Strawberry Shortcake Cake-a new twist on a old favorite

Is it Summer yet? I can tell you that here in Missouri it sure feels like it's the middle of July! We hit a high today of 94, but thankfully the humidity wasn't super bad, mainly because we haven't had any rain to speak of for a couple weeks.

So what goes better with hot weather than the traditional strawberry shortcake??? My family has eaten this fresh and light delight ever since I can remember. Now me, not so much. Although I think strawberries smell wonderful and are so pretty with their bright red colors, I just cannot eat them. I know....gasp, how can anyone not like strawberries??? I don't, never have, never will.............well I have to admit I do like them in a nice daquiri or margarita, but I think it might have something to do with the alcohol. lol But one of the main reasons is the seeds, can't handle them, they are nasty and get stuck in your teeth. I have a thing with seeds. lol  Green beans is another things....big yuck, those seeds are disgusting. But I digress...............:D

So what even made me think of a cake covered in my enemy??? A order for a birthday cake and the birthday person loved strawberry shortcake. But they wanted a CAKE. So my brain was whirling quickly trying to think of a suitable alternative and then it hit me...why can't I make a strawberry shortcake CAKE???? I had never had one (of course. lol) but I was sure my thought wasn't an original one. So I told the lady that I thought I could make one of these, two layers of a white cake filled with strawberries and fluffy frosting with a strawberry drizzle. So after I said I could do it, that's when I went to our greatest resource....Google! I typed in Strawberry Shortcake Cake and up popped a bunch of recipes. See I knew I wasn't the only sheep in the flock to see the wolf. I saw The Pioneer Woman's blog and there it was, right there for me to try out. So I stopped at Aldi's to buy a couple quarts of 99 cent strawberries as well as sour cream for this soon to be master piece.
I whipped up the cake last night. I did everything by the book....this time :)  It was a
pretty simple recipe..see it at her website....just type in strawberry shortcake cake by Pioneer Woman and it should take you right too it. Sorry, it wouldn't let me copy the link.

thepioneerwoman.com/.../strawberry-shortcakecake/

Like she said, this cake bakes a nice golden color, it's just the nature of the beast. It's not burned so don't worry. The reason you use the offset spatula is because this cake DOES NOT dome on top like a normal cake. Not sure you can tell the color or not as this picture was taken after I split the cake in half.

Since the lighting in my house is terrible for taking pictures, I often head to my patio to take pictures. Hope you don't mind :)  There is almost one quart sliced and soaking in sugar in the bowl to create some wonderful juice. I saved out 4 large berries to slice for the top of the cake. Once the berries soaked for awhile it created quite a bit of juice, so I went ahead and smashed some of them up. I strained out the berries and put the juice in a sauce pan along with a bit of water and a couple tablespoons of corn starch. Since the juice is pretty pink once it's thick, I always add a bit of red coloring back to the glaze to return it to the original red color. I put both the berries and glaze back in the fridge to cool it completely before assembling the cake.

Once the cake was split into two layers, I went ahead and and made my favorite Fluffybutt fluffy frosting. You can find that recipe on my Facebook page www.facebook/fluffybuttcookies.com, look under the notes section to find it. Trust me, it's yummy and everyone thinks it's to die for :)  I spread a thinish layer of frosting on top of the first layer. This is where I started my rebel ways from the way PW did hers.

I then took half of the glaze and the strained strawberries and mixed them together. I piped a frosting damn so that the strawberries would stay confined and not try and sneak out.

Looks tasty so far doesn't it???  :D

Next comes the top layer of cake. Just take it and lay it gently onto your first layer, then do a nice crumb coat all over you cake. Set it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes, just so the frosting is nice and firm. Finish frosting the cake.

Now it's time for my favorite part.........making it look as good as it tastes! I took the remainder of the glaze and carefully spread half of it in the middle of the cake, then took the rest and randomly let it drizzle down the sides. I tried not to do too much, just enough to make it pretty. Once I was satisfied with that, I sliced the 4 strawberries that I had reserved and arranged them on the top of the cake, then piped frosting borders around the bottom and the top. Topped the sliced berries with a squirt of frosting and one whole strawberry with the leaf and stem still on.

So there you go. Summer at it's finest....or Spring really I guess since Summer technically is still a month away. If you try this recipe let me know what you think. I know it's a fairly impressive looking gem when it's finished. My presentation is quite different from The Pioneers Woman's, both are pretty in their own way. It's just a matter of visual taste which direction you choose to take yours!!!

Enjoy and remember to keep the cats away from the frosting....they love it!

Tammy (Fluffybutt Cookies)
pioneer womans strawberry shortcake cake