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!

Valentines Dessert: Chocolate Espresso Semifreddo

So you are craving ice cream, but you open the fridge and all that is to be found is a bag of frozen peas and a lunch box ice pack. You really want a nice, smooth, frozen treat though. You close the fridge door in defeat and opt to snack on some old store bought cookies. Well, put those cookies down and listen to what I have to share with you. Semifreddo. Aka Semifreakindelicious. This is the next best thing to ice cream, and if you have a few eggs, some cream cheese, whipping cream and chocolate you are well on your way to fulfilling your frozen dessert dreams :) The only problem with this though is that you must make it a few hours prior to eating to give it time to freeze. Waiting for it to freeze might be some of the worst or best hours of your life. Knowing what awaits your taste buds is certainly enough to make you happy but realizing how long you must wait will probably/most definitely make you unhappy. But first things first: let me share the procedures to what may seem like a very difficult dessert to make, but trust me, you can do it!

This dessert involves a lot of steps, so it will be helpful to cut, measure, soften, melt, or anything else that needs to happen to the ingredients prior to preparing it. I found myself rushing to chop chocolate and crack eggs while I was trying to whisk some whipping cream while cooking a cookie crust. Whoo. I ended up making a mistake(oops). I used egg whites where there was supposed to be egg yolks, so I ended up with more egg whites then called for. So don't feel like you must be a great baker to make this. I already messed this recipe up by adding extra egg whites, so I got you on that.  Just read the directions, and then read them again, and then once more. Maybe one more time for safe measures.

This was THE PERFECT Valentines day dessert. Smooth, rich, and chocolaty with a  strong coffee flavor and a nice crunchy cookie crust. Throw some strawberries and drizzled chocolate on top and you have something that will impress all the people you love. This might remind you of last year's Valentines dessert seeing as though it had strawberries, Kahlua, and chocolate too. I just love that combination. You can never go wrong with it. 

Chocolate Espresso Semifreddo
From: Brown Eyed Baker
Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1¾ cup chocolate cookie crumbs (I used chocolate cream filled Oreos)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the semifreddo:

• 3 ounces espresso (I used dark roast coffee)
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon Kahlua or coffee liquor
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (or chocolate chips)
• 16 ounces cream cheese or Mascarpone cheese(softened or room temp.)
• 2 ounces heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
2. Combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter and press into the bottom of the springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Over a double boiler, whisk together the YOLKS (not whites) and 2 tablespoons of sugar until it is pale yellow and thick. Add espresso, Kahlua, and vanilla. 

 Separating the eggs and measuring out Kahlua and coffee.

 *This is supposed to be egg yolks in the double boiler, but I decided to be completely oblivious and add egg whites. 

4. Place over simmering water and whisk continuously and vigorously until liquid coats the back of a spoon and the mixture is thick and foamy.

 5. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until melted and continue stirring until cooled.

6. In a separate bowl, stir together the cream cheese and heavy cream until smooth. Do not over stir. Make sure our cream cheese is very soft so it does not become clumpy.

7. Place egg whites and 1/3 cup sugar in a mixing bowl. Whip on medium high until stiff peaks form. 

8. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the chocolate mixture until there are no streaks left.

9. Fold 1/4 of the meringue (egg white mixture) into the chocolate-cream cheese mixture. Fold in the remaining meringue in three parts. Do not overmix. 

10. Spread the mixture over the baked crust in the pan. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours.

10. When ready to serve, run a warm, dry knife around the sides of the pan, then loosen and remove the sides of the pan. Decorate with a drizzle of melted chocolate and fresh berries, if desired. Serve cold and cut slices with a warm, dry knife. Store in freezer.  

-Sarah-