Post a Comment On: Wake Up and Smell the Cake

I can never leave Korean strawberries alone when they're on offer. So last Friday's lunchtime grocery shopping I bought 2 packs i.e. 500g. When I was in my second trimester of pregnancy, I ate Korean strawberries almost everyday, finishing a pack of 250g daily.

[Image]But I couldn't finish them this time round since I have a whole carton of oranges too (yes greedy much) so I decided to make strawberry cake to be brought for the cousins gathering. Junior was very accommodating too, sleeping the whole time I was preparing the strawberries. This is quite rare, I had time to boil them, drain & blitz in the food processor, and used the strawberry water to cook down to a syrup. The whole house smelled of strawberries it was just awesome!

I used this recipe by Confessions of A Foodie Bride, for a fresh strawberry cake. It is by far the most moist cake I've ever made! I totally love the texture! The colour of the cake wasn't pink, more of a very pale, brownish pink. Not inviting at all, but I love it anyway. The syrup though was a very bright red, maybe if there's more of the syrup the cake will be more pink.

For the strawberry puree:
500g very ripe strawberries
1-2 tsp sugar (optional)
Roughly chop the strawberries, toss with sugar, and let sit for an hour or so until nice and juicy. Add 1/4 cup water and then simmer in a small sauce pan for 15-20 minutes, until the berries are very soft. Pour into a fine strainer set over a bowl. With a rubber spatula or spoon, scrape and press the strawberries through the strainer until all of the juice is in the bowl and you’re only left with the juiceless pulp. The recipe said discard the pulp, but I saved it, blitzed in the food processor and added into the cake batter. Transfer the juice back to the sauce pan. Reduce the liquid down to 1/2 cup and cool. I didn't measure 1/2 cup, I stopped when I got a syrupy viscosity. [Image]
For the cake:
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla paste
2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
1 cup sugar (original calls for 1 3/4 cup but I thought my strawberries were sweet enough)
4 tsp baking powder
12 tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temp
Preheat oven to 170 degrees and prepare your cupcakes. I used cupcakes and mini loaf pans. I didn't follow the cake making instructions. So this is what I did instead. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix until incorporated. Add in your vanilla with the last egg. Mix in the flour and baking powder at slow speed.  Lastly, add strawberry puree and syrup and mix well using a spatula. Bake for about 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary). [Image]
For the cream cheese frosting:
250g cream cheese
125g butter
1 3/4 cups icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla paste

[Image]
 This is my cream cheese frosting quality assessor. I didn't know he likes it so much!

[Image]
Here he is again, scraping off frosting from cousin's cupcake!

[Image]
The glorious strawberry cake. Totally love it! Was a hit too at the aunt's place! Yay!