Tuesday, June 19, 2012

French Strawberry Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

Don't let the title of this post fool you.  No, this is not a French Fridays recipe, but a French recipe we are baking for Tuesdays with Dorie.  And let's cut to the chase ... I LOVED this recipe!!  I loved our French Friday's recipe for quartre-quarts so much that I've made it a few times and this week's cake recipe was very similar.  WAY better than traditional/American shortcake!!  I love the dense, vanilla-y cake with sweet, juicy berries.

Yesterday I was pooped ... no motivation ... tired.  I keep getting to bed too late at night and things are busy and going at my house by 6am every morning.  I was grumpy & tired and so were my children.  By 4:00 in the afternoon, I was at my wit's end with sassy attitudes, disobedience, being told NO!, etc, etc, etc.  I quickly decided it would be best if we all take a break from each other and rest a bit before Dad got home from work.  The kids were all sent to their rooms ... Penguin read for a while and Peacock kept trying to sneak out of her room but she eventually fell asleep & slept almost FOUR hours!  Turkey had a nap too and I must admit that I fell asleep next to him for about 30 minutes.  After my quick nap, I came down and got busy with my strawberry cake and had some nice, quiet, relaxing time to myself.  For whatever reason I was a bit worried about making this recipe, but once I got into it, it went very quickly.

I think my cake had enough height to make 3 layers, but when I was ready to assemble everything, the cake was just barely cool enough to cut and I didn't trust myself to make the 3 layers.  I was thinking it might be fun to double the cake recipe and do 4 thicker layers sometime. Or use this cake in my English Trifle recipe instead of pound cake.

{working on the first layer}

I chose to not frost the sides of the cake because I liked seeing the insides and thought it was pretty.  I also just dumped the remainder of the strawberries and the juices on top of my cake.  I'm sure I wasn't supposed to do that....

It turned out fun & yummy & the extra juice made the frosting fall down the sides of the cake.  I think I'm gonna go eat some leftovers now for my mid-morning snack.  My children will be jealous.  I might share.

We have two hosts this week who shared the recipe on their blog.

Sophia's Sweets

Think, Love, Sleep, Dine

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9 comments:

Cher Rockwell said...

Your cake looks perfectly yummy.

Now that my girls are 18 and almost 17, it is a little harder to send them to their rooms for naps. Although, we have gotten very good at letting each other know when a "time out" is needed. Hang in there :-)

Judy said...

I'm glad you enjoyed this cake, especially after a grumpy afternoon. Photos are great.

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Looks wonderful!

Unknown said...

I like the unfrosted sides better. I think I will do it that way from now on. I also live in the Valley of the Sun. Good luck keeping cool in the kitchen!

Beautiful family, beautiful blog.

Kathy said...

Your cake looks so pretty…I’m sure this was a with with your family!

Whispering Thoughts said...

It looks so yummy. Mouth watering.

Unknown said...

Nice work! I think I need to try making mine again sometime. I had some trouble with the cream :( Also, your strawberries look so pretty!

Cathleen | My Culinary Mission said...

I like the way it looks with the sides open and the cream and juices running down. Glad this was a hit for you!

oneclevermom said...

That looks delicious! I am so glad this was a hit for you! You deserved it after a trying day. Those can be so hard! Thank goodness for a piece of happiness and success in the kitchen! I love the dripping strawberries and cream. Makes me want to stick my finger in there and sneak a taste!! Yum!

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