Tuesday, January 20, 2009

TWD: Berry Surprise Cake

Up this week - the Berry Surprise Cake. On the outside, it looks like just a regular old cake...


But on the inside lies the surprise...


Gorgeous, delicious strawberries.

Dorie suggested using raspberries for this, but I'm not a big fan of them. I was hoping for a cake that would remind me of strawberry shortcake and fortunately that's just what I ended up with.

But, I can't write this post letting everyone think this was a breeze for me to make. So many things went wrong that I almost threw in the towel. To begin with, I had pockets of flour in my batter but I didn't want to overmix the "diva" batter per Dorie's instructions, so I worried about how it would turn out once baked. And the recipe calls for using an 8-inch pan. All I had was a 9-inch, and I wasn't about to run out and buy a new pan just for this cake. So I used what I had and ended up with a very short cake, which perhaps could also partly be attributed to my batter not being perfect.

And do you think slicing off a layer of a very short cake is easy? Nope, it's not! So the top layer that I took off was very uneven and broken. Then, because I wanted to make matters worse, I followed the wrong directions for the filling. I started out with the cream cheese as called for, then Dorie said to add the sugar, the vanilla, and the cream. Well, I flipped the page back to read the quanitities and accidentally read those of the frosting (which also used sugar, vanilla and cream). So I put in powdered sugar (instead of granulated) with my cream cheese, too little vanilla and the wrong amount of cream. Like I said, things weren't going my way. But it tasted alright, so I decided to just go with it.

Then, in went the berries. Because my cake was so short, I couldn't get in as many as I'd have liked. So it was just a small layer of strawberries for this cake. Fortunately, it ended up tasting quite good despite my frustrations with it. I served it up to some family who also seemed to enjoy it. So all turned out well in the end! And if I ever make this again, I'll buy a 9-inch pan and read the directions a little better.

Many thanks to Mary Ann of Meet Me In The Kitchen for selecting this week's recipe. If you'd like to find the recipe, follow it correctly, and make this yourself, go to her site!

Up next week: Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread.

16 comments:

Pamela said...

Hey, we ended up with the same cake. :o) Yep, I thought it was very much like a strawberry shortcake. While it was good, it was certainly a lot of work! Nice job, though.

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

We thought it tasted like strawberry shortcake as well..you know...with raspberries! You cake looks delicious!

Sabrina said...

I feel your pain! Mine was flat as a pankcake! Yours looks great though. I would've never guessed you had all those troubles.

Anonymous said...

It turned out nice...whipped cream makes everything better!

kimberly salem said...

it looks great with the strawberries! glad you liked it even with your accidental changes :) can't really go wrong with that much whipped cream ;)

Megan said...

Considering how nice it looks, it doesn't seem like you had any problems.

Unknown said...

Looking at your pictures I wouldn't tell you had any trouble with this one!! Great job and it sounds and looks delicious with the strawberries!

Cathy said...

Mine was short as well, even though I used an 8" pan. I blame the divas. I had the same issue with flour pockets. This cake thoroughly defeated me. It's always fun to try a new technique, though! Your cake looks beautiful, and I am so glad that it was tasty!!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks gorgeous and you truly got the surprise aspect going. I'm glad in the end it worked out for you.

chocolatechic said...

Gorgeous looking cake.

Unknown said...

Yes, a gorgeous cake!

Flourchild said...

I was frustrated too with my cake..mine turned out short too. I did like the taste ...

Amy said...

That's a yummy looking cake! Makes me wish that I had made it sooner so I could have made the frosting too!

Cooking for Comfort by Jennifer said...

One would never suspect that the egg divas gave you a moment's trouble! You did a beautiful job!

Michele said...

This looks delicious. I love anything with berries.

Jaime said...

i think it would be fantastic with strawberries! i didn't like the genoise too much though