Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Whipped Cream

Made this birthday cake for our neighbour the other day . Originally i was going to make chocolate cake , but obviously i changed my mind at the last minute . Ended up with making strawberry cake , just 2 layers of strawberry cake , with dark chocolate icing in between , and then white chocolate whipped cream on the icing all over the cake . I have to say that i never worked on whipped cream icing , i usually just use french butter cream icing , or chocolate ganache icing . Doesn’t mean i never used whipped cream , i’ve used it for cakes few times , but i never had so much problem with whipped cream icing like this one last night . I got to the point where i thought it wasn’t going to work at all . But i am glad it worked just fine .

You will need :

For the cake :

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from frozen sweetened strawberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F . Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely.
4. Make sure it’s cool completely before you ice your cake .

For the white chocolate whipped cream :

9 oz. white chocolate chip

1 pint of heavy cream

On a double boiler , warm up the cream until it’s steaming hot , not boiling , then add and whisk well the white chocolate chip . Cool to room temperature and beat the cream and chocolate mixture until it stiff peak reached about 3-5 minutes .

For other alternative , which is less sweet but also tastes great whipped cream icing :

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp.vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1 pint of heavy cream

In a chilled mixing bowl , beat cream cheese until creamy , add sugar , vanilla extract and almond extract , mix well . Add the heavy cream a little at a time and beat vigorously until it reached stiff peak .

For dark chocolate icing :

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 pounds best-quality semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Combine cocoa and the boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month, in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.