This year, with my injury, I was not looking forward to the finickiness of the whole thing: trying to cut it in half horizontally evenly, to remember what order the innards were in, getting enough strawberry juice into the cake so that it would saturate enough to her liking, and the worst, making sure that all seams, corners, and sides were covered thickly enough in whipping cream to look beautiful. See what I mean?Finicky!
A few days before the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (that's an amazing recipe unlike any other I've seen anywhere!) dinner I was thinking of the cake and remembering everything I'd need from the store: fresh dark strawberries, whipping cream, a Betty Crocker angel food cake, and a container of frozen crushed strawberries in juice. It was then that I thought about getting two boxes of cake so that I'd have one on hand for last minute ideas (The @DailyChef I love and curse you simultaneously!
) and just in case my cake failed somehow; it was too important an occassion for any errors! I was remembering my absolutely failed fallen chocolate cake and how @BettyCrocker cake to my rescue with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle that was an AMAZING success! (Again, another recipe!) Could I do this with this cake? Surely! Would I dissappoint my mother? An absolute possibility! Would she say something hurtful before trying it and loving it? Another absolute possibility! I was very scared but my sense of adventure was piqued! All these great, impressive, Tweeting bloggers out there were my encouragement. Now, if you don't have a trifle dish/bowl there is NOTHING stopping you from having one! Walmart has a simple one for just under $7! That's right! My friend Gail and I were on my quarter-yearly shopping trip to the States at the Bellingham Walmart on the Guide Merridian when I needed a trifle dish & there it was! Affordable & simple! We were so happy to find it!
I prepared my cake but for some reason, my impatience perhaps?! I turned it right-side up too early and it fell and slid right out of the pan! I set that mess on the cooling rack and started all over!
Cake done and cooled, I removed my whipping cream bowl and beaters from the freezer where they'd been chilling for 30-60 minutes. Using a 500ml carton of whipping cream (the real thing!), about 1/4 cup of Splenda white sugar (get it in bulk at Costco to save a bit of $), and about 2 tsp of vanilla extract (I prefer to use my Watkins White Vanilla when making whipping cream & a white icing to keep the colour as pure as possible). I stationed my husband on the other counter with these tools and a silicone spatula and got him beating the whipping cream. When he started to think it was ready I encouraged him to continue. I'm looking for not just soft peaks but for a stiff, chunky appearance to appear. ;) At that point I told him to make a well and to add the Splenda white and the vanilla. (Note: Splenda white inhaled is no fun so make sure you do what you need to to make sure it's a but mixed in before starting your beaters up again! ;) )
Ok, trifle dish in hand, fresh strawberries washed and deflowered (ok, can't recall term for removing leaves & making that triangular cone shaped cut in the top to remove whitish core... Shucking comes to mind but that's for corn, so I'm going with deflowering! So there!), frozen strawberries thawed and opened, both cakes sitting at the ready, and whipping cream whipped I began my masterpiece!
I placed cubed/bite-sized pieces of cake on the bottom of the dish (it's a squishy cake so I quickly abandoned the knife and ripped off pieces between 1-2 inches cubed) leaving about an 1/8-1/4" of space between pieces. (If when making trifle you place your pieces too close you may end up with dry cake pieces at the bottom when serving. They need a "bit" of moisture so leave a bit of room.) I then added a few heaping tablespoons of the mushy strawberries and a layer of whipping cream and pressed down gently to fill those spaces. On top of this layer of whipping cream I laid down some of the thin (maybe about 1/8" thick) fresh strawberry slices. Not a lot of them, maybe around 10. (In retrospect I should've cut these in half, top to bottom, for the onside of the cake. Their size proved awkward when eating.) I then took some and stood them up along the glass around this layer for presentation. (Notice on the picture how you can see inside your cake? To make what looks like a mess a bit nicer, try to think of the ingredients of your trifle and how they can be eye-pleasing as well as yummy.)
I then continued this process of cake, mushy strawberries, whipped cream, and fresh strawberry slices till I got to the top. (The reason I added the fresh strawberries was to give this yummy, mushy, soggy, dessert some texture, some interest for the teeth. :) )
Now that you're at the top ensure you end with a layer of whipping cream and then you can either leave it that way or use some of your sliced strawberries or some whole strawberries as decoration. I recommend locating your best looking (darkest) strawberries at the beginning and putting them to the side until the end.
I covered my concoction with plastic wrap & refridgerated until I served it.
How did it go over, you may be wondering? I don't know what happened but my mother's face lit up when she say the beautiful trifle. :) I was very afraid of that initial reaction but with all the baking and learning I've been doing from my two favourite Twitter foodies (@DailyChef and @BettyCrocker) I think she trusted me to take her favourite dessert & improve it! I was so happy that everyone loved it. Seconds were seen to be had by a few!
You may be wondering what I did with that last bit of mushy strawberries? (Don't you just hate incomplete recipes/instructions?) I took my leftover fresh strawberries and diced them up, added them to the remaining mushy strawberries w/1-2 tbsp of white sugar and stirred. This was refrigerated until dessert when it came out and was served on top of each serving. Enjoy!
Served 6 (with a few people having seconds & two servings sent home with the birthday girl!)
At a shower or a potluck this could've served 12-16 people.
At my house though... ;)
Indredients:
1-2 boxes of Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake (my preference)
500ml (2 cups for my American friends) Whipping Cream
Large clamshell of fresh ripe strawberries (about a dozen LARGE strawberries)
2 containers of frozen strawberries in juice (about 500ml sized containers)
Water for cake mix(es)
1-2 tsp Vanilla for whipped cream
1/4 cup Splenda White Sugar (or white sugar) for whipped cream
Directions:
Bake cake as directed, let cool completely. Remove from pan and using your hands break up into bite-sized pieces. (I did this as I put them into my dish. No prepping is really required)
Whip your whipping cream as directed above or as you usually would.
Wash & slice your fresh strawberries reserving about 4-6 of the best looking ones for garnish.
Defrost your frozen strawberries overnight in your cleaned sink or dish drainer.
Layer cake, mushy strawberries, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries as instructed above ending with a whipped cream layer.
Garnish with whole or sliced strawberries. Wipe off any stray whipping cream near the top of your dish, cover & refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve chilled and enjoy!
Because of my flopped cake I have a bit of cake left over. I also have another carton of whipping cream and some frozen blueberries lurking in my freezer and a delish recipe for a blueberry sauce that uses oranges! Do you smell a sequel? ;)
Go with God!
Lea B.
-- Post From My iPhone
I love the way your trifle turned out! Your mom is a very lucky lady. And, I'm flattered to be one of your favorite foodies - it's an honor :)
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