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Strawberry & mandarine naked cake

How about a birthday cake this time, festive and full of flavor? Surprisingly, I was able to slice this one into 25+ pieces so everyone could get a taste. It's got a 7 layers including 3 layers of butter cake and 3 layers of cream with an inside layer of fresh strawberries in syrup and another layer with mandarine orange slices. All this topped with chocolate dipped strawberries nestled in cream. 

On a side note, I made this cake while away on vacation in the US, meaning, I used ingredients I could find readily, I had to deal with cream and rising factors that are different from what I'm used to, eggs and strawberries that are so much bigger, flour is enriched..., none of this is bad, you just have to adjust. 
To add to this fun experience, I made the chocolate-dipped and drizzled strawberries 2 days before with family, and the cake and frosting 24 hours before.  That way on the day of the party, I just had to dress the cake.

Here's the cake recipe : 

                                                                3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup milk
5 eggs, separated
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350° F / 180° C. Line two 9" round cake pans with parchment paper.  In a bowl, beat egg whites until you get stiff peaks. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until you get a light yellow color.  Add egg yolks, milk, vanilla.  Sift in flour, baking powder and salt.  Fold in egg whites a spatula at a time. Pour into 2 pans and bake for about 40-50 minutes or until the middle has risen and is cooked. Check with a toothpick that should come out clean. Set aside to cool. Slice the disks in half to get 4 disks in all.

Cream cheese frosting (you can make this the day before):
2 8-oz softened cream cheesse
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners sugar
A couple drops of red gel food coloring to get a light pink color
6-8 chocolate dipped strawberries 
(& optional flowers, I used flowers from a tree in our yard)
Fillings:
1 can of mandarine oranges, strained and dried
Strawberries in syrup : clean and dice about a dozen strawberries and simmer over medium heat with 1/4 cup sugar and a tablespoon of kirch for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a bowl, whip the cream until you get soft peaks. Add the confectioners sugar about 1/4 cup at a time, then add the vanilla. Fold in softened cream cheese (soften in the microwave about 20 seconds, allow to cool before folding into whipped cream).Whip another minute or so until the cream has thickened. Refrigerate at least an hour.  
For the chocolate-dipped strawberries, melt about 200 g (about a cup) of white chocolate with a tablespoon of coconut oil or shortening. Put all this in an instant melting pot until melted, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. If you don't have an instant melting pot you can put chocolate and shortening in a glass mixing bowl over simmering hot water over the stove until melted, stirring until creamy. Take washed strawberries and dry with a paper towel. Dip strawberries in the melted chocolate and place on a sheet of parchment paper to set about 15 minutes.  You can also drizzle with dark chocolate and sprinkles. Refrigerate for up to 3 days but be aware that the strawberries will have natural juices that will seep out after a while. 
To dress the cake, separate the cream into 2 bowls, one bowl without any color and another slightly tinted in pink. Then fill 2 pipings bags with these two colors, with different tips for a variety of textures. To begin, place a disk on your serving dish and pipe circles of white cream along the edges (or pipe white, then pink). Add a layer of cream in the middle and spoon the strawberry filling on top of this, then cover with more cream and top with another disk. Repeat by piping cream along the edges, adding a layer of cream in the middle and layering mandarine oranges on top, finishing with a thin layer of cream. Add another disk, pipe with pink circles along the edges, white inside, etc. (you'll still have another disk you can add, or set aside for later). With the last layer, decorate with pink and white cream, the chocolate-dipped strawberries, flowers, (or birthday candles).  
Enoy, everyone !



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