Fresh Strawberry Fruit Cake

Following from my earlier post, I want to share with you the steps in making this delicious strawberry sponge cake. I made a 10" cake for my father-in-law's birthday which is just one day before my 2nd year wedding anniversary. =) It was a rather last minute decision to make the cake and I was left searching high & low for the ingredient - so apology if you find the cake too plain looking. I started at about 2.30pm and completed the cake at about 6pm. It was much longer than expected because I was spending some time taking photos of the entire process :P. But it will only take you 15mins to set up, 20mins to make the sponge cake, 30mins to bake it, 5mins to whip up the cream and another 5 mins to cut the strawberry. As for spreading the cream and decorating the cake, it really depends on your skill. I think it took me above an hour but my mum could do it in 30mins.

You would need the following ingredients:

Main ingredients:

• 100g Sugar
• 100g Plain Flour
• 4 Eggs (if the eggs you have are small, add one more egg yolk to make the cake firmer)
• 100g butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp strawberry flavour (use strawberry compound if you have for better taste & fragrance)

The toppings & decorative items:

• 300g fresh cream
• 12pc -15pc strawberry (usually I would buy a box & the remainder I would eat them on its own - will add another recipe on how to make strawberry lemon honey juice)
• 1/2 tbsp strawberry compound (you can choose to leave this out or use a little strawberry flavour)
• Silver Balls (you can get them at Phoon Huat or use Almond Flakes - roasted, as an alternative)

Equipment:
Other than your cake beater and over, you will need the following:

• Grease paper
• A 9" round baking tin (if you used 10" baking tin like me - increase everything by 25g for the main ingredients and fresh cream to 400g)
• A long knife - must be shape
• Spatula (for "mopping" the cream")
• Cake base (cardboard)
• Sieve
• Measuring cup
• Chopping board (large) or if you can afford it go and get the mini turn table for your "mopping" cream on your cake

Preparation #1 - Lined the tin:
This is the step that I hate most so often I compelete it first before attempting to measure out the rest of the ingredients. At the same time, set the oven to 160 degree C so that the oven is hot when your mix is ready to be baked.
Turn the tin face down, then mark out the size with a pen. Cut out the round shape. Fold the remainder of the grease paper (at the longest side) so that you can cut out strip of it to line the tin. And at one end of the strip, make some cutting so that the strip will seat well in the tin.

Before you start lining the tin, add some cooking oil, then use a cloth or napkin to spread the oil evenly around the tin. You should have this (see pic left) after completing the above steps.


Preparation #2: Measuring the ingredients & melting the butter

This should be the easiest step. Just use your food weighing scale and measuring cup to take out the amount of flour, sugar, butter etc you need. I like to keep them in small container or bowls for easy access later.

Always remember to sieve your flour to prevent your cake from getting lumpy. Sieving will also help to remove dried or werid particals from the flour (especially if your pack of flour was open & stored away for awhile).

As for the butter, if you are lazy (like me), just put in in a mircowave safe bowl and turn the heat down to low and mircowave away for about 30sec. The best way is still to melt the butter over heat - until it turn liquid form.

If you ask if I have a particular brand of butter that I preferred, it would be Australian Golden Churn Butter. It is salted and very nice tasting. It cost about $3.20 (if on discount) to about $3.80 a block from NTUC Fairprice.


WE ARE NOW READY TO START MIXING & BAKING:

Step1: Mix the eggs and sugar in the mixing tub & start whisking them together at max speed for about 5 - 6 minutes.

Ok here are some tips those baking books don't tell you.

If you are using a Kitchen Aid or Kenwood machine like me, 5-6mins would be sufficient. But what if you are using handheld machine from Philips how long would you need? I tried it before & it took about 15mins.

Another trick is to check the final whisked product. The sugar & eggs must become white & stiff (see pic - above). By stiff it should form a tail when you check the consistency. This is a very important step, because if you under beat/over this mixture, your cake will either sink or become too hard in texture. So timing is very very important.

Once it is about the right texture, I will add in the strawberry flavour (see right pic).

Step 2: Add in the flour & fold well before adding melted butter

Remove the mixture from the machine and start to add in your flour part by part.
Do not dump the whole content into the mixture.

Over here, I used a huge spoon to fold the flour & to mix in the butter. You can use your hand to fold in the flour (must be in one direction). Hold the container slightly at an angle when doing so.

Note do not use the mixing machine as it will brust all the air bubbles in the mixture & you will risk your cake sinking after it is taken out from the oven.

Again use folding method to mix the butter well until the texture becomes shiny. You should still see air bubbles in the mixture.

Step 3: Pour the mixture into the tin and put into the oven immediately to bake

These are how the remaining steps will look like (see pictures).Remember, you cannot bang the tin on the table otherwise the air buddles will brust. Put the mixture to bake for 30mins at 160 degree C. The top of the cake should turn golden brown. To check if the inside of the cake is cooked, use a skewer - poke it through the center of the cake and it should come out clean (not sticky). Finally, quickly turn the cake upside down on a chopping board (cover with a piece of grease paper) and remove the greasepaper on the cake. Then it back up. Be sure to do this while the cake is till hot & tada! You have the strawberry sponge cake ready. Will continue in another entry.. :)