Phew! I'm back. It's been a while, but hopefully the wait will be worth it. For all my Aussie mates, strawberry season is coming up, so the timing of this post should work well for you. UK and Canada, you might have to dig into your freezers, but as we cook the strawberries into a puree, it will make no difference to the final product.
To date, I think this is my favourite mini-cake. The strawberry flavour in the cake itself is subtle, but the puree between the layers not only adds a burst of flavour, but keeps the cake moist and delicious. To tell the truth, we didn't even sample this cake until day two, which I think gave it time to marinate!
This cake turned into a tower of four layers. Although it was originally a 4 egg cake, I decided to divide the recipe by three, rather than four, meaning that it calls for one and 1/3 eggs. This is a bit of a pain, I agree. If you're not keen on dividing an egg, I suspect it would work just as well with 1 egg and 3 full tablespoons of strawberry puree. I will try this next time, but if you give it a go in the meantime, please let me know the result.
This was also the first cake on which I tried the tea towel wrap to help the cake bake flat (see my tip on how to do this here). This worked amazingly well, so I was able to divide my layers horizontally to achieve a four-layered creation. This had the added advantage of allowing me to incorporate more strawberry puree, so if you can, I recommend you try it.
Finally, the heritage frosting. I'm not sure my frosting worked exactly as it should have, but it was relatively easy to work with. I tried a three shade ombre effect, but I think my bottom pink and middle orange are so close in colour that it's hard to tell them apart. Not to worry, it still tasted delicious!
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Happy baking!
STRAWBERRY DELIGHT CAKE
makes 2 mini-cakes
STRAWBERRY PUREE
1 cup strawberries, halved
½ tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Blitz strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a food processor until pureed. Transfer to small saucepan and simmer until halved in volume. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
THE CAKE
1 cup (145g) flour
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅓ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup (75g) unsalted butter at room temperature
⅔ cup (140g) white sugar
1 egg + ⅓ of a raw scrambled egg at room temperature
⅔ teaspoon vanilla
2½ tablespoons strawberry puree
⅓ cup whole milk at room temperature
Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease one 8" round cake pan and line bottom with baking paper.
Whisk flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
Beat butter on medium-high until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. Add sugar and cream together for 2-3 minutes on high speed.
Add egg and continue to beat on high, occasionally stopping to scrape sides, until fully blended. Add vanilla and mix well.
With mixer on low, add one third of dry ingredients. Slowly drizzle in strawberry puree. Add a further third of dry ingredients. Slowly drizzle in milk. Add final third of dry ingredients and mix until combined. Scrape sides and mix again for no more than 30 seconds.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 18-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool fully. Remove baking paper.
HERITAGE FROSTING
½ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup whole milk
½ cup (113g) butter at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla
In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar and flour. Add milk and whisk to combine. Place over medium high heat and stir while bringing to a boil. Once boiling, whisk and cook for 1-2 minutes more until thickened to consistency of a light pudding. Remove from heat and transfer to heat proof bowl. Place a piece of cling wrap directly on surface and chill for at least one hour.
Transfer to bowl of stand mixer and beat until mixture reaches room temperature. Add butter, one small chunk at a time, allowing each to fully incorporate. Once the butter is all added, mix in the vanilla and beat on medium-high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
ASSEMBLY
Place cake on a cutting board and create mini-cake layers by cutting 4 circles. Depending on the size of your cutter, you will need to go quite close to the edge to get the four. If your cake hasn't baked flat, use a bread knife to level the tops of the layers. (If it is tall enough, you can cut the layers horizontally to make a 4-layer cake like mine.) Hide these offcuts, they’re too good to share!!
Place one layer, bottom side down, on serving plate. Cover with a thin layer of strawberry puree. Top with a second layer, bottom-side up. Repeat with other two layers to make a second cake.
Crumb coat with a thin layer of frosting, chill and then frost with a thicker layer. Decorate as desired.
Store in fridge, but serve at room temperature.
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