Strawberry Shortcake

I have like 2 bottles of mascarpone cheese in hand and I had to do something with it.. I bought it some time ago to make cheesecake but I have't done it because Im worried it won't taste nice and nobody's gonna eat it.. I know I'm paranoid.. The funny thing is, I bought it the first time and then I misplaced it and thought I didn't buy it.. After a few days, I bought it again and found the misplaced bottle.. -_- So loser right? ahaha.. That is why I have excess mascarpone cheese..

I've been wanting to make this Strawberry Shortcake recipe since the day I saw the strawberry shortcake at Rive Gauche and the Chantilly cake at Bread Talk.. Mentioning Rive Gauche will always remind me of Guanaja.. The best chocolate cake ever!!

So finally, I got around to making it this recipe that I've been wanting to make.. The recipe comes from a book I borrowed at the National Library.. The cake is sweet, soft, nice buuut... I can't really get used to the chantilly cream.. It smells and taste strongly of heavy cream.. too strong.. Maybe I could put more cheese.. I don't know.. But it does not taste that bad when eaten with the sponge cake and strawberries.. It's lovely actually.. But I do wish I could find a better cream recipe.. Oh yeah.. I was too lazy to decorate either.. :)

Strawberry Shortcake (taken from Just Desserts and Other Baked Treats by Daniel Tay)
(makes one 20cm/8 inch cake)

1 kg Strawberries, cleaned, hulled and sliced (I used around 250g without any decorations though)

Genoise Sponge
110g/4oz egg yolks
175g/6 1/5oz eggs
170g/6oz sugar
110g/4oz light cake flour, sifted
55g/2oz unsalted butter, melted

Chantilly Cream
1ltr/32 fl oz/4 cups whipping cream (I used heavy cream)
100g/3 1/2oz sugar
100g/3 1/2oz mascarpone cheese

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and line cake tin with wax paper.

2. Prepare genoise sponge. Combine egg yolks, eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk on high speed for 10 minutes. Reduce to medium speed and whisk for another 10 minutes or until fine air bubbles form.

3. Pour the batter into a lined 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin. Level batter with a spatula and bake for 20-25 minutes or until top of the cake is firm to touch. Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

4. Unmould cake and remove paper. Peel skin off top of cake and discard. If not using immediately, cover with plastic wrap and freeze. Genoise sponge can keep for up to 6 weeks, frozen and 3 days, refrigerated.

5. Prepare chatilly cream. Combine cream, sugar and mascarpone cheese in a mixing bowl and whisk at medium speed for 3 minutes. Increase to high speed and continue to whisk until light and smooth. (Don't mix too long as the cream will curdle easily). Set aside.

Cake assembly
7. Horizontally slice genoise sponge into 2 equal layers. Place one layer on a cake board and place a 22.5cm (9in) cake ring over (I didn't use a cake ring cos the cake shrank and I didn't want to use to much cream all over..wished I had an 8 in cake ring). Spoon half of chantilly cream over a around sides of sponge cake layer and level with an angle palette knife. Arrange some strawberries on top of cream, then place second sponge layer over. Spoon remaining cream over and around sides of cake and level again. Refrigerate cake until slightly firm.

8. Gently ease cake ring from cake and remove. Coat sides of cake with ground almonds if desired. Decorate cake as desired and serve chilled.

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