Once, I made a chocolate mint cake for someone’s birthday. We’re talking a big-deal kinda birthday cake, tall and proud, with Valrhona, fresh mint leaves steeped in cream, chocolate curls and piped borders. When I was finished, it looked like every Baking 101 technique out there had assaulted the defenseless, 10×6 confection. It took days to complete. And it only took a split second to devastate.

The cake was transported from my kitchen to the birthday site, a mere 10-minute drive down a residential surface street. I sat in the passenger seat with the plated cake in my lap. Sometime during the drive, I remember blinking, and the next thing I knew my seatbelt had tightened forcefully, and the heavy weight on my lap was suddenly absent. While my friend cursed the car that had caused the sudden stop, I sat stunned, staring at an almond-crusted pile of shit at my feet. It may as well have been steaming.

Cakes don’t travel in my lap anymore. At the very least, they travel in wide boxes with slip-proof rubber mats underneath. Since then, I’ve had a few more rounds of travel mishaps — like a car floor covered in cream of mushroom soup and butterscotch pudding after yet another sudden stop — but for the most part, things have remained unscathed. A homemade three-tiered wedding cake survived a three-hour trip from Orange County, Calif., to Santa Barbara, and this strawberry cream cheese cake recently arrived at a San Diego housewarming party in near-perfect condition. Thank goodness for that. 

(Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.)

Even if you assemble this cake in a slapdash sorta way (like when you’ve waited until the last minute and you’re late for a housewarming party, ha), it still looks like it took a lot of effort. The following recipe is rewritten to reflect my changes. For the original recipe from Cooks Illustrated, click here (you have to be a member to view). 

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE CAKE

• Adapted from Cooks Illustrated, May 2006
• Yield: 8 servings

FOR CAKE:

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks (reserve whites)
• 2 eggs
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

FOR FILLING:

• 2 pounds fresh strawberries, cleaned and hulled
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons Kirsch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

FOR WHIPPED CREAM:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• 2 cups heavy cream

PROCEDURE:
1. To make the cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Use cooking spray to grease a 9×4 or 10×4 cake pan. Place a parchment round in the bottom of the pan and grease with cooking spray. Lightly flour pan.
2. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt, and all but 3 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk in eggs and yolks, melted butter, water, and vanilla, until batter is smooth.
3. Using a stand mixer with whisk, beat the three reserved egg whites at medium speed until it begins to turn light, about one to two minutes. Keep the mixer running while you add the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. Increase speed to high and beat egg whites until soft peaks form (about a minute).
4. Take about a third of the egg whites and stir it into the cake batter. Fold the rest of the egg whites into batter until combined. Pour batter into pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and cool completely on a rack before assembly.
5. To make filling: Halve 24 equal-sized strawberries, to be used on the sides and top of the cake. Chop the remaining strawberries and toss with 6 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl. Let sit to macerate for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.
6. Strain the juices from berries and reserve (Cooks Illustrated says you should have about 1/2 cup of liquid). In a food processor, pulse berries into smaller pieces.
7. In small saucepan over medium-high heat, simmer reserved juices and Kirsch until reduced to a syrup (you should have about 3 to 5 tablespoons). Pour hot syrup over berries, add salt, and toss to combine. Set aside to cool before cake assembly.
7. To make cream: Using a stand mixer, whisk cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt on medium-high speed until l fluffy. Scrape bowl.
8. Reduce speed to low and add heavy cream in slow stream. Increase speed to high and whisk until cream resembles a soft, spreadable frosting that holds stiff peals. This should take about 2 to 2-1/2 minutes. Scrape bowl as needed. (Assembling instructions after photo)

ASSEMBLY: 
1. Slice the cake into three rounds. Place one layer on a cake plate.
2. Arrange some strawberry halves on the outer ring of the cake, cut sides down and hulled sides facing outward.
3. Pour half of cooled strawberry mixture into the center of the cake, spreading evenly to the outer ring of strawberries. Top with a third of the whipped cream. Top with middle cake layer and repeat steps 2 and 3.
4. Top with last cake round and press down on the cake to better fuse layers. Spread the remaining whipped cream on the top of the cake and decorate with halved strawberries as desired. Serve immediately, or leave refrigerated for up to 4 hours. If storing in fridge, let come to room temperature before serving.

– Cynthia Furey

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Baking/desserts, Cake, Fruit/Vegetables, In the kitchen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.