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")

3. Remove from freezer. 

4. Use a little less than 1/3 of the icing to spread over the top of the strawberries on the bottom layer. 

Very disrupted strawberries.

5. Place the second layer on top. Add half of the remaining icing to the top spreading evenly, then spread the remaining 1/3 cup around the sides.

  

 Leave plain OR garnish with strawberry halves.
Let chill in the fridge for a few hours to let the cake and frosting set. Best served chilled.

ANNNNDDDDDD..introducing the newest baker to Apron Afternoons...Chef Myra-Frances!

Family Dessert: Strawberry Yellow Cake.

My 14 year old brother,Joe, made family dessert the other Wednesday night, and it was soo good. He did not follow any recipe for this cake, he just made up the recipe on his own! (how awesome is that) I helped Joe by making the yellow cake, but he did everything else! Let's just say I could get used to Joe making dessert for me every once in a while.

The cake is yellow cake mix from a box, and the frosting is cool whip mixed with chopped strawberries. Then he put strawberry jam and sliced strawberries on top!

-Sarah-

Mom Turned 50

Never too old for a princess party...

Chocolate Pudding Cake With Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

**** ALERT- We apologize for the poor quality pictures, our cameras died and we were stuck using Sarah's phone!****

Cake:

- 1 3/4 cups flour

- 2 cups sugar

- 3/4 cup cocoa

- 1 box of pudding

- 2 tbsp. malted milk powder

- 3/4 tsp. baking soda

- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

- 1 tsp. salt

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup of milk

- 1/2 cup vegetable oil

- 1 tsp. vanilla 

- 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1- Preheat oven to 350. Cut parchment paper and fit to cake pans spray both sides of paper and the whole cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2- Combine first eight ingredients in large mixing bowl.

3- PLace eggs in another large bowl and beat well. Add milk, oil and vanilla to eggs and stir until combined. 

4- Slowly add boiling water to the wet mixture and mix well.

5- Add wet ingredients to dry mixture and stir until smooth.

6- Poor batter into cake pans and cook for 30-34 minutes or until fork comes out clean (see Strawberry Cake).

7- Remove pans from oven and let stand for 25 minutes. Turn pans over onto wire cooling rack covered with buttered parchment paper. Let cakes stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake (at least an hour).

Icing:

- 1 cup butter, softened

- 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

- 2/3 cup whipping cream

- 2 teaspoons vanilla

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (for light)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (for medium)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (for dark rich)

Directions:

1- Cream the butter in a small bowl.

2- Blend in the cocoa powder (the amount desired for a light,medium or dark flavor), vanilla, confectioners sugar, alternately with the cream.

3- Beat with an electric mixer, until the desired texture is achieved.

**NOTE** because of the additional cocoa powder more cream may have to be added in to reach desired consistency.

Strawberry Cake

This was one of the most amazing cakes Sarah and I have ever made! We really wanted to try our hand at homemade fondant... Granted, our fondant was far from perfect, the cake was still delish!!

Ingredients:

Cake - 

4 1/2 cups cake flour

5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups pureed strawberries (we used fresh)

8 egg whites

2/3 cup milk

1 to 2 drops red food dye (to make more pink)

Buttercream Frosting -

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 to 2 tbsp. whipping cream

Vanilla Fondant -

1 (.25 ounce) package unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup glucose syrup

1 tbsp. glycerin

2 tbsp. shortening

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Making the Cake -
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray three 9-inch round round cake pans. Line with parchment or waxed paper and spray the paper as well....(flip the pan over on a sheet of parchment paper, outline using a pencil, cut out and place in bottom of pan... Oooops! We did this wrong... learned our lesson, if you do not cut out the paper your cake will not be smooth on the sides.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, mix for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree into mixer and blend the ingredients together. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, or 2 to 3 minutes; the batter should be the same texture as strawberry ice cream.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye. Add the mixture to the batter in two or three additions, making sure to get it off  the sides of the bowl. mix until fully incorporated and divide the batter into the three prepared pans.

 

4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes. To check the cake, put a fork through the middle of the cake. If the fork comes out clean than it is finished.  Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 25 minutes. Turn the cakes on to a cooling  rack covered with buttered parchment paper. Let sit until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour.

  

Making the Buttercream - 

1- In electric mixer mix together sugar and butter. Whisk on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2- Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium for 1 minute more, adding more cream, if needed, for spreading consistency. 

Making the Fondant - 

1- Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick. Place mixture in top of double boiler* and heat until dissolved. 

2- Add glucose and glycerine, mix well. Stir in shortening and, just before completely melted, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let mixture stand to cool until it becomes lukewarm.

3- Place 4 cups confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and, using a wooden spoon, stir in lukewarm mixture. Mix in sugar and add more a little at a time, until stickiness disappears. 

4- Knead in remaining sugar. Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands. If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too still, add water - ONLY a drop at a time. Use fondant immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and knead again until soft.

* A double boiler is a pot of boiling water with another, smaller bowl placed inside of the water. The smaller bowl should contain the ingredients being double boiled. 


PS- Our first attempt at the double boiler for this particular recipe was a FAILURE! TO the max. Make sure your second bowl is big enough to not get filled with water at the slightest touch.


Assembly - 


THE FUN PART!

Once you've frosted the cake, sprinkle a clean surface with confectioners sugar. Take your fondant (this part was tricky for us) and place in a ball in the center. Take a rolling pin a roll fondant out flat and smooth... making sure there are no holes or cracks (we struggled with this). 

After you've rolled it out, place the rolling pin across one end of the fondant. Slowly roll the fondant onto the rollin pin, wrapping it around the entire pin. Take the pin with fondant rolled over it and carefully unroll it over the cake. from there, mold fondant to the sides of the cake, cutting any excess. Ours had one perfect side and one not so great side... Don't fret if this part is difficult! We learned a lot from just doing it once!!!