Sky-High Strawberry Shortcake
It's like eating a cloud of summer
I'm sad that summer is ending.
Okay, let me say that I live in LOS ANGELES. Yes, the land of beaches, Hollywood, too much Botox, and Disneyland. I'm a native and love it. I've seen snow about 15 times in my entire life. I went years without owning an umbrella because it rains only a few days a year. I think the average year-round temp here is 70 degrees. Thus, Summer moving into Fall doesn't really make much difference.
But my summer fruits, the ultimate symbol of summer, are going away and that makes me sad.
No more apricots around, and the peaches are getting a bit mealy. Last month, every stand had strawberries...now only two. I know the whole Lion King circle of
life fruit thing, but I'm still sad.
Here is probably one of the last California summer strawberry desserts of the year...(and, omg, the most delicious and beautiful!!!)
Earlier, I made that awesome
Chai Tea three layer cake. Today, I made the Sky-High Strawberry Shortcake from Alisa Huntsman's book,
Sky High Cakes: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes (page 89). This book is so
amazing. The Sky-High Strawberry Shortcake is on the cover - I mean, this is totally a cover girl cake, no?
My organic California strawberries were hulled, sliced and macerated in sugar, rosewater and vanilla for 1 hour before assembly. I love rose water and I especially like going to my local Halal store to buy it - I love the saffron ice cream and many guava and mango juices available at the market.
At first, I thought the vanilla was a bit too much when I ate a strawberry, but after it sits on the cake for a bit, it mellows out.
This is a 6" cake. I had one 6x3 MagicLine pan but this recipe sent me (very, very happily) back to Surfas for two 6x2 pans. This is an adorable size for cakes!
The cake uses cake flour and buttermilk for a nice vanilla cake. Next time, I might use vanilla paste so I can get those little flecks of vanilla bean in the batter. Filled with strawberries and fresh whipped cream (with sugar and vanilla), it is heaven on a plate.
My new Tupperware cake taker (whew, bought one of the last aqua ones - Tupperware has switched to an alarming
yellow product) was too short for this literally sky-high cake. I had to dig out my old Rubbermaid carrier to hold this sky scraper of a cake.
The only problem happened 100 feet from work. I made a quick right-turn and then come upon a light...in front of the Sheriff station. I'm extra cautious and, not wanting to sit in traffic school again, I break for the yellow. And I look down at my little cake..and it is a study in fractions. 1/3 is on the plate and 2/3 is not. Ugh. But I got to work and pushed all back together!
Say farewell to summer!Last time, the author actually commented on my blog! Her
blog says
"To see it for sale in stores and on the internet is incredible; to see it in use by other bakers, now that is a thrill." So...Buy Alisa's
book and thrill her with some cakes!