Strawberry Shortcake
When I was in college, just about every event started with some kind of icebreaker question or game. Because people aren't really that creative, usually the question was "what is one interesting thing about you?" or "what is a fun fact about yourself?" These questions are shockingly hard to answer. How do you sum up your whole life into one interesting fun fact? Or how do you find a fact that is fun enough for you to stick out so that people will actually remember you? Well, my solution to the problem was to figure out the most interesting things and come up with a few to use on rotation. One of the favorites was that I share a birthday with my mom and my grandpa and we all have some variation of the name "Jo" in our names. Fun right?
Honestly, I had mixed feelings about this growing up. I enjoy very different things from my mom and my grandpa but since they are older (and like similar things), we often did what they wanted for our birthday. As I got older I started to have my own party and enjoyed our birthday a little more. As an adult I look back on all of our joint birthday parties and actually miss them! I hate golfing but I would love golfing with my family on my birthday next year just to have a joint birthday party again. However, having my own family now and both my mom and grandpa living in their own states, it has been a while since all three of us have been together on our birthday.
One of the things that was always out of my hands but I grew to love very quickly, was the type of cake we ate every year. Without fail, we would have my grandpa's favorite: strawberry shortcake. Or at least some variation of it. From angel food cake with cool whip and strawberry sauce to a biscuit with reddi whip and strawberries, or actual shortcake with homemade whipped cream and strawberries, it was always there on our birthday!
Over the years this became the cake I waited all year to eat, we didn't eat it any other time because it was ment to be special for our birthday. So, of course, when I got married I made sure to carry on the shortcake tradition. Quickly a wrench was thrown into things and I actually went into labor with my first while in the middle of making my strawberry shortcake for my 20th birthday! My daughter was born the day after but I made sure I ate my cake in the hospital and ended up sharing it with all of my family who could make it that day. Of course the cake was amazing, but what I didn't realize was the impact this cake would have on my in-laws! They had never really had my strawberry shortcake until that day and maybe it was because that was also the day the first niece and grand baby was born but every time I offer to make cake for an event the "cake we ate when you were in the hospital with baby" is requested about 75% of the time.
Now, I don't think you realize how much that means I made this cake this year. My husband has four siblings and because we are young, just bought a house, and have a kid with another on the way we are short on cash. So, there has become this agreement that in lieu of a present I will make everyone any kind of cake they can think of. There are five kids (including my husband) in my husband's family. On top of that I have three siblings and then there are also all of our parents. That is 13 (ish) cakes I make every year! I think the actual number is a little less than that just because I didn't see my dad this year on his birthday and my husband and one of his sisters have birthdays super close together, but I actually went back and counted that I have made this cake five times this year! So, if that doesn't convince you to try making this amazing cake yourself, hit me up and I might be convinced to make one for you too while I'm at it!
I start this cake like any other cake, by first creaming together my butter and sugar until they are smooth. Then, I add in my eggs one at a time until they are mixed in well. I finish off the wet ingredients by mixing in my milk and vanilla until smooth. Next, I bust out my sifter and sift in my flour, baking powder, and salt. If my salt is too course I just add in a pinch once I start mixing instead of sifting it in. When all that is sifted I use a rubber spatula or my mixer to get everything smooth and ensure there are no dry streaks. However, I make sure to be very careful to not over mix everything.
When the batter is all mixed, I pour it into two greased and dusted 9 inch cake rounds. You can use any size rounds with this recipe but you will have to adjust the bake time accordingly. The deeper the batter, the longer it will need to cook all the way through. I bake my 9 inch rounds at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.
Once baked, I let my cakes cool to room temperature. While they are cooling, I prep my strawberries and whipped cream. All I do to my strawberries is slice them and toss them in sugar. The longer they sit in the sugar, the more juices they release and the tastier they get, so I like to do this right after putting my cakes in the oven. Right before I assemble my cake, I make whipped cream by whipping heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. To assemble the cake I start by placing my first round, spooning some of the strawberry juice directly onto the cake, spreading half of the whipped cream, and topping it with half of the strawberries along with their juice. Then, I add the second cake, more juice, the rest of the whipped cream, and finish off with the rest of the strawberries. You can arrange the strawberries on top in a pattern but I like the natural "piled on" look the best.
Once you have assembled your cake you're done! All that's left to do is enjoy! If you are preparing this ahead of time I recommend storing it in the fridge but make sure to eat it the day you assembled it or else the whipped cream can start to deflate and go watery. I also recommend that you use a bulk of the strawberry juices on the cake itself rather than on top of the whipped cream with the strawberries. If there is a lot of juice, it can run off the whipped cream instead of soaking into the cake, creating a big mess. All that being said, this is one of the easiest cakes you will ever make. It always looks impressive with minimal skill needed and is almost guaranteed to be a crowd favorite!
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