Summer Strawberry Cake

It’s the middle of summer and berries are everywhere! I decided that this called for cake.

I recently found a sponge type cake recipe that is simply 3 ingredients: flour, sugar and eggs. There was nothings stopping me from giving it a try, especially since I had a bunch of berries to spice it up with. Strawberry shortcake is one of my favorite desserts, and this didn’t have to be much different. So I gave the cake recipe a try and it turned out pretty amazing. I’ll share a few things I changed after trying it, in just a moment. But first, let me share how I topped this bad boy.

I mixed a box of strawberry jello with half Strawberry Hibiscus tea & half Strawberry puree. Before this mixture had a change to solidify, I poured it over a thoroughly poked caked, and then stuck it into the fridge to set up. Since I had put a bunch of holes in the cake, I thought that surely it had soaked in. But it wasn’t until later when I cut it, I then saw that it only soaked nicely into the top of the cake. It was still tasty, topped with more berries and a sprinkle of Elderflowers. But it really wasn’t what I was hoping for. The cake wasn’t dry, per say, but it wasn’t what I knew it could be. It needed layers.

It was quite pretty! The simple decorations were perfectly lovely and summery.

Both my daughter and I had a slice and it was good enough, but as I said, it just wasn’t as good as I knew it could be. So I made some more of the Strawberry and Hibiscus tea mixture, sliced off the top layer and proceeded to soak the bottom layer as well. Think of the tea mixture as a Simple Syrup! I also brushed the top of the cake with it, to moisten the berries and give them that beautiful sheen.

Once the tea had soaked in a bit, I then spread a layer of Vanilla Pudding & Whipped Cream. Another nice addition would have been more berries, but I didn’t have any more at the time.

Once that was done, I stacked the cake back together. The sponge cake holds up well, so it didn’t break or crumble through the cutting and re-stacking process.

And then, back into the fridge for a while for the whipped cream layer to set. A few hours later, I remembered it was there and had a slice. Those extra layers were just what it needed! This cake also would have been nice baked into a loaf pan and sliced for Strawberry Shortcake.

The only other thing that I would add to the actual cake recipe would be a pinch of salt to enhance the flavors. And vanilla, if you want a little kick. Otherwise, this could be a go-to cake recipe that you could use for a variety of different toppings and fillings. It makes for a nice base for all those summer fruits!