Sweets and drinksBaked GoodsEurope and North AmericaAbout 1 hour 30 minutes
This strawberry whipped cream birthday cake starts from a light airy sponge, filled with cream and sliced strawberries, covered in cream and then pressed all over with sliced almonds. It looks plain but carefully made, and a cut slice shows the red strawberries sitting neatly between two layers of sponge.
The hardest part is the cream: underwhipped it slumps, overwhipped it splits and the piped flowers come out pitted. Whipping cream blended with topping cream in equal parts holds its shape longer and still tastes properly rich. The sponge has to be completely cool before frosting, because warm cake makes the cream slide down to the base.
This batch weighs about 2.5kg, at roughly 106 calories per 100g.
Method
Heat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.
Tip 1 pack of sponge cake baking mix, the 200g size, into a bowl and add 2 room temperature chicken eggs and 2 tablespoons oat milk.
Beat the mixture with a hand mixer on low speed for 3 minutes, scrape the batter down the sides of the bowl, then beat for another 4 minutes with the speed rising gradually.
Pour the batter into a tin greased with oil or butter.
Bake at 170 degrees C on the lowest rack for about 20 to 25 minutes, then move it to the middle rack and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven, wait 10 minutes, then turn it out of the tin and let it cool completely.
Put 200ml whipping cream and 200ml topping cream into the same bowl and whip until stiff.
Split the sponge in half, spread cream between the two layers and arrange sliced strawberries in the middle.
Cover the whole cake evenly with cream, keeping a little back for piping.
Press 100 to 200g sliced almonds all over the outside of the cake.
Put the remaining cream in a piping bag, pipe flowers on top, then arrange strawberries to decorate.
Tips
Blend whipping cream with topping cream in equal parts, and the cream holds its shape longer while still tasting properly rich.
Chill the bowl and the beaters first, and the cream whips up faster with less weeping.
The sponge has to be completely cool before the cream goes on, since warm cake makes the cream run straight off.
Wash the strawberries, pat them dry and only then slice them, because standing water thins the cream.
Press the sliced almonds on while the outer cream is still damp, so they stick firmly and cover the surface.
More from kOBE
The kOBE kitchen has over a thousand more recipes, plus Monk Fruit Blend and ready meals delivered.