Let Her Bake Cake

The much-anticipated cake stand arrived last Thursday. Woop woop! What's the next step? Bake a cake, of course! I had this Strawberry Cheesecake Filled Yellow Cake (a mouthful) recipe saved for about two months, so I was eager to display it on the chevron-clad stand. I thought the punchy pops of red in the strawberries would compliment the new stand perfectly. I'm aesthetically neurotic like this; I love for things to coordinate. Before assembling the cake, I thought about how much I'd love to add a fun little topper to it, so I got out some skewers, ribbon, colorful tape, etc. and threw this together.

Looking back, the cake was easier to prepare than I'd originally thought. I made the mistake of using frozen strawberries for the cheesecake layer and later realized it threw off the recipe slightly. The berry reduction was a bit juicier than it probably should have been, but it all worked out in the end! It may sound silly, but I've also found that our oven bakes things a little quicker here. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that we don't have air conditioning and the house can be on the warm side. All in all, it turned out cute and tasty! I don't want to sound too haughty, but I'd call this one a success. Now how will two people eat all of this? We really need to make some friends or work out a lot this week to compensate for our overly gluttonous ways.

Strawberry Cheesecake Filled Yellow Cake

(Recipe Courtesy of Cake, Batter & Bowl)
Ingredients:


Cheesecake:
3 cups pureed strawberries (I pulsed 30 ounces strawberries in the food processor)
24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Yellow Cake:
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk


Strawberry Frosting and Garnish:
1 3.4-ounce package instant vanilla pudding
1/4 cup milk
2 6-ounce containers Chobani Nonfat Strawberry Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup low sugar strawberry preserves
10 ounces strawberries, sliced


Directions:
To make the cheesecake layer, heat oven to 350˚F. Place strawberry puree in a small nonstick pan over medium low heat and heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until reduced to 1 cup. Let cool to room temperature. Combine the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in vanilla and cooled strawberry puree. Pour into a greased 9-inch Springform pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 350˚F for 60 minutes or until edges are set and middle is slightly wobbly. Cool to room temperature, about one hour. Place in the refrigerator for several hours or until chilled.


To make the cake, heat the oven to 350˚F. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt and sift the mixture into a large bowl. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer in a large bowl until creamed. Add in eggs and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly mix in half the flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk, until smooth. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk. Pour batter into two greased 8-inch cake pans lined with parchment paper. Bake cakes at 350˚F for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the tops are light golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then run a knife around the edges of each cake. Flip over onto wire racks and cool cakes completely, about an hour.


To make the strawberry frosting, place vanilla pudding and milk in a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Stir in yogurt and strawberry preserves. Chill in the refrigerator 5 minutes or until thickened.


To assemble the cake, place one layer of the yellow cake on a serving platter. Remove cheesecake from the pan and flip over on top of the yellow cake. Cut around the edges of the cheesecake layer so it fits the cake layer. Place second layer of yellow cake on top. Evenly cover with strawberry frosting and garnish with strawberries.

If in doubt, bake a cake.