Nothing looks so festive as a sponge cake with strawberries and snow-white whipped cream. If desired, the berries can be replaced with aromatic jam, which does not impair the taste of the dessert. To prepare this Irish national treat, you will need:
- 3 large eggs, stored at room temperature;
- 225 grams of powdered sugar;
- 225 grams of self-rising flour + 2 teaspoons of baking powder mixed together;
- 125 grams of softened butter;
- 100 grams of margarine;
- 225 grams of fresh strawberries, washed, peeled and chopped finely;
- 200 milliliters of whipped cream.
Strawberry biscuit - recipe
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease 2 baking dishes. Lay out the bottom of the greased forms with parchment. Use a mixer or food processor to mix eggs, sugar, flour and baking powder, softened butter and margarine until a homogeneous mixture is formed. The dough should have a soft consistency. If you don’t have a mixer, you can use a wooden spoon. Divide the dough evenly into two shapes and level the surface. Put on the middle shelf of the preheated oven and bake for twenty-five minutes or until the cakes rise well and turn golden brown. Remove the biscuit from the oven and refrigerate for five minutes. After this, remove the cakes from the baking dish and allow to cool completely. After cooling, put one cake on a plate. Cover with a thick layer of strawberries and an even thicker layer of whipped cream. Cover the top with a second cake and gently connect the halves.
You can sprinkle the finished biscuit with strawberries icing sugar, garnish with whole berries and other ingredients. In addition, you can change the filling and put any seasonal berries and fruits - fresh raspberries, blueberries or cranberries with sugar, peaches. If you do not have fresh fruit, use fruit jam, spreading it with a thick layer. Do not take the frozen berries, as they will start letting the juice out, making the dough wet.
If desired, the sponge cake with strawberries can be supplemented with any other toppings that combine with this berry. For example, you can make berry puree from a mixture of garden or wild berries. Bananas also go well with strawberries. However, it is not recommended to add fruits such as apples or pears to this berry, as they have different consistencies. If you want to cook a biscuit in a slow cooker with strawberries, you should carefully read the instructions from the manufacturer, since the baking time may differ from the standard recipe. In addition, it is not recommended to replace the ingredients in the dough, for example, butter with margarine. Then the dough will not be so tender and tasty.
You can also turn this Irish national pastry into a festive cake by pouring icing or decorating with a layer of jelly and completing the appropriate design. In any case, the strawberry biscuit can be supplemented and improved endlessly to get an amazing dessert.