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Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

                                             

Chiffon cakes are known for having the richness of butter pound cakes but the lightness of angel food cakes. Some argue that this is because they use oil, which because it is liquid at room temperature, can keep the cake especially moist. The oil cannot be replaced by butter, unfortunately, and recipes advise universally against it. The lemon zest helps compensate for flavor lost by the lack of butter.


Proceed as directed below.
Make it as pictured, the thick three-layer: Proceed as below to bake a four-layer cake, but stash the fourth layer well-wrapped in the freezer for a future use. (Dare I suggest a whipped cream and strawberry trifle with the other remaining ingredients?) Make only three-quarters of the whipped cream and use only one-and-a-half quarts of strawberries.
Make it as I’d like to, next time, a slim three-layer: Make only half the cake recipe, baking it in a single 9″ pan. Once cool, take a deep breath, and carefully cut this layer into thirds. Proceed with three-quarters of the whipped cream and only one-and-a-half quarts of strawberries.

Cake layers:
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups superfine or regular sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large egg yolks at room temperature
8 large egg whites at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Filling:
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 quarts strawberries, hulled and sliced (I sliced mine very thinly, but would do so more thickly next time, or double-layer the strawberries so that you get a higher fruit-to-bite ratio.)*

1. Make cake layers: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Have two 9-inch round cake pans ready, lined with parchment paper that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray, but otherwise ungreased. (Alternatively, this recipe yields on classic tube chiffon cake. Leave the cake pan ungreased, and use one with a removable bottom.)

2. Sift the flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking powder and salt together twice into a large bowl.

3. In a another bowl, beat the yolks, water, oil, zest and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth. In another large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks are formed. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and beat on high speed until the peaks are stiff but not dry.

4. Use a rubber spatula to fold one-quarter of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Do so gently, only until the egg whites are no longer visible. Overdoing it will deflate the egg whites, and yield a denser, shorter cake.

5. Scrape the batter into the two prepared pans and spread evenly. (If you are needling and fussy, you can weigh them to make sure they are even, something I would never do, oh no.) Bake them until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean 40 to 50 minutes (or 55 to 65 for the tube pan). (Please, do me a favor and check your cake every five minutes or so from the 30 minute mark on, as I confess I never wrote down the exact baking time for the 9″ circles, but am pretty sure it was 45 minutes in my oven. M’kay?)

6. Let cakes cool on a cooling rack for at least an hour (or, if in a tube pan, upside down over a bottleneck or resting the pan on four glasses for at least 1 1/2 hours). When completely cool, run a knife around the sides to release, then flip out onto a plate (or your hand, if you’re daring) and then another plate.

7. Make the whipped cream: Beat heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a clean mixing bowl until it holds stiff peaks.

8. Assemble the cake: Carefully split each cake layer in half, leaving you with four cake surfaces. One by one, scoop one-quarter of the whipped cream onto the surface of the cake and spread it evenly to the edges, without going over, with an offset spatula. Arrange one-quarter of the sliced strawberries over the whipped cream in one or two layers, depending on your preference. (If you use only one layer, you’ll likely have leftovers.) Repeat with the remaining three layers. If you have any leftover whipped cream, you can pipe it decoratively over the top, or, uh, scoop it up with those leftover strawberries. I won’t tell.

9. The cake can refrigerated for a few hours before eating it. In fact, as some of the moisture from the whipped cream and berries seeps into the cake, I think the texture is improved.

* In the comments, we’ve gotten into another approach to the strawberry filling part: macerating them for one hour with a couple tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of either creme de cassis or fresh lemon juice. This softens the strawberries and creates more of the saucy variety you’d get in a bakery cake. To create the cake layers this way, spread the strawberry mixture then the whipped cream over each layer, proceeding otherwise as directed above.

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World's Best Swiss Buttercream Recipe

Swiss Style Meringue Buttercream
recipe from www.woodlandbakeryblog.com

This Recipe Can Be Stored for 4 days room temperature, 2 weeks refrigerator, 2 months freezer
Yield: 6 Cups: Enough to ice 30 Cupcakes, or Fill and Ice 1- 8" Cake

Ingredients

Fresh Large Egg Whites 180g (6 Large)
Granulated Sugar 300g (1 + ½ cups)
Confectioners Sugar 240g (2cups)
Solid Vegetable Shortening 170g (3/4 cup) **See Note Below
Unsalted Butter 454g (2 cups)
Vanilla Extract Or Vanilla Paste 1 Tablespoon

Instructions
Over a double boiler, in a large metal bowl whisk together the granulated sugar and the egg whites stirring constantly until the mixture reaches approximately 115 degrees F and the sugar grains have dissolved and are not longer gritty to the touch.
Pour this mixture into the metal bowl of your Kitchen Aid Mixer with the WHISK attachment and whip on high speed until it is thick, glossy and white in color. The peaks should be as firm as firm can be.
In the meantime you can sift your confectioners sugar, and once you have achieved STIFF peaks meringue, add the confectioners sugar all at once with the mixer on very low speed to avoid having a snow shower of sugar all over your kitchen!
Once all of the sugar has been incorporated you can turn the mixer speed to med-high until it is all nicely mixed in.
Be sure your butter and shortening are at room temperature and they are the same consistency. Add it in about 2-3 additions, but FAST Additions.
Switch to the paddle attachment and continue mixing on low to medium speed until smooth

Notes
This Recipe Can Be Stored for 4 days room temperature, 2 weeks refrigerator, 2 months freezer

Spa Cookies.......

Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream

3 (100g) egg whites
2/3 c (130g) sugar
10 Tbsp (142g) butter, cubed and at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz (113g) cream cheese, cubed and at room temp


In the base of a double boiler, bring water to a simmer. In the top bowl (or just a bowl to place over a pan of simmering water) combine the egg whites and sugar and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot to the touch (160F on a candy thermometer if you want to be completely accurate), about five minutes depending on the original temperature of the eggs. When the mixture has warmed sufficiently, pour it into the bowl of your stand mixer and whip on high speed until the bottom of the bowl is room temperature, ten to fifteen minutes. When the bowl is no longer warm, turn the mixer to medium-low and begin adding the butter piece by piece. Let each chunk incorporate completely before adding the next and don't rush the process!

After all of the butter has been added, add the vanilla and turn the speed back to high. Whip for about 3 minutes or until the buttercream comes together. Turn the speed down to low and add the cream cheese, then mix on medium to fully incorporate.

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