Chocolate Strawberry Cream Cake

Throw back to my first successful chocolate sponge/chiffon cake in 2010 (original post here). My family and I loved it so much that I made this cake a couple more times following - as seen here and here. Somehow somewhere this recipe got a bit forgotten in the past 7 years or so.

For my dad's birthday this year, I decided to dig up this oldie to see if it's as good as remembered. I made some slight modifications and encountered a bit of a mishap.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

A gorgeous dessert that will impress any Mom on Mother's Day! (or anyone on any day!)

This tart is ..

Simple Sponge Cake

On one of those spontaneous lazy afternoons..

I had a sudden urge to eat bake/decorate a simple strawberry layered cake.

I didn't want to use any tried recipes.

So, I did a quick search online..

And after a few hours, here's what I created.



Sponge Cake
-makes one 6" round

60g cake flour
3 eggs, room temperature
40g sugar
25-30g oil or melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Beat egg with sugar until stiff
3. Sift flour into egg mixture in 2-3 batches and whisk
4. Add oil and whisk lightly
5. Bake for 25 minutes



*For a chocolate sponge cake, reduce cake flour to 50 cake and add 10g of cocoa powder


^trimmed(;

The sponge cake turned out to be on the dense/firm side (*good for doing layers). Overall, a good and acceptable* recipe for those lazy days.


^my strawberrilicious layer

Taste: 3.5 stars out of 5 (nothing out of the ordinary)
Texture: 3.5 stars out of 5 (I prefer an airy-er and lighter cake)

Strawberry Cream Cake

Strawberry cream cake made with my foolproof sponge cake recipe.

Last time was two layers. This time THREEEEE!
To make this deliciousss cake, you will need the following:


a good cake base


strawberries


put those together


and you will get this!


nom nom.

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Chocolate strawberry cake made with my trusty chocolate chiffon cake recipe

As I said before, this cake is versatile. Layers or not.. it tastes great. This time, I just did two layers again because I didn't have enough cream I didn't want to eat too much cream. And I was going to decorate the top with more strawberries.. (but I also have a limited amount of strawberries.) Anyhow, I liked how the end product turns out! It has a rustic yet sophisticated feel to it.



Enjoy(:

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
recipe from Martha Stewart Recipes
-makes around 3 dozen cookies

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
* Sanding sugar, for sprinkling



1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl.
4. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
6. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart.
7. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes.
8. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool.



BIG note: cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

These cookies were quite addicting. They were tender, crumbly and.. buttery with a slight crunch on the outside. However, overnight the crunch disappears and the cookies are more soft and tender. I definitely suggest eating them the day off. But I guess if you don't mind the absence of crunch.. they are equally delicious after a while too.

Tip: drain the strawberries WELL before incorprating them in the cookie batter. The excess moisture reduces the crunchiness!

Taste: 4.5 stars out of 5 (sour strawberries ._.)
Texture: 5 stars out of 5 (the day of baking)& 3.5 stars out of 5 (overnight)

Felt Food 3: Vanilla Whipped Cream with Strawberry Tart

Yep! Another tart. I like the design of this one very mucho. I can't wait to see lots of them line up like an army! At the moment, I am just sewing tons of toppings ( strawberries, whipped cream and wafers) with the limited color felts I have. I am thinking that later on I would make the edible version of each felt tart I made and take photos with them side by side! Hehe(:

Felt Food 1: The Tart Cake (Mini)

Look at what I SEWED! I think I am obsessed with felt food! Why have I not learn how to do this earlier?! I have so many ideas running across my mind after successfully finishing this mini tart!! Different color tarts, different toppings likeee blueberry? whipped cream? and different size tarts! Isn't it ironic that I have not baked a REAL edible tart to date? Haha

Anyways, I bought this mini tart cake kit (including cut-out felt paper, threads, magnet, papers and cotton) at Daiso in Vancouver, Canada. (I also bought many other cute little bakewares at this place! I shall get into that in another post.) I really should've bought all the kits they have, like their cakes, pudding and donuts! Ugh.. there's no Daiso in California. But mm, it's ok. I searched frantically online as soon as I finished the tart for more tutorials. So far, I have bookmarked quite a list that can take me a long while to go through each of them!
**The key word to google is "felt food tutorials."

