Our next recipe from Bake! was chosen by Kayte: strawberry chantilly cake, in honor of her birthday.
NM says to wait until you can find perfectly ripe, local strawberries. I knew I'd have a loooooong wait (we had snow flurries yesterday at our May Day parade, after all). I could've made the Victoria sandwich variation, like Andrea did; it also looks wonderful.
But my baby sister just got accepted into nursing school (yay!!!), and she had a barbecue this weekend. I really wanted a fancy cake to celebrate, so I decided to just use our grocery store strawberries and cross my fingers that they were sweet and flavorful enough.
I copied Kayte, who's been raving about her little 6" pans, and picked up a couple of 6" cake pans. They were so fun! I used a half batch of the yellow cake recipe; I was initially worried because it seemed like so little batter in each of the pans, but I think the pans are just overly deep because the layers ended up being perfect (I actually weighed them to be sure I had the same amount of batter in each pan; I've never done that before, but I will do it from now on...so much easier than eye-balling it!).
The morning of the party, I made the whipped cream. I made 2/3 of the whipped cream recipe, but I had a lot left over. Next time, I'll just make 1/2 batch. Then I layered: one layer of the cake, a coating of whipped cream, slices of strawberries, more whipped cream, the other cake layer. And then whipped cream around the outside. To celebrate my sister's new career, I used the strawberries in an attempt to create the red nursing cross symbol on top...it's the thought that counts, I guess! ;)
The cake was a big hit. We ended up with a bigger crowd than expected, so I had to serve skinny slices...I was able to get 12 slices from the 6" cake. The cake itself was a yummy recipe, and you can't go wrong with strawberries, whipped cream, and cake!
Oh, boy, does that look ever soooo delicious!! Congratulations to your sister!
ReplyDeleteIf I can't get that book at the library, I may have to ask you for the recipe in June when I am picking strawberries here.
Looks lovely. Looking for good strawberries so I can make Kayte's cake.
ReplyDeleteLooks great! I made it, too, but didn't manage to get any pictures.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you know that if you cut a round cake in parallel slices instead of wedges, you can get quite a few more pieces?
You got 12 slices...I don't have a clue how you sliced that slippery thing! I had a hard time with what we did with 8 slices...lol. This was so good, even better on Day 2 when all the parts sort of settled into one another and made friends. Thanks for making my birthday cake with me...it was even more special this year because you were all making the cake as well...thanks! So pretty, isn't it??
ReplyDeleteOh, and I forgot to congratulate your sister on her acceptance to nursing school...such a wonderful career filled with very special warm, caring, and loving people...our best to her!
ReplyDeleteMmm, that looks really good. And I'm sure it would be a hit around here. I love having different pan sizes so I have the option to scale a recipe.
ReplyDelete