There are some words that just make me cringe. I don’t even want to type them out here (one of them begins with m, one begins with p and none of them belong on a food blog), but one of the worst is luscious, and unfortunately it’s one of the best ways to describe this cake.
Luscious cream, luscious strawberries and a lusciously soft vanilla sponge cake. While this is not a shortcake in the true sense, it’s not a scone-like dough and we’re not making little individual cakes, it still has the same components and it’s really easy to make:
- make the cake
- prepare the strawberries
- whip the cream
- assemble the cake
Too easy! Luscious luscious luscious. That’s my quota for the year.
For the cake
Ingredients
150g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs, separated
pinch of cream of tartar
110g caster sugar
170g granulated sugar
115g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120ml milk, at room temperature
extra strawberries for the top of the cake
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line an 8″ cake tin, set aside.
In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together until soft peaks form. Gradually add the caster sugar whilst still beating the egg whites, until stiff peaks form, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.
Add the egg yolks and vanilla and mix well, scraping down the sides again.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, making sure you start and finish with the flour. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer.
Stir ¼ of the meringue into the mixture to lighten it, then very gently fold in the rest.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for around 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack and cooling completely.
For the strawberries
Ingredients
2c sliced, fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Place everything in a bowl and gently mix together. Leave to macerate for 20 minutes.
Chantilly cream
Ingredients
2½c cream (see notes)
1 dessert spoon icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
In a bowl, whip all 3 ingredients together (you can use a stand mixer or an egg beater.) Don’t over whip but also don’t leave it too soft – you don’t want the cream to smoosh out the sides of the cake.
To assemble
Cut the cake in half and place one half on a platter. Plop on 1/3 of the whipped cream and gently spread it out, not quite to the edges.
Tip on the strawberries, including the juices, then cover with another 1/3 of the cream, gently spreading it out.
Place the remaining cake half on top and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with strawberries.
Notes
- This cake is best served on the day it’s made.
- This makes a lot of whipped cream, I recommend you don’t skimp on it!
© Once Upon An Egg. All images and content are copyright protected. Please don’t use my images without permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write it in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
once upon an egg 
This cake looks beautiful!!
LikeLike