Baking: Long-on-Strawberries shortcake

Scot made this fun version of strawberry shortcake the other night during the thunderstorm He doesn't usually bake but this recipe was in his Smoke and Spice Cookbook. Quinn helped out by slicing all the strawberrries He used a tip that we got from some friends and he sliced all the strawberries with this new egg slicer. It worked great and made perfect slices.


Cake:

2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon poppyseeds
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs, seperated
1/4 cups fresh ripe strawberries
1 tsp almond extract

Topping:

1 cup Whipping Cream
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 pints strawberries, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. Cut waxed paper or parchment circles to fit the pans, place in the pans, and grease and flour them again.

2. sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in the bowl. Stir in the poppy seeds.

3. With an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and the butter. Add the egg yolks, beating well after each addition. Combine 3/4 cups of the water with the crushed strawberries and the almond extract. Add the fruit and liquid to the mixture in thirds, alternating with the dry ingredients. Continue beating the batter until all ingredients are well incorporated.

4. With the mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes, or until a tooth-pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the layers for about 5 minutes before removing them from the pans. Cool the layers on the cake racks.

6. Prepare the fruit topping while the cake cools. Whip the cream and 1 Tablespoon of the sugar. Refrigerate until ready to use. Combine the sliced strawberries with the remaining sugar, a Tablespoon or two at a time, to desired sweetness.

7. To assemble the cake, transfer one layer to a serving plate. Top with half of the berries and spread half the whipped cream over them. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.