Monday, July 6, 2009

Sky-high strawberry shortcake

Sky high strawberry shortcake / Bolo de camadas com morangos e chantilly

I hadn’t used one of my favorite books in quite a while and looking at its cover I knew exactly what recipe to choose from it. Yes, strawberries again – I’ve warned you, remember? :D

This cake is so pretty I’d an eye on it since buying the book, but I ended up making other cakes from it and all of a sudden the strawberry season was gone. I would not make the same mistake this time, oh, no!

It is, indeed, a beautiful dessert and it tastes wonderful, but it’s really unstable and difficult to slice (even after 5 hours in the fridge, more than the recipe calls for). There was some filling and cream left, so combined them with some cake scraps to make a trifle:

Sky high strawberry shortcake / Bolo de camadas com morangos e chantilly

Sky-high strawberry shortcake
from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

Cake:
5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) caster sugar*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (160ml) buttermilk

Fresh strawberry filling:
4 cups strawberries, small if possible
2 teaspoons rosewater
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup (100g) caster sugar*

Whipped cream:
1 ½ cups (360ml) heavy cream
2 tablespoons caster sugar*

Garnish:
a few whole strawberries, sliced in half if desired, leaves on

Sky high strawberry shortcake / Bolo de camadas com morangos e chantilly

Start by baking the cake: preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Grease the bottoms and sides of three 15cm (6in) round cake pans. Line the bottom of each with a round of parchment or baking paper and grease the paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the batter, alternating with the buttermilk, in 2 or 3 additions. Beat well. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper and allow to cool completely – I removed the paper after the cakes were completely cool.

Now, the filling: wash and hull the berries and slice into pieces about the thickness of a nickel. Place in a bowl and add the rosewater, vanilla and sugar. Stir to coat them well, cover the bowl, and let the berries macerate at room temperature until they exude their juices, about 1 hour.

Whip the cream: in a large chilled bowl, with chilled beaters, whip the cream with the sugar until stiff – there will be about 3 cups.

Assembling the cake: place one cake layer, flat side up, on a small cake stand or serving plate. Top with 3/4 cup of the fresh strawberry filling, spooning it over the entire layer and making sure any juices go onto the cake layer and not the plate, if possible. Top this with 1 cup of the whipped cream, spreading it evenly over the berries. Repeat with the second cake layer and another ¾ cup filling and 1 cup whipped cream. Top with the final cake layer flat side up. Cover with the last of the whipped cream and garnish with the whole berries. For best flavor, cover the dessert with a cake dome or loose plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours before slicing. Serve with the remaining strawberry filling on the side.

* I used vanilla infused sugar

Serves 8-10

Sky high strawberry shortcake / Bolo de camadas com morangos e chantilly

37 comments:

  1. Strawberries and cream? My kinda thing! :) (I'm sure there's plenty of evidence ;) I can see why it'd be hard to slice-- that is one tower of a cake! Make the slices bigger, heh heh :)

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  2. What a beautiful cake - and a great use of leftovers! :D

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  3. Who can say no to strawberry and cream? yum yum!!

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  4. mmmm .... strawberries & cream .. sound like summer ^^!! XOXO

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  5. oh this looks so good. Don t worry about stability I ll eat it even in pieces and lick the plate afterwards :)

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  6. AnonymousJuly 06, 2009

    I came across this recipe on FoodBlogs.com. so glad I found this cuz i was looking for a summer desert to make the kids this week. I found it! I hope it comes out as nice as your picture.

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  7. Beautiful cake! I want some so badly.

    Hmm...shouldn't we call it a Strawberry Highcake? Haha

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  8. We're still getting strawberries here, and this cake makes my mouth water! I can see that it would be hard to slice, but once you give up the idea of eating it in a "civilized" way, I'm sure it can be nothing but heavenly!

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  9. How pretty is this?? Makes me want to put on a sundress and a hat and throw a garden party.

    Soo lovely.

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  10. WOW, STUNNING!!!! I love this idea, presentation and wow your photography just makes me feel calm and happy :)

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  11. AnonymousJuly 06, 2009

    That is a beautiful cake. And what a great way to use leftovers. :-)

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  12. What an achievement -- The Tower of cream and strawbs. Nice work Patricia.

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  13. Oh wow, this is so incredibly beautiful and delicious!!!! Photos are great too!!! Mind if I grab a small trifle!!!

