A Simple Strawberries & Cream Cake (With Caramel Sauce) Recipe (Newsletter No. 37)

I sent this to my cousin and thought you’d like it too!

Things you’ll need…

For the Cake:
-King Arthur Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix, or another yellow cake mix of your choice, or a from scratch recipe of your choice
-1 to 2 tubs of mascarpone cheese (16 ounces or 450 grams)
-a container of strawberries (16 ounces or 450 grams)
-powdered/confectioners sugar (2-4 tablespoons depending on your tastebuds)

For the Caramel Sauce:
-turbinado/raw sugar (1 cup or 250 grams)
-heavy cream (1/2 cup or 120 milliliters)
-butter (6 tablespoons or 85 grams)
-nice salt--recipe says sea salt, I used pink salt (1/2 tablespoon or 8 grams)

  1. Make King Arthur Gluten-Free Yellow Cake according to directions. I chose this mix because I liked that it was described as “tamago-like.” I'm not gluten free, just in search of a particular texture. In this case, hybrid fluffy-mochi texture. Next time I want to try making Twinkies with it.

  2. Make macerated strawberries (can be done night before). You can fancy it up by adding lemon juice/orange juice/liquor/balsamic vinegar if you’d like.

  3. Make caramel sauce (can be made the night before, just make sure to gently warm before serving--like placing a heat-safe bowl of caramel sauce in a pot of hot water). I chose raw sugar because it has a more dimensional flavor (it's so good, I want to try putting it on popcorn next) and I think a higher burning point compared to other sugars.

  4. Whip mascarpone with a fork so it gets fluffy. Mentally divide the marscapone into 3 sections.

  5. Once cake is baked and at room temperature, slice it into two thinner layers (I used this Wilton cake leveler that I got years ago for another cake but I think a bread knife is just fine?)
    Coat the top of one cake layer with 1st section of mascarpone as if spreading frosting. Next, spread most of the macerated strawberries on top of the mascarpone layer (or however much of the strawberries you'd like but just leave some leftover). Cover the strawberries again with a layer of mascarpone (the 2nd section).

    Smush the 2nd cake layer on top of the strawberry-mascarpone-filling-glue.
    Cover the top of the cake with more mascarpone (the 3rd section) and decorate with remaining strawberries and juice. Cut a piece of cake for whoever’s eating and drizzle the warm caramel sauce over the top of the piece of cake.

Kristy Lin