Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake

This Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake is a delicious and pretty special way to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or another milestone.

I made a cake! And it looks pretty okay!

Plus, this cake, with its roasted strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, is fabulous. I've never tried making Swiss meringue buttercream. I really enjoyed learning about it and watching it magically come together.

In addition, I normally have no patience for frosting cakes... mostly because I'm not that talented at it. However, for some reason, the project for making this cake became an obsession.

One of the best flavors in this cake is a puree of roasted strawberries that you add to the frosting and dollop just under the top layer. There is also plenty left over for serving with the cake or over ice cream. I could practically drink it.

The cake itself has a little bit of elderflower liqueur in the batter. Plus, when you assemble the cake, you brush each layer with more elderflower liqueur.

If you don't have elderflower liqueur, you could probably substitute an orange liqueur such as Cointreau. However, I recommend getting bottle of St. Germain elderflower liqueur. It's very tasty. I love it with grapefruit juice and topped with sparkling wine instead of a mimosa. I also recommend trying my elderflower martini and my fresh fig margarita, both with St. Germain.

Making this cake is kind of a project, but a fun project. To save your sanity, make the cake layers and roast the strawberries the day before and assemble the cake the next morning. The most involved part is making the frosting, especially if it's your first time making Swiss meringue buttercream.

How to make the Swiss meringue buttercream:

First, you have to heat egg whites and sugar in the bowl you'll be mixing them in over a pan of simmering water while stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 150 degrees F.

Next, move the bowl to the mixer and immediately start whipping the egg white and sugar mixture with the whisk attachment until the whites are thick and the bowl has cooled.

After that, start adding the butter, one piece at a time. You'll notice that the batter starts to look a little weird and not smooth. Just keep beating until the mixture becomes smooth. It took about 7 minutes for the mixture to come together for me, but it could take up to 10 minutes. If, for some reason, the frosting doesn't smooth out, you can chill it for about 20 minutes and then beat it again.

Finally, beat in half of a cup of the roasted strawberry puree and beat for another two minutes.

You will love the flavor.

P.S. I've since tackled Swiss meringue again with an adorable Beehive Cake! 

Equipment you will need to make this cake:

First, you will need 3 six-inch cake pans. Be sure to get the ones with 3 inch high sides.

You will also need an electric mixer. A hand held mixer will work, but be sure that the bowl you use is heat proof for heating the egg whites. I used a stand mixer with a metal bowl. The bottom of the bowl is narrow, so I used a narrow 2 quart saucepan, which helped keep the bottom of the pan from touching the water.

I love using cardboard cake boards, which make it much easier to move the frosted cake to a platter.

While you don't need one, a turntable is a pretty cool tool.

Both an offset spatula and a smoother tool are also pretty helpful.

Finally, you will need a long serrated bread knife for cutting off the domed tops of the cake layers before assembling the cake.

Welcome to the July Cake Slice Baker event.

We are baking from the book The New Way To Cake: Simple Recipes with Exceptional Flavor by Benjamina Ebuehi - our choices for July 2020 were ~

Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake

• Amandie Bakes
• Sweet Sensations
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Making Miracles

Pineapple & Saffron Syrup Cakes

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs

Fig, Blackberry & Tahini Cake

• Camille Cooks
• My Recipe Reviews

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs.

There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes! Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes.

If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details. The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake

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Yield: 12 servings

Author: Karen Kerr

This Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake is a delicious and pretty special way to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or an accomplishment.

Ingredients:

For the Cake

• 230 grams (scant two cups) all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons elderflower liqueur
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 230 grams (1 cup plus two tablespoons) sugar
• Zest of one lemon
• 4 eggs

For the Strawberry Puree

• 1 pound of strawberries
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

For the Buttercream

• 150 grams (1 cup plus one tablespoon) egg whites
• 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 300 grams (1 1/3 cups) unsalted butter, softened

To Assemble the Cake

• 6 tablespoons elderflower liqueur
• Fresh strawberries to decorate

Instructions:

To Make the Cake Layers

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Spray three six-inch round cake pans with spray oil and line the bottoms with parchment paper. 
3. Sift together the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. 
4. Mix the milk and liqueur in a small bowl. Set aside. 
5. In you mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. 
6. Turn the mixer speed to low and beat in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk mixture. Add the rest of the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. 
7. Divide the batter equally among the prepared pans. 
8. Bake the cake layers for 35 to 37 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 
9. Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes, and then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely. 
10. Wrap the cooled layers in plastic wrap and refrigerate to firm them up. 

To Make the Strawberry Puree

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. 
2. Remove the stems from the strawberries and cut them in half. Place them in a baking dish and mix them with the sugar and vanilla. 
3. Roast the strawberries for 30 to 40 minutes, giving them a stir halfway. 
4. Remove the strawberries from the oven when they are soft and syrupy. 
5. Cool completely in the baking dish and then puree in a food processor. 
6. Refrigerate until ready to use. 

To Make the Buttercream

1. Heat the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl that you'll be mixing them in over a pan of simmering water (I used the bowl of my stand mixer) while stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 150 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. 
2. Immediately move the bowl to the mixer and start whipping the egg white and sugar mixture with the whisk attachment until the whites are thick and the bowl has cooled.
3. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. You'll notice that the batter starts to look a little curdled and not smooth. Keep beating until the mixture becomes smooth. It took about 7 minutes for the mixture to come together for me, but it could take up to 10 minutes. If the frosting doesn't smooth out, you can chill it for about 20 minutes and then beat it again.
4. Beat in half of a cup of the roasted strawberry puree and beat for another two minutes, until smooth and shiny. Keep at room temperature until ready to frost the cake. 

To Assemble the Cake

1. Unwrap the cakes and cut off the domed tops to level them. 
2. Brush the tops of each layer with two tablespoons of the liqueur each. 
3. Place one layer of the cake on a cake board and place it on a turntable if you have one, or a plate. Add a scoop of the buttercream on top of the layer and spread it out to the edges with an offset spatula. 
4. Put the second layer on top of the first layer and spread the top with another scoop of the buttercream. Spread about a tablespoon of the strawberry puree on top of the buttercream and spread it over the middle but not all the way to the edges.
5. Place the third layer on top, bottom side up. 
6. Frost the top and the sides of the cake with a thin layer of frosting for your crumb coat. Refrigerate it to firm up the first layer of frosting. 
7. Frost the top and the sides of the cake with most of the rest of the buttercream, reserving some to decorate the top. 
8. Using a star nozzle and a piping bag, pipe swirls on the edge of the cake to form a "crown." Top with fresh strawberries. 

Calories
608.89

Fat (grams)
36.38

Sat. Fat (grams)
22.27

Carbs (grams)
68.92

Fiber (grams)
3.89

Net carbs
65.03

Sugar (grams)
48.91

Protein (grams)
3.93

Sodium (milligrams)
115.58

Cholesterol (grams)
94.73

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2020/07/elderflower-roasted-strawberry-layer.html

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