Strawberry shortcake trifle (eggless)

There is this Valentine’s day special contest being held on a food group on facebook from beginning of Feb to 12 Feb 2017. It asks you to prepare any dish but the main ingredient should be strawberry.

Me and my hubby we both look up to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We might not celebrate our birthdays or anniversaries but Valentine’s Day is something we look forward to to celebrate or to give each other unique gifts. I guess the reason for this is that we knew each other since college days.

I was excited to see the contest announcement but when I read the details further the main ingredient made me skeptical and I was reluctant to participate. A few days passed and my desire to participate was increasing but every time I gave it a thought I would step back thinking about “strawberry – main ingredient”. The reason is I personally don’t cherish strawberries 😏. And this being valentine’s special my husband I can say hates it. 🙄.

Giving this more thought I decided that I should try out something with strawberry that my hubby would at least dare to taste even when I tell him that it’s made using strawberries. And yes let me proudly tell you the attempt and of course the efforts were successful and paid off. He said ” If you had asked me to eat strawberries just like that I would not have eaten but this dessert that you have made is really good and liked it.” He almost ate half the glass much more than I expected.

While neighbor when I offered her she was like ” The sweetness is just perfect. Neither to sweet nor less sweet. It’s just right.” On the food group too, it was appreciated by multiple members. So now no matter I win or not, it is like I have already succeeded. The post with maximum number of likes will decide the winner. You actually cannot say that the number of likes are actually given based on the recipe or looks. Here person with good networking skills will stand a greater chances and his/her recipe might not even be read. Anyways the sweet words from my loved one’s and my well wishers mean a lot of encouragement and appreciation to me. ☺️

Recipe :

You will need less than 1 kg of strawberries for this entire recipe. Where ever I have used puree, there I have roughly chopped and pureed the strawberries in a blender, after which I have passed the puree through a sieve.

1 cup = 240 ml

Strawberry cake :

Ingredients:

•  1/4 cup butter unsalted
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk (around half a tin)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 baking soda
• 1/2 cup strawberry purée
• 1/4 cup aerated water or club soda
• 9×13 inch pan

Method :

1. Beat butter with sweetened condensed milk.
2. Sift all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda into the beaten butter mix.
3. Add strawberry puree. Beat further.
4. Add aerated water or club soda and mix further till all is incorporated.
5. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured sheet pan (9×13 inch) and bake it in an oven preheated at 350F for 30 mins or till done.
6. Then allow the cake to completely cool on a cooling rack.

Strawberry sauce :

Ingredients:

• 250 gms puréed strawberries.
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 2-3 tbsp granulated sugar

Method:

1. In a saucepan, melt butter.
2. In a bowl dilute cornflour in 2 tbsp of prepared puree.
3. Mix granulated sugar in the butter alongwith the remaining puree.
4.  Once it boils, stir in the cornflour mix and keep stirring for another 5 mins till well incorporated.
5. Put off the flame and allow to cool.

Strawberry cream :

Ingredients :

• 1/2 tsp gelatin
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3-4 tbsp confectionary sugar
• 1/3 cup strawberry purée

Method :

1. Prior to beginning with this cream preparation, keep the mixing bowl and whip in freezer for 15 mins to cool.
2. Mix unflavored gelatin in cold water and allow to rest. This mix helps in stabilizing the cream.
3. Then beat heavy whipping cream with vanilla extract until soft peaks are formed.
4. Fold in confectionery sugar, strained gelatin mix and strawberry puree and beat again till stiff peaks are formed.

Assembly :

1. You can use a serving dish or individual dessert cups for the assembly.
2. Chop and slice few strawberries.
3. I used a round cookie cutter to cut circular cake discs. I could get around 12 discs.
4. Take a glass. Spread a layer of cream, then a layer of chopped strawberries followed by layer of sauce and then cake followed by a layer of cream.
5. You can either stop here and garnish with strawberry slices or you can repeat another stack as shown in picture with chopped strawberries, sauce, cake and again cream. The final layer always needs to be cream just before garnish.
6. Single stack prepares 12 serves while if double stack is set up prepares 6 serves.