Resepi Kek Strawberry

I've been craving for the taste of strawberries for the past few weeks now. At last, I had the opportunity to try a new recipe and a new way of doing things. Ahaks..

It's just a plain ol' sponge cake, but this time, instead of using the old bahulu method of putting everthing in, and mixing everything up at high speed; or the method of seperating the whites and the yolks, then combining the whites into the yolks, this method require the seperation of the whites and yolks, and putting in the yolks into the whites, instead of the other way round.

Sounds scary, huh?

Also, I must admit, eventhough they are called 'sponge cakes', the method of mixing the ingredients together do have the tendency to influence the texture of the cakes. While the method of folding the whites into the yolks tend to yield a lighter cake, it also has this airy, holey texture in it. However, the method of folding the yolks into the whites yields a denser and firmer, but a more spongey cake. The same goes for the bahulu method, although in my opinion beating at high speed for 8-10 minutes does not goes well with my small stand mixer :P

Enough chit-chat and let's get on with the recipe:

UPDATE 6 MAY 2011: For the Japanese Strawberry Shortcake, you can click this link.

Strawberry cake

Kek Span (hanis@myresipi.com)
Bahan-bahan ( saiz 18 cm)
3 biji telur (I used grade A)
1 cawan tepung gandum (100g)
1 cawan gula (110g) - kalau nak kurang manis kurangkan gula
2 sudu kecil susu segar
15g butter - panaskan susu dan cairkan butter di dalamnya
1/2 sudu kecil esen vanila
1/2 sudu kecil strawberi paste

Cara:

1. Panaskan oven ke suhu 180 darjah.
2. Asingkan telur putih dan kuning. Pukul kuning telur dan 1/3 gula sehingga telur menjadi keputihan.
3. Dalam bekas lain pukul putih telur bersama baki gula tadi sehingga kembang dan bertanduk (I added 1/4tsp of cream of tartar).
4. Masukkan tepung yang telah diayak sedikit demi sedikit dan gaul rata. (in this case I diverted and folded in half the flour into the beaten egg whites.)
5. Masukkan kuning telur yang telah dipukul tadi ke dalam adunan. (I folded in the other half of flour into the yolks. Batter should be very thick. Then I folded in the egg whites+flour into the yolk batter, a little at a time. Batter should then slowly be thinner as you incorporate the egg whites, a little at a time).
6. Masukkan campuran susu dan butter dan sedikit esen vanila dan strawberi paste (I poured it on the sides of the bowl, to avoid cake from being too much defalted during/after baking). Kaup balik hingga sebati.
7. Masukkan dalam loyang dan bakar pada suhu 180 darjah selama 25-30 minit.
8. Hias ikut suka (I cut it into three, layered it with fresh cream and pieces of strawberries, and decorated it with decorfil (kinda like a liquid jelly), and blackcurrants (?)).
   

Hiasan:

Strawberry decorfil, untuk dituang di atas dan sisi kek
Strawberry filling
Fresh cream

Texture of the cake- firm, yet spongey~