Strawberry Supreme Cake

So.... this strawberry supreme cake from Today's Baked Sunday Mornings selection is in Baked Occasions as a nod to May Day. Although May 1st is the calendar May Day, May 20th is the beginning of strawberry season here in the Northeast, so our timing is perfect for access to fresh ripe strawberries. This strawberry supreme cake is the pinnacle of strawberry shortcake perfection, yet I never would have bothered with making it if it weren't for Baked Sunday Mornings (thanks guys). As it happens, I adore strawberry shortcake, but I swore it off ages ago after a summer in college when I kept ordering it at restaurants in upstate NY and was invariably disappointed with the canned syrupy strawberries and bland shortcake I received each time. Unlike those travesties, Baked's strawberry supreme cake is the penultimate strawberry shortcake. Its rich and buttery, dense yet not heavy, strawberry-puree-flavored cake layers are what all shortcakes aspire to be and most fail to accomplish. With a layered strawberry jam plus strawberries in whipped cream filling and the trademark Baked buttercream frosting covering the top, this cake is perfect for welcoming the arrival of warm weather.

The strawberry cake itself is a sponge cake since it relies on folding whipped egg whites into a butter-based batter to achieve a "firm, yet well-aerated structure". It took me about 30-40 minutes of prep time, but it was late at night and I was a little disorganized. First, beat your butter and shortening for a couple of minutes, add the sugar and vanilla, then the egg. Next, add ½ the flour, all the milk-buttermilk-ice water, then the remaining flour mix. Fold in the egg whites you've just whipped to soft peaks, then the pureed strawberries. I used thawed frozen strawberries for this step, which I blended in my blender rather than my food processor for the puree. Also, I made the ½ cup of buttermilk by allowing a scant ½ cup of whole milk plus two teaspoons of lemon juice to stand for 10 minutes before using it.

In weighing out my ingredients, I did see a difference in the metric volumes vs cup amounts for the whole milk and cream. My 1-½ cups of whole milk was only 310 ml rather than the 360 ml specified; I followed the volume amount.

I had enough cake batter to fill my three 8-inch cake pans with 590 grams of batter each, which is a slightly larger volume yield than most of the Baked cakes I've made. My cakes were done after 39 minutes, just a smidgen earlier than the 40-45 minute range given in the recipe. I was a little worried I might have taken them out too early, but I found them to be perfectly cooked once I tried the cake.

Unfortunately, the frosting and assembly step was a minor disaster for me... I seem to have lost my frosting mojo. This is the third buttercream I've made in the past month that has irreparably split on me. I thought for sure my milk-flour-sugar "pudding" was fully cooled but perhaps it wasn't, or maybe I was overly hasty in my additions of a few pieces of butter at a time. I was not successful in salvaging my frosting, which was frustrating since I'd gotten up before dawn to make the frosting before work. I think I went in the wrong direction during my rescue efforts. I tried chilling the frosting in the fridge and then the freezer, which didn't do the trick because it would just start re-liquefying as soon as I took it out. I should have tried heating it over simmering water, but I was afraid I'd do even more harm. I gave up for a while and piped the broken frosting around the edges of each layer for the strawberry jam/strawberries-in-cream moat. I also used the broken frosting for the crumb coat. I was able to stabilize the remainder by whipping in some powdered sugar. I worried the frosting would become too sweet, and it was sweet, but not overly so. Then I took my rescue efforts a step backwards by ignoring Matt and Renato's advice that strawberry in the frosting might be overkill. I added a heaping tablespoon of the delicious strawberry jam I'd used on the inside layers of the cake to my buttercream. Adding the jam undid the creamy and smooth texture I'd finally achieved for my buttercream, however, it tasted fantastic. One important note: use a high quality, no-sugars-added strawberry jam for the assembly of this cake (and the frosting, if you're willing to be a rebel). I used D'arbo Garden Strawberry Jam, and I was really happy with the flavor.

I used my strawberry buttercream for the top and sides, and of course it slid down the sides. One of my coworkers told me it looked like strawberries had exploded all over my cake, but that's not such a terrible event. Another told me they'd never tasted a strawberry frosting with such a phenomenal and concentrated strawberry flavor. So, while this was not the most beautiful cake I've ever made, it was pretty fantastic to eat and I wish I'd kept more for myself.I was worried about how the cake would survive a day being exposed at room temperature, but I had nothing to fear. Apart from my liquid-y buttercream, the cake and strawberries-in-cream layers held up exceptionally well. Unlike some of the other cakes I've made recently, the cake didn't dry out at all and still tasted just as amazing 8 hours after the first slice was removed. I ate half a slice for lunch and stored the other half in the refrigerator for several hours to eat after dinner. I was a huge fan of how this cake tasted straight from the refrigerator and can happily recommend serving it room temperature or chilled.

Head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings for the recipe and to see how the other BSM bakers liked this May Day cake!