Lemon Strawberry Shortcake

Due to my Las Vegas trip Gohgoh's birthday cake was delayed.  Since I knew my brother has peculiar tastes, I asked him exactly what kind of cake he wanted. All he said was no to the following: Chinese Birthday cake, Sponge cake Black forest cake, Cheesecake, Chocolate cake and Tiramisu.  Gee thanks for all the help!  Then I remembered seeing a really good recipe for Strawberry Shortcake.  This he was okay with. 

I went shopping for strawberries in November and found that they weren't the ripest berries out there and they were certainly not the cheapest either.  I bought a box anyways and cut them into slices, mixed in some lemon juice and sugar and put them aside.   

Next, I worked on the cake.  I was worried that it would come out too dry and too hard because the recipe called for a lot of flour but it turned out fine.  The recipe made two good sized layers but I only used one.  My family is not a huge fan of cake and two layers of this size would not be appreciated.  I also should have sliced this layer in two but I was being lazy so I piled the filling all on top instead. 

While the cake was cooling, I made a lemon curd.  It was perfectly tangy and would go great with the shortcake and strawberries.

After spooning a good amount of lemon curd onto the shortcake, I began to line the edges with the strawberry slices.  This kept the lemon curd from dripping off the edge.  Then I placed a lot of strawberries on top of the lemon.  For future reference, I should have used only a thin layer of the lemon curd.  Too much made it too unstable and my parents thought it was just a tad too sour.

 

Finally to add the finishing touches, I whipped up some whipped cream and piped it on top of the strawberries.  A couple more strawberry slices and a cherry completed Gohgoh's strawberry shortcake!

Strawberry Lemon Shortcake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking power

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups of lemon curd

Step 1: Preheat oven 350 degrees F

Step 2: Line pan with parchment paper

Step 3: Sift flour, baking power, baking soda and salt in a large bowl

Step 4: Using electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar together until a milky yellow. Don't forget to scrape down the bowl.  Add eggs in 4 additions.

Step 5: At low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively starting with the flour.  Beat in vanilla.

Step 6: Pour batter into pan and bake until golden and cake springs back lightly.

Step 7: Turn out cake to cool.

Step 8: Place berries in a bowl with sugar and lemon juice and let stand.

Step 9. Whip cream to soft peaks and add vanilla.

Lemon Curd

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons lemon zest

6 eggs

Step 1: In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except for the eggs using medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved

Step 2: Whisk eggs while pouring in 1 cup of hot lemon liquid then transfer egg mixture back to saucepan.  Continue to cook until mixture thickens

Step 3: Cool and use with Shortcake

Assemble

Step 1: Use your imagination.  You can do a one layer cake or a 2 layer cake.  You can cut the cake into smaller sized pieces and serve individually.  You can do whatever you like!

Enjoy!