Strawberry Short Cake

I got inspired to make this cake based on the Boston Cream Pie. I used the same cake and cream recipe then topped it with strawberry's and drizzled with chocolate for a little extra deliciousness.

I made this for General Conference weekend. We had a family dinner and was asked to bring dessert. I wanted to make this but I also wanted something that would be easy to serve for the amount of kids that were going to be there. So I mad it into cupcakes and cut out the centers. Then filled it with cream and topped with strawberries. But I ran out of cupcake papers so with the rest of the batter I used a bread pan. And just smothered that with the rest of the cream and covered it with strawberries.

This is one of my favorites so fare. Perfect for spring!



Ingredients
White Cake:
3 large eggs
5 large egg whites (reserve yolks for the pastry cream)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, and vanilla and set aside.Place the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add in the softened butter and half of the egg mixture to the mixer and beat on medium speed until batter is very smooth, about 4 minutes.

Add the remaining egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the bowl after each addition, and beating for 2 minutes afterwards.

Portion out the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly touched in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out to cool completely. Can be made a day ahead.

Pastry Cream:
4 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold

Place most of the milk, half of the sugar, and vanilla into a saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Meanwhile, whisk together the rest of the milk, eggs, yolks, the remaining sugar, and cornstarch. Temper the egg mixture with 1/3 of the hot milk, whisk well, and pour back into the saucepan. Over medium heat, continue to cook and whisk until the custard is thick and starts to bubble. Continue whisking and cooking for 10 more seconds. Immediately cover the entire custard surface with plastic wrap and cool before using.

When the pastry cream is cool, remove the plastic wrap, beat the pastry cream on medium speed until smooth. Remove the cream to a mixing bowl. Whisk the heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold into the pastry cream in 2 additions.