Don't ever underestimate my patience with food crafts! This mini tart took me 5 hours to finish! I believe I repeated each step twice before successfully moving on to the next (there was a total 13 steps). Pretty good for a first time sewer, right? It was indeed some tedious work, but the end result is totally worth it.

Btw, I snapped about 60 photos from different angles hoping to get one photo that can sum up the awesomeness of this little tart. Hehe. Keep checking my blog for updates on my experiment with felt food!(:

Revisited: Chocolate Chiffon Cake

A long overdue post. This cake was made for a July4th potluck. Same recipe as last time but this time I used strawberries instead of mangoes. I also added a bit more cream because the cake tends to be dry in texture. This cake is perfect for doing layers. It's fluffy yet firm enough to be cut into thin layers (probably 4 layers for this recipe if you are careful enough!)



(chocolate chiffon cake recipe can be found here)

Most Valued Birthday Cake

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this cake!! ♥♥♥

The one thing I always wanted to bake well is a sponge cake. Any combination of fruits and flavor will make a good cake as long as the base is done right. With that said, I think I have just achieved an impressive feat this weekend-- just in time for my Dad's birthday! Hurray!

The taste and texture of this sponge cake was everything I looked for. Egg-y and fluffy (even overnight!!). It closely resembles the ones you would get at an Asian bakery. My dad claimed that it was up to par with the professional bakeries out there!(;

Foolproof Sponge Cake
recipe from Fresh from the Oven
-makes 1 9-inch round cake (cut in half for 2 layer)
or 2 9-inch round cake (evenly divide batter into 2 pans)

Softened unsalted butter for the pans
1/2 cup cake flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grease a 9" cake pan and cover pan bottom with round of parchment paper.

Whisk/sieve the flours, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Take the sauce pan off the heat and add in vanilla extract; keep the mixture covered and warm.

Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a medium mixing bowl and reserving the yolks in a large mixing bowl (you will be adding the whites and flour mixture on top of the foamy yolk later).
With hand mixer, beat the whites on high speed until foamy. (Tips: start beating on medium-low speed for a minute first then slowly increase speed to high-- this will create stronger and more stable foam)
Gradually add 6 tablespoons of the sugar and the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites to soft, moist peaks.

Beat the egg yolks with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar on medium-high speed until the mixture is very thick and turns a pale lemon color, about 5 minutes.
Add in the beaten egg whites to the yolks, but do not mix.

Sprinkle/sieve the flour mixture over the egg whites and mix on low speed for 10 seconds. (I had to mix for about 25 seconds to get the flour well incorporated)
Remove the bowl from the mixer, make a well in one side of the batter and pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl.
Fold gently with a large rubber spatula until the batter shows no trace of flour and the whites and yolks are evenly mixed, about 8 strokes.
Make sure that you have incorporated the butter into the mixture. There should not be visible grease/oil as you pour the mixture into the cake pans.

Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 16 to 18 minutes or until the cake tops are light brown and feel firm and spring back when touched. (Since I only made 1 9-inch, I baked for about 30 minutes)

Cool completely on rack.
Run a thin knife around the inside of the cake pan.
Invert the cake onto a rack or cardboard to release the cake from the pan. (A spring form pan makes this easier.)
Remove the parchment paper.

Strawberry Cream filling/ topping
plenty of strawberries, chopped and drained excess water
1 cup of heavy cream
sugar, to taste

Beat heavy cream until medium peaks form.
Lightly fold heavy cream into chopped strawberries.
Add and mix sugar into strawberry cream until desired sweetness.

To assemble
Cut sponge cake into 2 layers.
Spread cream on the bottom layer.
Layer thin slices of strawberries on top of cream.
Put top layer on.
Spread cream again.
Sprinkle sliced almonds around the edges of the cream
Garnish with whole/ halved strawberries and chocolate curls*!

*I followed The Pioneer Woman Cooks's tutorial in making the chocolate curls. (Do not add water to the chocolate mixture if you find it too thick to spread! The curls will not harden if done so. Just reheat the chocolate if it gets too cool or hard to spread.)
_________________________________


result: collapsed but still mucho delicious.
(note to self: bake for a longer time!)


(cut in half) mmm, look at that texture(:


(filled with cream) nom nom nom.

Here! Have a slice! : D