Strawberry Cakes Forever- Caramel Cake with Strawberry and Whipped Cream Frosting

Let me take you down

'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real

And nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

It was my Dad's birthday.
This caramel cake is my aunts old recipe. I had it once and was an instant fan .The lingering aftertaste of caramel is so beautiful and unexpected that I HAD to make it . Its a great cake in itself but a birthday cake deserves something more, so STRAWBERRIES! And that song played in my mind the entire time I was baking * yes my mind works in weird ways , hold back your judgement*

The Original Text

The recipe involves making a caramel and believe me when I say this , Caramel can be a nightmare! I have spent months and years trying to deal with sugar decorations and caramel and there's just too much precision involved for a broke teenager without a candy thermometer*This was 2 months ago . I now have a candy thermometer! wheee joy dance time  :D*. I could make a caramel sauce with butter cream and deliciousness , but never melt sugar in itself . That was until I saw my aunt do it with such ease and precision . Gave me hope in life and Ta-Daa . I can DO it ! and so can you *pom pom dance*

So the caramel is poured into the batter after cooling ( do cool it unless you want sweet butter soup . On second thoughts sweet butter soup does sound quite delicious.Mouth watering-drooool )

I mascerated some strawberries, cooked it with sugar and put it atop whipped cream icing.

The Strawberries complemented the caramel flavor amazingly! IT was a match made in culinary utopia. ATTENTION All strawberry and chocolate enthusiasts out there! This is the future of romantic desserts or otherwise. I can already picture hotels in 2024 offering Champagne and caramel strawberry packages *wink*.

My only problem was the whipped cream . Why? Here's the thing . I'm a firm believer in pure unprocessed products , so non dairy whipping cream is Just Not My Thing. Sadly the cream that we do get is only 20 % butterfat that is not right for whipping at all. Its doesn't go beyond soft peaks and weeps out a lot of water * boohoo* Then Sophia the explorer got to doing what she does best! exploring the internet- and found the magic ingredient! Drumroll Please -GELATIN! Not oodles and poodles enough to make mousse, But just a teaspoon dissolved in water to stabilize. And it oh so worked magic .

 Everyone at the Party RAVED abut this one . My poor Black-forest cake got little love :( . That's still a work in progress

Now lets get to the strawberry fields

Beat the butter

Pour some sugar

Beat

MMM caramel

Just Siftin

Caramel Cake

Preheat oven to 180 C

Grease and line a 9" cake dish( this makes a big cake. if you don't have a 9 inch use Two 8's)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar( divide in half)

1 cup( 200gm) butter

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup water(boiling)
1/4 cup milk

Method

• Take half cup sugar and melt it on low flame. Stirring with wooden spoon first and later just swirl. When it reaches a nice caramelly color pour in boiling water and stir. This will result in some fireworks but they die down. Once mixed remove from flame and let it cool
• Powder the remaining sugar. Beat with butter till light and creamy
• Pour in the cooled caramel( it doesnt have to be ice cold , just ensure its not boiling enough to give you scars)

At this point the butter will melt , cuz thats what butter does. If its too liquid you can place your bowl on top of another bowl filled with ice and cold water. As long as its relatively solid you're good to go

• Beat in 1 egg at a time . Add vanilla
• Sift in flour soda and powder and fold in batter
• Fold in the milk (The milk wasn't in the original recipe as this is more of a fruit cake- you can notice presence of nuts in original draft. But as i want a fluffy regular kind i added milk. Its still a thick batter but it works- Cake magic , go figure)
• Pour in tray , level it and bake for 50 -60 minutes  when toothpick inserted comes out clean 

P.s- this is a good teatime cake as it is . You can add nuts to it if you really really wanna

Macerated Strawberries

Ingredients

• 3 cups chopped Strawberries
• Sugar to taste

Method

• Muddle up the sugar and Berries. Let it sit for a while
• Put on heat , mash the berries for about 5 minutes

Stable Whipped Cream

Ingredients

• 200 ml Heavy cream ( I only get the 20 % butter fat one :|  so I have to make lemonade)
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 Tablespoon gelatin

Method

• Lightly mix the cream and sugar and refrigerate along with the whisk for an hour
• Soak the gelatin in 2 tablespoon water
• Whip cream to soft peaks
• Add vanilla and soaked gelatin
• Whip for hard peaks.

Now layer cream and strawberries and go wild .

This is honestly the top 3 cakes I've ever made flavour wise. Here's to caramelyy strawberriyy times