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  14. sky-high is the right way to describe this. looks sensational and perfect for the strawberry season!

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  15. Absolutely gorgeous photos!

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  16. Who doesn't like a tower cake? This looks amazing. I saw the first batch of strawberries here in Australia. Soon they will be in season, and I can't wait. I love how you used the cake in glass servings, too!

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  17. Mmmm! Great idea to turn it into a little trifle.

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  18. The big shortcake looks gorgeously summery and generally delicious! However, by the sound of the slicing problems, I think the mini trifles you made are ingenious AND delicious - even better :D

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  19. Looks wonderful. It is a favorite summer dessert in our house.

    Sharona May

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  20. I made this in April for my Mom's birthday and while it was chilling, it toppled -- right off the cake stand. No worries -- we turned the entire thing into a very delicious trifle (your small ones are so cute though!). But if I made it again, I'd try using straws to help stabilize it.

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  21. BTW -- found your site via Tastespotting -- lovely!

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  22. I just can't get over that cake, Patricia! YUM!
    I love the Trifle's too... great idea.

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  23. Strawberry shortcake cake is one of my favorites. It just says "summer".

    Great daisy photograph too, btw. I have Black Eyed Susans blooming now!

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  24. I have got to get that book. I've made a few recipes from it and loved them all - I think it's time I purchased it!!

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  25. Strawberry shortcake always takes me back to my childhood because my mom and I would always make it together. Of course, we would just buy the pre-made shortcake cups and Cool Whip, but it still holds a special place in my heart... I should try making an actual homemade strawberry shortcake with my mom the next time I visit her!

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  26. Leftover shortcake in a jar...what a great idea.

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  27. Mark, haha, I love that combo, too!

    Nora, thank you!

    Parita, I can't! :D
    Tks!

    Gine, summer, indeed!
    Tks!

    Natalie, I had a laugh with you, sweetie! :D

    Anonymous, I hope you and the kids like it - tks for visiting!

    Joy, haha, we should! :D
    Thank you!

    Toni, I think that is the secret for eating this cake! Tks for the idea. ;)

    Aimée, it does scream summer, doesn't it? And I don't care it's winter here. ;)
    Tks, darling!

    Jennifer, thank YOU! ;)
    You are just sweet. :D

    Slice of Sueshe, thank you!

    Syrie, thank you, darling!

    Nina, you can grab them both! ;)

    Meeta, thank you, darling!

    Michelle, thank you!

    Julia, I'll exchange the trifle glasses for those lovely macarons of yours. ;)

    Ashley, thank you!

    Lucy, I'm glad I could use the cake scraps that way. Thank you!

    Sharona May, thank you for visiting!

    Tracy, that is such a shame! I'm sorry the cake fell apart, but glad to know you managed to eat it anyway! :D
    Thank you for visiting, hope you come back again!

    Kristen, my dear, I'm glad you like it! Tks!

    Laura, I'm a sucker for flowers, and daisies are such favorites of mine!
    Tks for stopping by!

    Deb, isn't it just lovely?
    Tks!

    Kirby, it doesn't matter the ingredients if the feelings are good!
    Hope you and your mom enjoy it again!

    Tender Branson, tks for stopping by!

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  28. That looks incredible and I love the trifles! Strawberry shortcake is so gooood.

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  29. my goodness-- it's stunning!

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  30. I hate when I miss a season for something! Glad you had the opportunity to make this cake this time around--looks beautiful!

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  31. You did an amazing job with this cake! I love that book too.

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  32. I have this cookbook too and I drool over the cover everytime I see it. And you're right, the reason I haven't made this one is because it looks so unstable. It looks like it would slide all over the place. Maybe a skewer would help, thought I'm sure slicing would still be a mess.

    Beautiful none the less!

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  33. AnonymousJuly 15, 2009

    o wow! This is absolutely adorable! I think it would be a lovely summer birthday cake for my dad who love love loves strawberry shortcake!

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  34. thank you so much for posting the recipe. the cake looks so beautiful and so impressive - i hope it tastes as good as it looks :)

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  35. hello, can i double check some measurements with you? for the flour you've put it as 210g - are you sure about this? i thought it should be closer to 180g because 1 cup flour is about 120g?

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  36. Hi,

    The list of measurements I use is on the blog, I always use the same measurements. Anyway, to me, 1 cup flour = 140g.

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