Len's Strawberry Birthday Cake!

Happy Birthday Lenny G!!!

This is the cake that I made for my dear friend Len. I really was proud of how it turned out! It definitley exceeded my expectations, and given that all that remained of it was crumbs, I think most people found it tasty too!

The cake selection was of course at the discretion of the birthday boy. He was accommodatingly indifferent - any cake would be fab!

Then my brother mentioned that strawberry shortcake would be a great idea. I don't know if you have seen what a strawberry shortcake looks like, but the best way I can think to describe is as a cross between a scone & a sponge cake. Small & dainty. And utterly delish. But Small. And Dainty.

Len's party had 50+ people going.

Len - I love you. I am not making strawberry shortcake for 50+ people. Not unless someone throws in 2 weeks in Tahiti at the end. But at least we had a flavour now - strawberry! I had made a strawberry meringue icing before that my gorgeous friends Mike & Mel had loved, so I knew what to ice the cake with (use it to ice plain vanilla cupcakes & pop a halved fresh strawb on top - delish!). And a quick search through my miraculous mega recipe book (aka google) and I had a recipe for strawberry cake! The icing is from a recipe by Martha Stewart, the cake is from the US website of the Country Living magazine.

A couple of quick notes:

1) Quantities. I made 2 cakes, and put 1 and 1/3rd of the batter into the square tin that made the lower tier, and the remaining 2/3rds into the circular tin that made the top tier. The recipe below is for one cake only - it won't yield the volumes to make the cake that is pictured!

2) Cake Flour - I had never heard of this. According to my google-research, cake flour has a lower amount of protein than regular flours, making for a lighter cake. As far as I know you can't buy it in Australia. The recommendation is to use plain flour subtracting 2 level tablespoons per cup used.

3) Colouring - I happened to have a selection of food dyes, but if you don't I really wouldn't worry. It doesn't change the flavour in any way.

Len's Strawberry Birthday Cake

The Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt    
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter, softened 
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup strawberry jam
4 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup buttermilk
(or same of milk w/ a squeeze of lemon)
1 1/2 punnets strawberries, hulled & halved 
 
Preheat oven to 180' C .
 
Grease & line a large (22cm) springform tin with baking paper. Set aside.
 
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together and set aside.
 

 
Cream the butter and sugar in a mixmaster set at medium-high speed. Add the jam and the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between each egg.  Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in vanilla extract and the food coloring. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk, ending with a final addition of the dry ingredients.
 
 
 

 
Divide the batter equally between the pans and spread evenly. Bake on the middle rack of oven until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean -- about 25 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
 


Ice with the icing below, and then decorate with halved strawberries.
 
 
 
The Strawberry Meringue Buttercream Icing

 

4 large eggwhites 

(or 120ml if you keep a store of them like me!)

1 1/4 cups sugar  

345g unsalted butter at room temp, in cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, pureed (I just used a Bamix thing)
 
 
 
 
 
 

In a move straight out of an OH& S crisis handbook, place the mixmaster bowl on top of a saucepan of simmering water. Then run a Very Long Extension Cord across your kitchen, to plug in your handheld beater, which you then use to beat the eggwhites & sugar you have placed in the mixmaster bowl that rests on top of the almost boiling saucepan full of water.
 
Beat constantly until the sugar is dissolved & the mixture is warm to touch.

Then retreat back to the safety of the kitchen bench!
 

 
 
Attach the mixmaster bowl back to the mixmaster that is fitter w/ the whisk attachment, and whisk the eggwhite mixture on high until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy & cooled, or about 6 minutes.
 
 
 
 

 
Switch the mixmaster to the paddle attachment, and on a med-low speed, add the butter, several cubes at a time, beating well after each addition. If at any point it appears to separate, beat on med-high again until smooth. Beat in the vanilla, and then on the lowest possible speed, mix for 2 mins (this will eliminate any pockets of bubbles). Stir in strawberry jam w/ a spatula until you have a smooth mix.