Sunday, April 28, 2013

Mother's Strawberry Short-Cake


    We had extra whipping cream from our get-together the other evening so I made Mother's Cake. It's a cake recipe that we've played with quite a bit and always have called it Mother's cake. 
    In the above picture (can you find it all???) is baking powder, sucanat, spelt-flour, and salt. We have used honey as a sweetener in this recipe before (I've included the instructions for both honey and sugar below), but tonight I just went with what was easiest.



    My little brother is so helpful. I love him to death! He held the 1 Cup measure for me so I could take the picture. he also cracked the eggs into a glass measuring pitcher and fished the shells out with a spoon.   


   Here's our coconut oil. It was solid so I had to let it sit in the boiling water for a few minutes to let it liquify. We do this with crystallized honey too. NOTE: The glass jar is not sitting directly on the bottom of the pot, there is a wide-mouth canning lid underneath it. I've forgotten the canning lid a time or two and the jar cracked and made a mess.


    And here's our cake batter! When my little brother and I cook together he does the stirring.


    I didn't liquify the coconut oil all the way because I wanted a bit left over to grease my baking dish. We gave up Crisco when I was twelve and gave up cooking spray when I was sixteen. Now we do everything with coconut oil. Who knows what will come next...  


    I used a fork to drag the softened oil-lump around until the sides and bottom are well coated.


Pour in the batter and slip it into the oven ...while it was baking I fixed the whipping cream.


    We bought this heavy whipping cream from Costco and only used half of it for our get-together so I made up the rest tonight. 
    Once, we got a half gallon of milk from our Amish neighbor down the road. he next day the milk had separated into cream and milk so we skimmed the top and it whipped up just perfectly.


    This is what it looks like in the beginning. Pretty liquidy hu? That all changes when the Bosch Mixer is turned on 'high'. We used to mix out whipping cream with a hand-mixer, but once we discovered the bosch could do it in less time with less mess we gave up the hand mixer for good.


    We have to watch the cream really closely, especially near the end. If it mixes too much it will turn to butter really quickly! I'm the designated cream-whipper in the house because everyone gets nervous near the end of the mixing process and they stop the mixer before the cream is stiff enough. I'm the brave soul who pushes it to the very edge so I can get my stiff peaks.


    There! That's the way I like it! Stiff peaks.


    I add the vanilla and sweetner in AFTER the cream is the consistancy that I like, because it it's put in earlier the cream struggles to reach stiff peaks. I don't measure either the vanilla or the sweeter ... it's just a preference thing.  


    This time I used Sorghum which is a really light, sweet, golden molasses. We bought it when we went to on our field trip to the sorghum molasses farm. But you definitely don't have to use sorghum. We've used honey, turbinado, sucanat, maple syrup, etc...


Mix the yummyness together...


    I sliced these strawberries with the bosch mixer just yesterday to have at our get-together. The bosch mixer has a slicer attachment that we use A LOT! When it slices strawberries, it slightly purees them which is the best for strawberry short-cake.


    Our cake is done ... My little brother sliced it while everyone gathered together. They were all partially gathered before the cake cake out because of the great smells we were making.  



Violla! If that picture doesn't make your mouth water, I don't know what will!

Ingredients:
  Cake:
    3 Cups Flour
    1 2/3 Cup Sugar (Or 1 Cup Honey)
    1 TB Baking Powder
    1/2 tsp Baking Soda (Only if you're using honey)
    1 tsp salt
    2/3 cup oil
    1 1/4 Cup milk
    3 Eggs
    1/2 Tsp Vanilla
  Toppings:
    Heavy Whipping Cream
    Sweetener (sugar, honey, turbinado, sorghum, maple syrup, etc...)
    Vanilla
    Strawberries  

Directions:
    Mix dry ingredients and moist ingredients separately before combining. Pour batter into a greased 9x11 baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. 
    While the cake is baking whip the heavy whipping cream until you read the desired consistency. Mix in the sweetener and vanilla. Slice the strawberries. When the cake emerges, slice, take one, and pile on he strawberries and whipping cream. ENJOY!