Fresh Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

For the Sponge Cake:

2 cups cake flour, loosely packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 eggs, room temperature, divided

1/2 cup sugar, divided

1/4 cup neutral flavored oil

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

For the Whipped Cream:

4 cups cold whipping cream

3/4 cup confectioner sugar

For the Filling:

2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced with 3 left whole (for garnish)

1/4 cup fresh blackberries (for garnish)

1/4 cup fresh raspberries (for garnish)

Preparation

For the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well and place near your work station.

In a small bowl, add the the egg yolks, 1/4 cup of the sugar, oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In the bowl of a kitchen mixer fitted with a whisk attachment add the egg whites and beat on high until you see foam starts to form. With the mixer running slowly pour in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and continuing mixing on high speed until you see stiff peaks form. Be careful not to over mix. Place near your work station.

Using a large rubber spatula mix in the dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture in three parts until smooth Gently fold in the egg whites into the mixture and until well incorporated, without over mixing Once incorporated you should

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pans. Place the cakes in the oven and bake, rotating once, until set and a cake tester comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

Remove the cakes form the oven. Carefully run a paring knife around the edges of the can and invert the cakes cake onto wire cooling racks to cool completely.

For the Simple Syrup: In a small saucepan add the sugar and water, place over a high heat and bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved, and let it cool. Set aside.

For the Whipped Cream: Clean the kitchen mixer bowl out from earlier and fit with the whisk attachment. Add there whipping cream and beat on high until soft peaks begin to form. Reduce the speed and slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and continuing beating until the cream becomes thick and almost-stiff peaks form. Be very careful not to over whip the cream or it will break.

Assembling the Cake: Once the cakes have cooled, place on a cutting board, use a serrated knife to slice each cake layer lengthwise in half so you now have 4 layers in total. Carefully trim away the hard brown edges of the cake sides only.

Place one cake layer on a cake stand or serving platter with the cut surface facing up. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush with the simple syrup. Using an offset spatula, frost with about 3/4 cup of whipped cream. Arrange some strawberries on top of the whipped cream and cover with another cake slice. Repeat this step with two more layers. When you get to the last layer, brush lightly with simply syrup and top with whipped cream but do to add sliced berries

Continue to frost the cake until all the sides are frosted. Garnish with berries. Refrigerate until serving.