Sam

Aug 1

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

My first cake I have ever sold! A friend reached out and asked if I would be interested in making their close friend a birthday cake. I always have said I don't really want to sell cakes or baked goods for a fear it would take the fun out of it. In this case I felt really excited to push myself and here we are, a strawberry shortcake for the blog!

I got the cake recipe from Recipe Tin Eats and also have a dedicated blog post about it, Perfect Vanilla Cake.

INGREDIENTS

Vanilla Cake:

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 ½ tsp. Baking Powder

¼ tsp. Salt

4 Eggs, large

1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

1 cup Milk, full fat preferred but I used 2%

3 tsp. Vanilla Extract

3 tsp. Vegetable Oil

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 cup Heavy Cream

8oz. Cream Cheese

1 cup Powdered Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1 lb. Strawberries, rinsed and prepped for decorating

Berry Compote, half this recipe

INSTRUCTIONS

Vanilla Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line your cake pans (either 2, 8-inch or 3, 6-inch).
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, beat the eggs for 30 seconds on medium speed.
While the beat is going, add the sugar slowly. Turn the speed up and continue beating until tripled in volume and white, about 8 minutes.
While you beat the egg, melt the milk and butter in the microwave (on high for 2 minutes) or over the stove (do not let the milk bubble or boil). Do NOT do this step ahead of time and allow the milk to cool down (this will affect rise)
Once the egg is whipped, pour over 1/3 of the flour mixture and combine on low speed for 5 seconds. Add half the flour mixture and combine on low speed for 5 seconds. Repeat with the second half of the flour mixture. Once you no longer see flour, stop mixing.
Pour the hot milk, vanilla, and oil into the large empty flour bowl.
Add about 1 ½ cups of the Egg Batter into the bowl with the Milk Mixture. Beat vigorously with a whisk until smooth.
Then pour the Egg+Milk mixture back into your stand mixer and mix on low speed for 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and mix another 10 seconds on low speed.
Pour the batter into your pans and bang them on the counter to knock out air bubbles.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick poked through the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven, let cool for 15 minutes and turn out onto cooling racks. Lay them upside down for a level layer cake.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

With a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, whip your softened cream cheese until smooth. This should take about 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
Slowly add the powdered sugar to the cream cheese, beating continuously until fully incorporated and smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure everything is well combined. Add the pinch of salt and mix until combined.
Slowly add the heavy cream to the mixture. Continue to mix on medium speed until the frosting becomes light and fluffy. Be careful not to overmix. The consistency should be thick and hold its own.

Assembly

First place your bottom layer of cake and top with frosting. Arrange strawberries around the edges and work your way in. There is a lot of ways you can do this but I chose to slice the strawberries and place the pointy part outwards.
Add the strawberry puree and spread in the center.
Add the next layer of cake and center.
Frost the cake until smooth. Decorate however you want! I reserved some leftover puree to put over the top and added some whole berries to the top and sliced berries along the sides. I also added some chamomile flowers throughout for that cottagecore cake feel.

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line your cake pans (either 2, 8-inch or 3, 6-inch).

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, beat the eggs for 30 seconds on medium speed.

While the beat is going, add the sugar slowly. Turn the speed up and continue beating until tripled in volume and white, about 8 minutes.

While you beat the egg, melt the milk and butter in the microwave (on high for 2 minutes) or over the stove (do not let the milk bubble or boil). Do NOT do this step ahead of time and allow the milk to cool down (this will affect rise)

Once the egg is whipped, pour over 1/3 of the flour mixture and combine on low speed for 5 seconds.

Add half the flour mixture and combine on low speed for 5 seconds.

Repeat with the second half of the flour mixture. Once you no longer see flour, stop mixing.

Pour the hot milk, vanilla, and oil into the large empty flour bowl.

Add about 1 ½ cups of the Egg Batter into the bowl with the Milk Mixture. Beat vigorously with a whisk until smooth.

Then pour the Egg+Milk mixture back into your stand mixer and mix on low speed for 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and mix another 10 seconds on low speed.

Pour the batter into your pans and bang them on the counter to knock out air bubbles.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick poked through the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, let cool for 15 minutes and turn out onto cooling racks. Lay them upside down for a level layer cake.

Frosting

With a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, whip your softened cream cheese until smooth. This should take about 2-3 minutes on medium speed.

Slowly add the powdered sugar to the cream cheese, beating continuously until fully incorporated and smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure everything is well combined. Add the pinch of salt and mix until combined.

Slowly add the heavy cream to the mixture. Continue to mix on medium speed until the frosting becomes light and fluffy. Be careful not to overmix. The consistency should be thick and hold its own.

Once cakes have fully cooled, add your frosting and layer the cakes!

Assembly

First place your bottom layer of cake and top with frosting. Arrange strawberries around the edges and work your way in. There is a lot of ways you can do this but I chose to slice the strawberries and place the pointy part outwards.

Add the strawberry puree and spread in the center.

Add the next layer of cake and center.

Frost the cake until smooth. Decorate however you want! I reserved some leftover puree to put over the top.

Then, I added some whole berries to the top and sliced berries along the sides. I also added some chamomile flowers throughout for that cottagecore cake feel.