Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Strawberry Shortcake ~ Plant-based and Awesome!

Info du Jour
     Can you send me a picture of a strawberry tree? Are strawberries sold in 
     brown containers last year's strawberries? Is a sweetener applied to fresh 
     strawberries to make them so sweet? What are those things on the outside
     of strawberries?        
                     ~ CaliforniaStrawberries.com FAQ: Funny Questions we've heard

Spring is Strawberry Season!
My dad enjoyed Strawberry Shortcake for his April birthday nearly every year of his life, which is why re-imagining a plant-based Strawberry Shortcake has been on my mind. It's been a delicious excuse to have lots and lots of strawberries!

I've made it a mission to come up with a recipe for a delicious Strawberry Shortcake made with a plant-based sponge-type cake, and think I've come close. Let me know what you think!


   A rustic, family-style plant-based Strawberry Shortcake, topped with 
  a favorite vegan frozen ice-cream-like dessert, my re-conceived recipe
  for this shortcake gets an A for awesome! And surprise - the cake
  doesn't crumble when cut - it's so moist! Did I mention, yummy?

A vintage linen tablecloth and 
a bowl of strawberries, ready for 
plant-based Strawberry Shortcake
 - yum!
My cake of choice for Strawberry Shortcake 
Sponge Cake
With all kinds of teensy holes to soak up strawberry juices, I love the texture that sponge cake brings to Strawberry Shortcake. Can a spongy texture be achieved without using eggs? 

My thought process...1,2,3
1. Leavening Ingredients Considered
  • Baking powder provides a "pancake" texture
  • Yeast gives a heavy bread-like texture
  • What about baking soda? It needs an acid to activate, for example lemon juice or vinegar. Because of the instant reaction between an acid and baking soda, if the cake can immediately be baked, it might yield all kinds of bubbles that could soak up the strawberry juices...

Juicy strawberries star in this 
deliciously rustic plant-based 
Strawberry Shortcake.
Will the shortcake taste of lemon or vinegar?
2. A supporting - non competitive - flavor
The cake plays a supporting role of soaking up and accentuating the juices from the star of this dessert, the strawberries. 

Baking soda...
3. Avoiding Volcanic Shortcake...
While it's fun to add vinegar to baking soda for the instant fizzy reaction, I need a controlled reaction for my sponge cake.

The internet helps avoid disaster
Since I didn't want cake-batter-lava flows in my kitchen, I googled vegan-shortcake recipes, and came across this cool website and terrific article (please note, as a Cal grad, I am refraining from commenting on UCLA, aren't you proud of me?)(Grrrrah!):

        Shortcake Science Science and Food, UCLA - the science behind 
        creating an egg-free shortcake.

I tweaked the recipe from the Shortcake Science article and switched all-purpose flour for the cake flour, replaced the oil with ground flax seed and warm water, and changed the baking time. 

The result is a moist, spongy cake, that absorbs the strawberry juices, and - nice surprise - holds together when you cut and serve. Plus - super important - it's really good!


Gently mix the sliced strawberries with a few
tablespoons of sugar. Cover, and allow time
for the sugar to draw out juices of from the
strawberries.
Recipe Notes: Prepare the strawberries several hours in advance to allow time for the sugar to draw out the strawberry juices. 

To avoid metallic or off flavors from metal or plastic bowls, I prefer to use glass or porcelain bowls.

Once the dry and wet ingredients are combined, the baking soda and vinegar react instantly. 


Have the baking pan prepared and the oven preheated, ready to bake the cake. Gotta retain those bubbles!

Lining the baking pan with parchment paper makes it easy to remove the cake from the pan. Although I used a spring-form baking pan, a regular baking pan works excellently. Here's how to line a baking pan with parchment paper:

         1. 8-inch cake pan, parchment paper, oil spray and scissors
         2. Spray the bottom and sides of the pan with the oil spray
         3. Fold the parchment paper in half, then in half again. Then
             fold into a triangle, and keep folding until it's too thick to fold again
         4. With the center point of the triangle over the center of the baking 

             pan, visually estimate the distance to the edge of the baking pan, 
             and trim with scissors - it does not need to fit perfectly. I like a bit 
             of the paper to curve up the corner edge of the pan.
         5. Place in the pan, then spray with oil spray. 
Maybe rustic is the wrong word.
Old-fashioned Strawberry
Shortcake, family style. Now,
that's what I mean!

To Serve: Top my Strawberry Shortcake with a plant-based iced topping - remember, it can't be called Ice Cream unless it contains cream. 

Check out plant-based (vegan) frozen non-dairy desserts in the ice cream cases at most grocery stores. 

I really like Rice Dream Vanilla frozen non-dairy dessert. It tastes like the iced-milk my parents would serve when I was growing up.


Strawberry Shortcake - Plant-based and Awesome
Serves 6 (or maybe 8 after a big meal)
Strawberries in a clamshell. Photo from
Robert Mann Packaging website.

Strawberries
       
       1 pint (clamshell) Strawberries 
       2 tablespoons sugar

Clean and slice strawberries into a glass bowl. Sprinkle with sugar, and gently mix together. Cover and let sit for several hours, to give time for the sugar to draw out the strawberry juice. 

Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 °F
1 8-inch cake layer - hey, one layer keeps it short!

  • Prepare the cake panShortening can be used to grease the pan, but I prefer to minimize the use of fat as much as possible, so I use oil spray. Using parchment paper makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan. See Recipe Notes (above) for how to line a baking pan with parchment paper. 
Dry ingredients
1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Whip ground flax and warm
water, then let sit 1-2 minutes.
3. Combine water, vanilla extract
and vinegar

     1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
     1 cup sugar
     1 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients

     3 Tablespoons flax, ground
     1/3 cup warm water

     1 cup warm water
     1 tbsp vanilla extract
     1 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar


In a mixing bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk or whip the ground flax seed and warm water for 1 minute. Set aside and let thicken for 1-2 minutes.

Stir together water, vanilla extract, and vinegar. Add to the ground flax seed mixture and mix well.



50 turns of the mixing spoon and 
the batter is ready to bake.


Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until most of the dry ingredients are incorporated, about 50 stirs. (Clear as mud? One turn around the bowl with a spoon counts as one!)

Pour the batter into an 8-inch round cake pan and bake for 35 minutes, until the surface is firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for 15–20 minutes.



I had way too much fun with photos...the instructions are also written...between the photo strips!
1) Cool the baked cake layer 15-20 minutes before removing from pan. 2) Remove the cake from the pan - the parchment paper makes this step easy. 3) Peel off the parchment paper. 4) Center the cake on a serving plate.
Cake Construction: Cut off the top 1/2 inch of the cake, and set aside. 

On the bottom layer of the cake, spoon about 3/4 of the strawberry juices over the cake, letting the cake absorb the juice. Spoon on about half of the strawberries.

Top with the 2nd layer, cut-side-up. Spoon on remaining strawberry juices and remaining strawberries.

1) Cut off the top 1/2 inch of the cake and set aside. 2) Spoon about 3/4 of the strawberry juices over the bottom layer (happy face optional). 3) Place about half of the strawberries over the bottom layer. 4) Spoon remaining juices over the top layer, and top with strawberries. I got carried away and sifted on some powdered sugar. 
Top with a dairy free ice cream, I really like Rice Dream Vanilla.

Delicious by itself, dress up this Strawberry 
Shortcake with a dollop of a plant-based
frozen non-dairy dessert.
Enjoy!
Cartwheeling through California Strawberry Fields! 
 Photo from CaliforniaStrawberries.com website.     

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