Strawberry Shortcake and a Strawberry Cream Jelly Roll

 

Happy Fourth of July! (belated. . . ) Nothing is better at an Independence Day picnic then good ol' strawberry shortcake.
Cept to make mine a little more festive its a strawberry and blueberry shortcake (red, white, and blue. . ) Anyways, I used a jelly roll cake recipe for a light base- thought it would be better than the typical heavy pound cake or biscuit base. Its summer- we need light fruity goodness!! (and ice cream, but that's another post).

I adapted Paula Deen's recipe, the original can be found here

Strawberry Shortcake

For the Sponge: oven 400

4 eggs, separated

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla (seems like a lot- trust me, embrace the vanilla!)

1/4 teaspoon almond extract (this was my adaptation, thought it added a lil' somethin' extra)

3/4 cup cake flour*

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Toppins:

sliced strawberries

blueberries

*cake flour substitution: 2 tablespoons corn starch+ all-purpose flour to equal 1 cup will equal 1 cup cake flour. So for this recipe, put 1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch in the bottom of your measuring cup and add flour until it equals 3/4 cup.

For the Sponge:

1) Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry; set aside.

2) Beat egg yolks until pale and light (this takes a while kids). Then gradually add the sugar and extracts; beat until well combined. Sift in flour, salt, and baking powder; mix until combined (I'm not sure what happens if you over beat, so i would be careful at this step). Fold in egg whites. This was a little difficult to do, the egg yolk mix didn't want to cooperate, but just keep goin' until the mixture looks homogeneous.

3) Grease a 9 by 13 inch pan, line with parchment and grease. Pour in the batter and bake about 10 minutes, or until the top is springy to the touch. Invert onto a kitchen towel dusted with powdered sugar. Let cool on a wire rack. *

*Now if you wanted to make a Jelly Roll, you would bake it in a 15 by 10 jelly roll pan (lined and greased with parchment too), then right after you take it out of the oven, invert onto a towel dusted with powdered sugar, and roll the towel up into the cake (like those 'fruit by the foot' papers) and let cool on a wire rack. When it was cooled you would unroll it, fill it with filling of choice and roll back up (without the towel), wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. (You could warm up some jam, say 1/3 cup- enough to cover a thin layer on the whole cake, spread it around, spread a thin layer of whipped cream or cream cheese frosting, then roll it up and refrigerate) (also. . freezing it makes for easier slicing)

For the Whipped Cream:

1) Whip cream, sugar and vanilla until it has the consistency of shaving cream

Assembly:

Cut the cake into 8 squares. Take a square, a dollop of whipped cream (or two..) and add desired amount of sliced fruit and blueberries. Delish.

Enjoy!