What's your status? /-/ Dreamy Roasted Strawberry White cake with Velvet Cream Cheese Icing

 

How important is your status? If you mind immediately goes to FaceBook, you will be right! It must be a new thing but has your partner been notifying you about this? I am single but I hear you people in relationships have been bickering about this. It all starts with one question.  How do you know you are “official”?  



Well I only just found out (yes I am technological slow/challenged), on Facebook when you change your relationship status it is posted out to all of your friends, not just the ones that follow you more often. This goes for all changes to a status as well. Married? Divorced? De facto? Nothing is protected when it comes to your relationship.  It has been at least 2 years since my last serious partnership but even I know the tragic tales of Facebook. He was very into social media but two years ago I could not fathom even owning a “page” of anything.



Anyway the main debate which has been raging among my friend is, when and if you HAVE to change your status to in a relationship with whom?  Over a coffee and a gas bagging session, more numbers where thrown round than at a sudoku competition. 2 months? 1week? Half a year?  (You can guess what guess was mine…)
Viewer question: What  do you think is the time frame before you notify your friends of your relationship?

 

However some then said something interesting. It was that the GUY was pressing her to change it on Facebook. After I found out from a radio program that is not a single case. Many, MANY guys want the girl to change her status. It has actually caused some of them to break down slightly if they don’t.  Now I have heard this before about girls needed the status change (it is referenced EVEYRWHERE) but never from guys. She is not born in Australia but apparently it is big news to her family. If know Asian families and their ability to gossip about absolutely nothing is amazing.

 




In a world that is dictated by the way you present yourself, has a simple click of a button, “single” or “in a relationship” been the difference between ending or continuing your relationship success.  I am not an expert on relationships. I probably have more expertise in baking and fermenting natural yeast but even I can tell if you need social media to confirm something: there is something very wrong with the world. Either that or men in the 20s-40s age limit are getting more metro than I dare to contemplate.



Either way; if you are single or in a relationship, you always have room for cake. Now in Australia it may be rainy and windy but it means that strawberries are dirt cheap. Well they are dirt cheap in comparison to the prices at other times of the year.  My older sister just celebrated her birthday; so in traditional Belinda baker fashion, I made a cake. She is not a fan of traditional butter cream but I know that she likes her sweets especially berries and cream cheese. I was going to make a baked strawberry cheese cake but I forgot to buy eggs on the day I wanted to make the cheesecake, meaning that went out the window. 



This cake is made can be made well in advance as it is a delightfully sponge textured butter cake with a light level of sweetness. I was not keen on the level of sugar in the cake, so I did reduce it but added a bit more moisture and egg to the cake to help it keep the structure.  It is important in this cake that the flour is shifted as the strawberries have the tendency to weight down the cake or sink. You can fix this be dusting the strawberries in flour but if you combined it just enough the strawberries will sit well on the top.



The cream cheese icing is creamy and smooth with a light tart edge from the lemon zest. I love it, it actually works well on sweet white bread or toast in the morning.  Now this a simple cake for a Tuesday but is bright and happy for the winter blues.




 Dreamy Roasted Strawberry White cake with Velvet Cream Cheese Icing
Makes a 4 layered 15cm cake
WHITE CAKE
Recipe from Leites Culinaria

320g Plain flour, shifted
4g baking powder
8g baking soda
3g salt
240g unsalted butter, soften
300g caster sugar
4 eggs plus one egg white
250ml butter milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
300g strawberries, hulled and sliced to 5mm

Pre heat oven to 160C. Grease a large 35 cm by 27cm pan with butter and line it with baking paper; coming up the sides by 5cm.
Shift flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda 3 times over a large bowl. Set aside until needed.
Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on medium high. Scrape down the bowl then continue to cream for another 2 minutes; until it is a fluffy and white. Turn the mixer to low and beat in each egg one at a time, waiting for each one to be mix in well before adding the next one.
Add vanilla at this stage.
Alternating between butter milk and flour mix. Fold in 1/3 of each mixture in to the butter and sugar, until just combined. So fold in 1/3 of flour then 1/3 of butter milk, then 1/3 flour etc…
Scrape batter into the prepared pan and top evenly with strawberries. Bake in the pre heated oven for 25-35 mintues or until a skewer comes clean when inserted in the middle. You know it is ready when the sides are pulling away from the pan and you can smell the cakes sweet scent.
Keep the cake in the pan until completely cool. Carefully lift the cake out of the pan with the extended baking paper ( get another person to help you). Transfer to wire rack and place in fridge until cool.
 
CREAM CHEESE ICING
300g cream cheese
160g butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp almond essence
1 tsp lemon zest
650g icing sugar, shifted


In a stand mixer bowl place all ingredients but icing sugar.
Beat the mix until creamy. Slowly add the icing sugar to the butter and cream cheese until combined.
Turn the mixer up to high and continue to beat until fluffy about 2 minutes ( you may need to scrape the sides)
Set aside until needed.

ASSEMBLY
Recipe of white cake
Recipe of cream cheese icing
One recipe of Roasted strawberries (get the recipe from Joy the baker as it is perfect)

200g shredded coconut
100g strawberries, hulled. Half cut into quarters and half cut into half
Coconut chocolates

Using a 14cm circle template, cut circles out of the cake. These will be your layers; depending on how well you cut you will get three to four layers. Set a side
Place a cake broad on a turn table.
Place a small amount of icing on the cake broad then top with one cake layer. The strawberries face up.
Pipe a layer of icing on the top of the cake, creating a well in the middle. Fill with roasted strawberries. Place another cake on top. Continue this process until all cake layers are used.
Crumb frost the cake with cream cheese icing and transfer to the cake to the fridge for 30 minutes.
Continue to frost the cake in the icing. You may do whatever pattern you want. I did this swirl which is guided by Apt 2b. Baking.
It will look pretty even with the rough icing.
Top with Coconut chocolate, shredded coconut and strawberries. Serve.