Strawberry Short(tall)cake

With Craig's birthday the other week, I asked the birthday boy what cake he would like... something strawberry was the response. I remember this really fantastic strawberry shortcake that had a regular spot at the Sunday brunch at my old skating and social club. Now, how to make it? I remember the sponge was dense, but light (I know it sounds counter-intuitive), it was layered with a sweet cream and a light strawberry jam, topped with fresh strawberries and a whipped cream icing. It was light with substance; sweet, yet fresh; and incredible delicious!

I Googled strawberry shortcake to see what I could find... nothing close to what I was looking for. It appears that in the UK a strawberry shortcake is something else: more of a cream tea: a cakey scone with jam and clotted cream. I've been baking and playing enough in the past year that I could probably have whipped something up, but I am also a sucker for a crutch... So, I used the image function to try and find a recipe from what I remember the cake to look like, and found something close enough. I found out that I was not the only person with this dilemma (although not the exact circumstances), but a Mom with an idea in her head of what she wanted inspired me in the right direction. Hope Studios Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Four components: vanilla sponge, pastry cream, strawberry coulis, and whipped cream icing. Mrs. Juniper has included all of the ingredients and instructions to recreate her dream cake. Ingredients out... let's get going: 3 cups cake flour. Crap. Cake flour, what the heck is that? Cake flour certainly doesn't exist in the UK, and I couldn't find a straight explanation of what it equates to... and then 2 sticks of butter (which I did find the equivalent to): I decided to pack this sponge recipe in for something I could make without having to translate beforehand. Mary Berry to the rescue for a fail-safe Genoise sponge.

125g caster sugar, 4 eggs, 2 lemons (I had only one, so I used an orange), 125g self-raising flour, and 50g unsalted butter.

The normal pre-steps apply: pre-heated oven (180C/350F), greased + floured + lined 23cm loose bottom tun. Then, the making: sugar, eggs, and zest to a heat-proof bowl over a simmering pan of water. Electric whisk over medium heat until the mix has doubled in volume and is pale in colour. We are gently starting to cook the eggs as we whisk them to help keep a light (but dense) structure. When the mix ribbons (makes a nice trail as you lift out the whisk), remove it from the heat.

Then sift 2/3 of the flour and gently fold with a metal spoon  or spatula. Add the remaining flour and keep folding to keep the mix light. Melt the butter and gently fold that in. Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for 25 min.

My Genoise sponge seemed a bit thin after baking, possibly because my cake tin is massive, but I think my folding was a bit aggressive. Alternatively applying some of my science head + experience in the past year (especially with meringue), I think that the orange was the flattener--> orange oil is a heavier oil than lemon zest: oil + whisked egg does not allow the eggs to lift as much as desired. I learnt this from making macarons and using a bowl that Edge hadn't washed up properly... oops. In any case, I made a second sponge to make a taller tiered cake.

While that was baking and cooling, on to the pastry cream: I decided to abandon the Hope Studios recipe for this and try something I have wanted to try for a long time: crème pâtissière. Mostly because if I ever want to join one of the Bake Off shows, a crème pâtissière is a standard trick to have... also because the crème pâtissière recipe was next to the Mary Berry Genoise sponge recipe.

600mL milk, 4 eggs + 2 yolks, 1 tbsp kirsch (I used Disoronno), vanilla pod, 180g caster sugar, 100g cornflour, 150g cubed unsalted butter at room temperature

Milk into a wide based pan. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and add to the milk with the seeds. Bring the milk to the boil and take off the heat.

Whisk the eggs, sugar, liqueur, and cornflour into a medium bowl until blended.

Remove vanilla pod and pour hot milk (through a sieve to get any clotted bits out) into the egg mix. Whisk to combine.

Pour the custard back into a clean pan and set over medium heat. While it sets, keep stirring to prevent lumps. This felt like it took forever and I thought my arm was going to fall off. But as if it was magic, it started to congeal. Success! The recipe says to keep cooking until very thick (pipeable). Stir in the butter until thoroughly melted and combined. Allow to cool and set.

Back to the actual recipe that I found for the strawberry coulis: she calls fro the frozen strawberries, but I had fresh, so added about a quarter cup more sugar than called for. 1.5 pounds of strawberries, 1.25 cups sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise pod, 1 vanilla pod split lengthwise.

Puree strawberries until smooth. Oh, the smell is incredible! Add the strawberries and remaining ingredients to saucepan and simmer to dissolve the sugar. 

Continue to simmer stirring occasionally and visibly thickened. (with the volume reduced by half). So, top tip when reducing a volume of liquid... use a large mouthed pot. this took absolutely ages (>30 min) to reduce and the only thing  I could think to do was to open it up to evaporate the water off faster. 

Upping the heat is wrong for two reasons: 1) it would have burnt a skin on the inside of the pot, I didn't do this, but 2) if you don't hover over the pot, it causes the mix to boil over and stick to the hob and the outside of the pot. This, I did do and two weeks later I am still trying to scour my ceran worktop.

I wasn't sure when I would know that the coulis was finished. The danger is that if you haven't evaporated enough, then when it sets it's still a liquid. Mrs. Juniper suggests to place a teaspoon of the coulis on a chilled plate and put the plate into the freezer for a minute. Touch then coulis to see if it has set. This worked well- the top tip and the coulis. Thank you Mrs. Juniper. Oh, and to finish off the coulis, take out the big things and let it set.

Onto the whipped cream frosting, and this is what I was really looking forward to making! A sturdy, sweet cream to hug around the layered fruity goodness.

Make some unflavoured gelatin according to the package. You will only need 8 teaspoons (40mL). Let it thicken the water, but not fully set. Whip 2 cups of heavy cream with 1/2 cup sifted icing sugar until it is slightly thick. With the mixer on slow, add the gelatin solution to the whipping cream and then turn up the power until stiff. 

This recipe is exactly to my expectations! It gives the cream some substance. It allows the cream to set. It prevents the cream from soaking into the cake entirely. This is a winner! 

So, all of the components prepared (and this really took all day). Let's build a cake!

First to cut the sponges to a semi-regular circular shape. I scanned the kitchen to try and find a circle that would suffice- pot lid- check. Then, layer up: strawberry sauce generously smoothed over the sponge with the crème pâtissière piped on top. The next sponge layer + coulis + crème layer etc. until your cake is as tall as you want it. Top it all off with the rest of the strawberry coulis. This will help keep the sponge moist for days (if your cake lasts that long).

It looks a bit of a fright, but that's the beauty of the stiff whipped cream. Spread it generously around the outside and then smooth it with your palette knife. Slop and smooth some more stiff cream on top of the coulis and decorate with fresh (or slightly stewed) fruit. 

Lastly, get fancy with the rest of your cream and dress it all up. The brilliance of piping (especially with the star-shaped attachment  is that you can hide a multitude of sins in a somewhat fancy way. Fancy in a rustic way, though... not elegant fine-dining. However, if this was to be a fine dining strawberry shortcake, then it would be de-constructed and dehydrated and science-experimented out of what we set out to create in the first place.

So, what was it like? Just as I imagined/ remembered! Apart from my sponge was a little bit dry, but when we ate the cake the next two days (yes, it did last that long), it stayed moist. In a professional sense, all the layers were uneven and there was perhaps too much indulgent crème pâtissière... but in a home-made-I've-made-the-most-delicious-birthday-cake sense, it was perfect. Oh, and like I alluded to earlier... it took absolutely ages to make (like 5 hours), so you need all day, but it was entirely worth every last crumb.