Strawberry Shortcake

I don’t normally like creamy cakes. Ever since my childhood, my brother, for instance, loved all those creamy cakes that my parents bought from the patisseries in Istanbul, whereas I thought they were heavy and artificial in taste.

But this time, I tried to bake one myself. I have to say that the colours of the cake, the strawberries and their fresh taste made me feel like baking this. But also, since I never baked something like that before, it felt like a nice challenge.

So, here is the recipe that is now apparently quite famous among friends! This recipe for all those friends that ask me about it!!

—

Ingredients:

For the sponge cake:
4 eggs
125 ml granulated sugar
45 ml milk
2.5 ml vanilla extract
210 ml flour
35 gr butter (melted)

For the cream:
60 ml confectioner’s sugar
250 ml heavy whipping cream
5 ml gelatin
20 ml cold water
2.5 ml vanilla extract

For the syrup:
50 ml granulated sugar
50 ml water

500 gr strawberries to put inside the cake and to decorate

—

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. First we will bake the sponge cake. I used round cake mold, 22 cm in diameter. It is just about right size with these amounts of ingredients. In the end, you get a reasonable height of cake. But if you want a bit higher one, just use more amounts of ingredients, or make 2 identical cakes (or use a bit smaller size mold in diameter).

3. Melt the butter in a pan in low heat, be careful not to burn it.

4. Take the eggs and separate the yolks from whites.

5. In a mixing bowl, put egg whites and granulated sugar, whisk it well until you get a glossy mixture. Then add the yolks and whisk it more until they are uniformly mixed.

6. Add milk and vanilla extract respectively, and whisk a little after you put each. Then add the flour, but add it bit by bit, because: 1. it is easier to whisk, 2. you might not need all the flour, it changes a lot according the flour you use. When you get a creamy, consistent batter, add melted butter and give it a final whisk. When you finally have a homogenous, creamy batter in a good consistency and no lumps within, you are done. Take your cake mold and grease it with oil or butter, so that your cake does not stick to it. After greasing, pour the batter inside the mold. Drop the mold on the counter a few times to get rid of the air bubbles trapped inside the batter – otherwise you will get some monstrous shaped cake while baking (been there, done that!!!). Put the batter inside the oven, on medium shelf. It takes about 20 minutes to bake. Check it constantly, when the colour is a nice golden brownish, then it is probably the time to take it out. You can check by sticking a knife and checking how it comes out.

7. While you are waiting for the cake to bake, cut the strawberries. Cut a few strawberries in the same slim size. These will go in between the two cake layers. You can cut those that will be used to decorate the top of the cake however you wish – I like cutting them into half.

8. Now prepare the cream. You can also prepare this one day earlier and keep it in the fridge. I usually do it like that. For the cream, put 250 ml heavy whipping cream in a bowl and add the confectioner’s sugar (careful!! it has to be confectioner’s sugar!). Unfortunately I forgot to take the pictures of this step, but it is very easy: just whisk them together (or use blender, I use blender). When it gets rather solid, stop whisking / mixing and put it away.

9. Now for the frosting part of the cream: Put 20 ml of cold water in a small pan. Take 5 ml of gelatin and sprinkle it on top of the water. Leave it like that for about 5 minutes. Then put the pan on low heat and dissolve the gelatin in the water. For me that was the hardest part since I never used gelatine before, and so I had to do it again and again 3 times. With gelatine, you have to be careful and you should always stir it with a wooden spoon while it is on the heat. When it is totally dissolved, take it away from heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Then add it to your cream mixture and continue whisking / blending and when you get the desired consistency, your cream is ready.

10. Now a simple syrup: Put granulated sugar and water in a pan and just boil it on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. This syrup is to be used to get the cake a bit wet before you start adding cream and all..

11. When your cake is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. When it cools down, take it out of the mold and put it on a plate that it big enough to hold it and to work on (or put it on a cake stand..). Now comes the assembly of the cake. I took a picture of each and every step so hopefully it helps. But basically: