Strawberry Shortcake Cheese Cake {Bakeolution, Ice Cream Truck Edition}

I’ll start by saying this cake really isn’t my style.  I’m more of a cook than a baker, and when I do bake my style tends to be rustic and simple (galettes are just such an easy crowdpleaser!)  Boxed cake mix???  Artificial coloring!  FOUR high maintenance layers?!?  But the whole point of Bakeolution is to go out of your comfort zone, and after my coworkers were so kind as to try the weird watermelon creme pie I made last time I baked for Bakeolution, I figured I owed it to them to bring something people would be excited about.  And I have to say, I was pretty thrilled with how it came out!

There are a lot of versions of this cake on the interwebs.  It first caught my eye on Pinterest, but there was no recipe attached!  Not helpful.  Other recipes were clearly not for the cake pictured alongside them.  I finally tracked down a recipe I could follow, using the much prettier version that had originally caught my eye as an aesthetic inspiration.

A good pastry chef is well-planned and deliberate.  My style in the kitchen is better described as quick and messy.  Patience is not one of my virtues.  I think that’s why I always burn the pancakes.  My point here – this cake is fairly labor intensive, and best done in steps.  If you don’t think of yourself as quick in the kitchen, or tend to be more careful and deliberate, or take issue with leaving your kitchen completely covered in crumbs, flour and dishes… I highly recommend you start the day before knowing that this is going to take you a long time.  But me?  I started around 4:00pm on Sunday.  This worked out for me because my approach is generally to get ‘er done and then perform minor surgery to make the layers match up and mask any imperfections with icing. And honestly, this almost always works out for me, albeit my kitchen looking like ground zero.  Here’s how I did it:

• 4:00pm – make and bake the cake layers.  Two cake pans certainly helps this process!
• 4:15 – run to the corner store because you realize you don’t have sugar.
• 4:30pm – while the cake layers are baking, make the cheese cake layer.
• 5:00pm – realize you’re not going to have a cheesecake layer if you don’t stop “taste testing” it.  Take the cake out to cool and put the cheesecake in the oven (at this point, if you have two springform pans you could be making the two cheese cake layers simultaneously instead of having to do one at a time, but I didn’t!)
• 5:30pm – remove the cheesecake to cool.  Once it’s cooled for about 10 minutes you can remove the springform pan and transfer it to the fridge.  Make the crust in the meantime.
• 6:00pm – make the second layer of cheesecake and put it in the oven.  Make the crumb topping while it’s baking.
• 6:30pm – remove the second layer of cheese cake and let cool.  Transfer to the fridge after about ten minutes.  Eat dinner and have a mini Netflix binge.
• 8:30pm – making the icing.  Assemble the cake and ice it.  Cover it and put it in the fridge.  Return to Netflix binge.
• Next morning!  5:30am: remove cake from fridge before going for a run so that it can come to room temperature.
• 7:00am: coat with cookie crumbs.
• 7:30am: eat breakfast while waiting for it to get light enough to take pictures!
• 8:00am: garnish with whipped cream and strawberries and take pictures.
• 8:45am: call an Uber, because there’s no way you can bike with this thing.
• 9:15am: spend 15 minutes trying to figure out how to fit it in the fridge at work. Rely on the help of two coworkers.
• 2:00pm: remove from fridge to let come to room temperature.
• 2:55pm: completely redo the whipped cream and strawberries immediately before serving.
• Tuesday: finally get around to cleaning your kitchen. Husband does most of it, because you bribed him with a piece of cake.

As you can see, this cake is a labor of love.  But it was a big hit, and every last crumb got eaten!  And here’s a little thing that got me thinking: I bet the Chocolate Eclair version would be awesome too!

Strawberry Shortcake Cheese Cake

(there are versions of this all over the internet – not an original recipe, but I don’t even know the source)

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Cake: prepare box mix according to the instructions on the box.  Stir in the strawberry jello.  Pour into two greased 9″ cake pans and cook according to the instructions on the box.

Cheesecake, middle layer:

1. Place 16 ounces of cream cheese, cornstarch, and ½ cup of whipping cream into a mixing bowl and mix.
2. Add in the eggs, one at a time.
3. Next add in the vanilla extract, followed by the sugar and mix until the cheesecake filling is nice and smooth.
4. Line your springform pan with parchment paper and spray the sides with cooking spray.  Scoop 3 cups of the cheesecake filling into the pan.
5. Place the cake pan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet, the pour about 1½ cups of water into the cookie sheet.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 F.
7. Remove from the oven, and let cool completely. You can remove it from the springform pan after about 10 minutes and transfer it to the fridge to chill.

Cheesecake, crust:

1. Add half a box of Nilla wafers to a food processor along with 4 tbsp of butter, and 1 tbsp of ice water.
2. Pulse until it resembles cookie dough.
3. Line the springform pan with parchment paper and spray the edges with cooking spray (this is where it’s easier if you have two springform pans!)
4. Add the cookie mixture and press into the bottom of the pan evenly.
5. Pour the remaining of the cheesecake filling into the springform, and smooth out.
6. Bake on 350 F for about 30 minutes.

Shortcake Crumbles:

1. Add the remaining cookies into the food processor, along with 1 tbsp ice water, and 4 tbsp of butter.
2. Pulse until it resembles large crumbs. Do not over pulse!  You may need to do this in batches.
3. Separate the mixture into two bowls.
4. Add strawberry gelatin to one bowl.  Melt 1/4 cup butter in the microwave and mix in red food coloring.  Toss into the cookie crumbs.  You can add additional coloring until you get the desired color, but mixing it with the butter is a little trick I discovered to coat the crumbs more evenly!
5. Line a cookie sheet with foil, then sprinkle the red and white cookie crumb on separate sides of the sheet.
6. Bake on 350 F for 10 minutes.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Add ½ cup of softened butter, and 8 oz of softened cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Mix until well incorporated.
2. Add in ½ cup of whipping cream and 1 tbsp of vanilla. Mix until well combined.
3. Sprinkle in 2¼ cups of confectioners sugar a bit at a time and mix until the frosting is smooth and lump free.

Assemble the cake:

1. Once all the layers are cooled transfer the cheese cake with the crust to the plate you want to serve your cake on.
2. Carefully top with a layer of the strawberry cake with the flat side on the bottom.  Level the top, if needed.
3. Very carefully transfer the center cheese cake layer on top.  Again, level if needed.
4. Top with the second layer of cake (I’m going to guess that you know to do it carefully by now!

   

5. Now if there are any areas where the cake is uneven, you can carefully cut around the sides using a serrated knife.
6. Frost the sides and top of the cake. If you are making the night before, refrigerate overnight at this point. Remove the next morning and bring to room temperature in the morning.  I would be nervous about the cooking crumbs becoming soggy if refrigerated overnight, so recommend doing the crumbs the day of for the freshest cake.
7. Sprinkle the shortcake crumbs on top of the cake and pat onto the sides as well.  I rotated between the plain and strawberry crumbs to make sure it was coated evenly. Refrigerate until about an hour before you’re going to serve.  Remove and let come to room temperature.
8. Garnish with whipped cream and strawberries!

Johanna