Apron Afternoons: Strawberry Shortcake Cake

This past weekend, my mom finally returned home from her 3 week long trip to China where she and my dad picked up my new little sister Myra-Frances.
This called for a celebration, which means cake.
This was Myra-Frances' first taste of an Apron Afternoon dessert. A quizzical look came across her face after first taste. I imagine she was thinking "What the heck. They never gave me this in China!" She didn't really know what to think of this new food "cake", but after her first bite she quickly learned that it was good...real good, and that she needed another bite. My mom, although not new to cake, acted as though this was her first cake as well. She took down about half of the cake after she had been on a diet of rice and unidentified meat for three weeks in China...I don't blame her.

I found this cake on Pioneer Woman's website. She created this masterpiece and she is a saint for sharing it. It's now added to my list of favorite cakes. The only difficult part about this cake is the assembly. Trying to frost over strawberries is almost impossible. The directions say to try not to "disrupt" the strawberries while frosting....I disrupted them. But I kinda like the look of strawberries peaking out from the frosting. It almost looks like I did it on purpose.

The cake part of this cake is not terribly sweet, which helped balance out the sweetness of the strawberries and cream cheese frosting perfectly. The strawberries' juices seeped into the cake and made it extra moist. My brother Sam who doesn't even like fruit was taken by this cake. I think this cake has magical powers because everyone was obsessed with it...except for two of my younger brothers, but they refuse to eat fruit even if it is covered in frosting.

Final verdict: Make it. You might eat the entire cake in one sitting and that is A-okay.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake
From: Pioneer Woman
Cake
- 1 1/2 cup Cake Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1 1/2 cup Sugar
- 3 whole Large Eggs
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream, Room Temperature
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla

Icing

- 1/2 pound(1 package)Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
- 1 1/2 pound Powdered Sugar, Sifted
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 pound Strawberries

Directions

Cake

IMPORTANT: Be sure to use a cake pan that’s at least 2 inches deep! Before baking, the batter should not fill the pan more than halfway.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl or onto wax or parchment paper.

Get all the clumps out.

2. Cream butter with the sugar in mixer fitted with paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time.

3. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined.

4. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just barely combined.

5. Pour into greased and floured 8-inch round cake pan.

6. Bake at for 45 to 50 minutes, or until firm.

7. Remove from cake pan as soon as you pull it out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.

8. Stem strawberries and slice them in half from bottom to top.

9. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir together and let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, mash the strawberries in two batches. Sprinkle each half with 1 tablespoons sugar and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.

Icing

1. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. Mix until very light and fluffy.

Assembly

1. Slice cake in half through the middle.

2. Spread strawberries evenly over each half (cut side up), pouring on all the juices. Place cake halves into the freezer for five minutes, just to make icing easier.(I totally forgot this step...maybe that is why my strawberries were so "disrupted")