TBB: Strawberry Shortcake Genoise

Strawberry Shortcake is one of my favorite cake.. 

whether it is Japanese version,  English version.. and now Rose's version. :)  I love them all! :D 

 I was excited when I saw this cake on schedule and really looking forward to making it. I can't remember why I missed baking this as Beta Bakers.. or was it this pan I ordered came late?.. can't remember now...  

First make the clarified butter.

Since I am making clarified butter, I made a huge batch of 500g of butter. 

All drained out of the black burnt bits into cups. 

I used Japanese oil filter paper with a small metal funnel so tiny that could only fit my cups.

After cooled, I stored the balance in the freezer...for future use.

Make the Genoise sponge cake. 5 eggs + 1 yolk. 

These frozen strawberries drained for 12 hours..

Had the exact strawberry liquid weight as mentioned in the book! 

why did I even bother weighing?  :)

Genoise baked. I had a hard time flipping over asap, esp when the pan is hot and I feel so clumsy with my big oven gloves.  Almost broke the cake into 2.  Oh yes, notice the parchment paper under? Rose says to do that. 

Flipped over and supposed to take out the top.
I contemplated for a while, and it looked so beautifully flat.. so I didn't take it out! 

Mistake!! 

I realised later (when I cut the cake) that the syrup will not go through if you don't take out this layer!  Nonetheless the cake still tasted great!  (Note to self: next time don't try to be too smart..)

Apply syrup bottom and top. 

BTW, the strawberry syrup smells heavenly and tasted really good too! 

This look quite 'bloody'..not a pretty sight. 

Wrapped up in cling wrap and placed in fridge to rest for 12 hours.

12 hours later.

Process the dried up frozen strawberries into pulp. 

Somehow mine wasn't very dried up..still had liquid in them..after a further 12 hours in fridge.

Place the pulp onto the cake. 

Drain the fresh strawberries for 2 hours at room temperature..

In mean time, I brought my son out.. (and also left my bread dough to proof on its own..) 

Microwaved the strawberry syrupy liquid into 1 tablespoon..or there about.. until it is thick and sticky. And brushed onto the strawberries.  Made the strawberries look so pretty and shiny! 

I love how it looks. Next time I will do this for all my strawberry cakes! 

Next...whip the cream and then add the strawberry preserves.

I over-whipped the cream into a lumpy mess because I multi-tasked.. rolling bread rolls and at the same time whipping cream.   I had to throw away and make it again.

This time I had my attention on just the cream, I added the jam to the cream and whipped together. Worked better this way...strawberry whipped cream came out perfect. 

Ta-Dah! Finished! 

So pretty! 

Actually I think the cake looked prettier without the cream on top.

The cream covered up the pretty red shiny strawberries!

I brought this cake to our church fellowship gathering and everyone liked the cake.   It was a show-stopper cake!

All who tasted it said it was very delicious and not to sweet (hahaha..remember I said before "not to sweet' here is a good review)!  Soft sponge with intense strawberry flavors. 

I will definitely be making it again!

The recipe looks intimidating with lots of steps, but actually it is Q&E cake.  Putting the cake together is really quick, just the waiting time for the strawberries to drain out and for the syrupy cake to rest for 12 hours. 

So if you get your timeline right..you can do a lot of things in between...like what I did.. :)  LOL!  

(p/s: In between waiting, I made the sour cherry pie (yes, again!), 

cran-raspberry upside down cake (x2..cos first one burnt!)..and 

2-trays of bread buns).