Happy Birthday Bro

We celebrated my brother's birthday on the weekend.

There were delicious nibbles, chilled bubbles and yes, there was cake.

By George...there was cake!

 

 

The Strawberry Tall Cake

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70g unsalted butter, room temperature | 3/4 cup caster sugar | 1 tsp vanilla extract | 2 eggs | 1 1/2 cups plain flour | 2 1/2 tsp baking powder | 1/4 tsp salt | 2/3 cup buttermilk | Whipped Cream | 1 1/2 cups cream | 2 tbsp caster sugar  | 

Fresh Strawberry Filling: 2 punnets of strawberries (reserve ¼ of a punnet for decoration) | 1 tsp vanilla extract | 2 tbsp caster sugar

Makes one 6 inch triple layer cake

 

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and/or line the bottoms and sides of three 6-inch round cake pans.
  2. In a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
  3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add dry ingredients to the batter, alternating with buttermilk in 2 to 3 additions. When mixing, do not let the mixer exceed medium speed. This will ensure that gluten does not form, and you have a soft airy cake. Divide batter evenly among three prepared cake pans.
  4. Bake cakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes; invert cakes onto wire racks cool completely.
  5. For the Fresh Strawberry Filling & Whipped Cream
  6. Clean and hull strawberries, and slice into pieces
  7. Place sliced berries in a bowl and add sugar and vanilla. Toss to coat, cover and let berries macerate at room temperature for about an hour.
  8. In an electric mixer, whip the cream and sugar until stiff. There will be about three cups.

To Assemble

  1. Place one layer on cake stand or serving plate, flat side up. Top with ½ the strawberry filling, spooning over the entire cake layer.  Top with one cup of whipped cream, spreading evenly over berries.
  2. Repeat with second layer of cake, remaining berries, and 1 cup of whipped cream. Top with remaining layer of cake. Cover with last of the whipped cream and garnish with fresh, whole berries.
  3. For best flavor, cover the cake with dome or loose plastic wrap and refrigerate for about two hours before slicing and serving.

 

I was waiting for the cake to fall over after the very first slice, but this little baby made me proud and stood tall all the way through to the final slice....is that thanks to the cake or my brother's slicing skills?

Happy Birthday Bro!

xx

RecipeChit Chat ChompBaking1