Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake (Baking)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Baking
Date:	08/09/06 (283 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks and tastes wonderful

Disadvantages: The calories

In preparation for a visit from my fiance's grandmother, I've been looking out some recipes and came across one that I've made a few times in the past for special occasions. This cake is something that not only looks good but tastes delicious and although the preparation is lengthy, the result is more than worth it.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

***Ingredients***

For the cake mixture

275g or 10oz plain flour
100g or 4oz caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g or 1oz cocoa powder
100g or 4oz butter
150ml or 1/4 pint double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg beaten

For the filling

225g or 8oz natural cottage cheese sieved
75g or 3oz caster sugar
225g or 8oz cream cheese
1-2 teaspoons Kirsch
75g or 3oz cherries, stoned and quartered

For the topping

225g or 8oz fresh strawberries cut in half

***Method***

Heat oven to 190C, 375F or Gas Mark 5 and grease and lightly flour 2 x 20cm or 8" sandwich tins.

Sieve the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl before rubbing in the butter until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Combine the beaten egg, cream and vanilla essence in another bowl before slowly stirring this in to the flour mixture.

Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for 10-12 minutes. To test if it is ready, you should be able to stick a skewer into the centre of the cake and pull it out clean. Cool your two halves on a wire rack.

To make the filling you just simply stir all the ingredients together and then use half as a sandwich filling between the cakes. Spread the remainder of the filling on the top of your cake and then decorate with the strawberries.

***Other Information***

Although this recipe is for strawberry shortcake it is easy to use other fruits and I have substituted raspberries in the past. It is also possible to use alpine strawberries to mix in the filling. This is great for us as we grow these in our garden and have them on hand during the summer months anyway.

For something completely different why not try bananas or peaches as these work well too.

The only bad side to this cake is the calorie intake - boo hoo.

Servings - 8
Calories per serving - 473

Summary: Good enough to impress the in-laws.