cream layer should become flush with cake edge). Repeat with 12-20 additional strawberry halves, remaining berry mixture, and half of remaining whipped cream; gently press last cake layer on top. Spread remaining whipped cream over top; decorate with remaining cut strawberries.

Serve immediately, or keep chilled. If the whipped cream warms to room temperature it will be harder to keep stable while cutting. Serves 8 to 10.

33 comments:

Steph said...

Ashley, the cake looks amazing! I made this a while ago and it failed.. I couldn't fold in the egg whites! It turned into a coarse and holey mess. I thought this cake was a little too sweet and eggy, but the filling was delicious.

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Wow! I was left speechless for a minute when I saw this! Gorgeous, just gorgeous Ashley!

The Food Librarian said...

Wow! This looks amazing! I love strawberry cake!

Johanna GGG said...

ooh ah - what a gorgeous cake - I love your layer cakes. But I have the same problem as you with cooking with fruit - I love it fresh mostly - but I often bake with fruit when I think I wont get around to eating it - thanks for the info on flour too - seems yours are different from flours we buy in Australia

Deeba PAB said...

Now that looks stunning to me. I've gotta check out the other one you mentioned too, because I'm looking for a cake to bake & the summer is VERY hot here. I don't think so many laters would withstand our heat here. It's a gorgeous cake...very pretty!

Carolina said...

Ay que tarta mas RICA... Yo hice una muy parecida y la tengo en mi blog...

Estoy a dieta, que sino te pediria un trozo!!

Un beso!

test it comm said...

That cake looks so light, cool, creamy and good! A great summer cake!

Steph said...

One word: YUM!

Unknown said...

Wow, what a gorgeous cake! I love your photos!

Dana said...

Holy cow that gorgeous! I love the freeform frosting - hard to screw up! My husband would love this cake so I will make it next chance I get. Thanks!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

It is certainly no sacrifice to have this at the table:D

CookiePie said...

That is a seriously gorgeous cake!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on not liking fruit with cake, I too prefer to eat fruit fresh. But, that cake looks absolutely delicious! Eat me, delicious to be exact. :-)

Your B.F. is one lucky guy to have two cakes for his bday.

I've used cream cheese whipping cream before. it turned out great. You should try it on a giant sugarcookie sandwiched between fresh berries. YUMMMO!

Daisypicker5 said...

MMMM!!!!! This strawberry cake looks amazing. I made a Red Velvet Cake this weekend from this recipe http://www.howcast.com/videos/139827-How-To-Make-Red-Velvet-Cake and it kind of looked like your cake because it's also layered.

grace said...

good. googa. mooga. that's a phenomenal cake, and i'm infatuated with just looking at it. i'd take this over any chocolate creation out there. stellar.

Michelle said...

Beautiful cake, it looks so fresh!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Omg I love mixing whipped cream and cream cheese! And with strawberries... it doesn't get any better, YUM! :D

kickpleat said...

wowzers! someone needs to make that cake for me now!

jd said...

Now that is impressive! Your bf is one lucky guy...

Happy belated b-day to him :)

Deborah said...

Lucky guy - getting 2 cakes! This one looks so impressive!

Hannah said...

Oh, how incredibly beautiful! The layers of cake and berries look so perfect, I don't know if I would be able to bear cutting and ruining it! ... Although the taste would be worth it, I'm sure. ;)

Colleen said...

This looks beautiful - nice job!

Teanna said...

The ULTIMATE summer dessert! Absolutely gorgeous! Great job!

Mermaid Sews said...

Wow, this looks amazing. How did you get the strawberries not to run?

eatme_delicious said...

Mermaid Sweets: You mean the strawberries around the outside? I didn't do anything special. They weren't wet on the outside and they were fairly firm strawberries?

Unknown said...

I had an actual, physical reaction when I saw this cake!!!!! YUMMIE!!!!!!

pigpigscorner said...

This looks amazing!!

Maybe said...

This cake looks delicious ! The raspberries seem perfectly ripe and make me want to eat a slice or two :o)

Xiaolu said...

Mmm! Thanks for posting this. You've inspired me to make this for my own birthday next week. The only hitch is that I've never worked with whipped cream before and I'm planning to bring it to work so I don't gobble it all myself. Do you think the assembled cake (including frosting) will survive a night in the fridge then a 30 minute commute?

eatme_delicious said...

Xiaolu: Definitely it will survive a night in the fridge, and should survive a commute unless your commute is really hot? But even then I think it'll be okay if you can put it in the fridge again once you get to work. Hope you like it! Happy early birthday. :)

Xiaolu said...

Thanks for answering my question and the birthday wishes. I did end up making this and it was FABULOUS! It's even inspired me to try blogging again. I just wanted to let you know that I posted about it and linked back to this page.

http://6bittersweets.blogspot.com/2009/06/strawberries-n-cream-birfday-cake.html

Anonymous said...

I made this for my boyfriend's birthday and it was a hit! Thank you.
Who would of thought I could bake!?!

eatme_delicious said...

Anonymous: Yaey glad it worked out for you. =)