The first berries!

Sweet little strawberries, with their adorable little green caps

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There’s a giant market on Tuesdays in San Miguel de Allende. A mountain of strawberries!

A giant mound of fresh strawberries offered at the Tuesday Market in San Miguel

Red strawberries in the Tuesday Market in San Miguel

See Our World Tuesday, I Heart Macro, Macro Monday, Travel Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Photo Friday, Pink Saturday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon!

I read that knowing tomatoes are a fruit is intelligent, but knowing not to use them in fruit salad is wise. But when they are growing in your backyard, doesn’t the container of both of them look so pretty? And let me tell you, they BOTH are super sweet!

I’m joining up at My Romantic Home, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Macro Monday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Mellow Yellow Monday and Ruby Tuesday 2. Don’t forget to click on Sara’s Fave Photos above if there is only one photo below. And while you are here, perhaps browse in the My Garden category?

I saved the plastic container from the store-bought berries bought earlier and picked some real fresh fruit from our strawberry bed. Aren’t they just gorgeous? It’s funny, but sometimes the smallest ones are also the sweetest. Go figure.

Neat sites to visit, with links: Color Carnival, Ruby Tuesday 2, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Macro Monday. Check ’em out! And if you’ve arrived via a link and there is only the one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see more photos here.

Today I’m posting a fabulous recipe with notes. It’s long, but not that hard (I included all the details so it will come out right if you make it), so scroll down a bit to see the photos that go with it. My daughter and I made this on Saturday just for the heck of it and it was SO GOOD! To read the story about the history of this cake in my family, read the What Cake story.

By the way, the strawberries on top were HUGE and make the cake look small. It’s not.

You can always return to the most recent post here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake (Sylvia Messer’s recipe), serves approx. 16

325 degrees preheated, (check at 40 min. if using 9″ pans, 45-50 min. for 8″ pans)

Use (2) 8″ or 9″ round spring-form cake pans, UNGREASED

7 large eggs, separated (room temp.)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 c. sugar (can be half turbinado or raw, mixed with half regular white), divided
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. cake flour (substitute w.w. pastry flour OK)
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2 oz. butter
6 oz. milk

3 cups heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
dash vanilla

4+ pints strawberries

Separate eggs. Essential that NO yolk specks end up in whites. Put yolks into small mixer bowl, whites into large mixer bowl. Recommend using small dish per egg separated before dumping whites in large bowl to check for egg yolk contamination!

Beat whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar, mix until almost stiff, then slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar. Mix until stiff peaks but do not overbeat. Set aside.

Sift flour onto waxed paper and measure 2 cups without packing flour in any way. Use large spoon to scoop carefully into measuring cup. Resift. Resift again adding baking pdr. and salt. Check measurement. If using whole wheat pastry flour, use scant 2 cups flour. Set aside.

In small pan, heat milk and butter, DO NOT BOIL, until butter melts. Keep warm.

Beat yolks for 2 minutes. Add remaining sugar and vanilla slowly; beat one more minute.

Add flour mix and hot milk mix alternately, very slowly, into egg yolk mix while beating slowly.

Fold yolk mix SUPER GENTLY by hand into stiff whites. Be patient but do not collapse whites.

Pour equally into two ungreased spring-form pans. Stagger pans in oven so they are not directly over each other. Bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean or until surface springs back when pressed gently with finger. 325 degrees preheated oven, (check at 40 min. if using 9″ pans, 45-50 min. for 8″ pans)

While cake is baking and cooling, wash big mixer bowl and beaters. Place in refrigerator to chill for best whipped cream.

Cool cakes upside down on racks ONE HOUR only. Then use table knife to cut cake away from sides of spring-form pan. Remove sides. Use long knife to cut from bottom of pans. Carefully place one cake layer, top side down, on cake plate. (Note: if freezing cakes, freeze while still on bottoms of pans.)

Whipped cream: Beat cold cream in cold bowl with cold beaters at high speed. As cream starts to thicken, add 3 T powdered sugar (or to taste) and dash vanilla. Continue beating until cream begins to firm. Reduce speed and carefully mix cream until very firm, but not gloppy or too firm (i.e., butter)!

Prepare strawberries: Wash, hull, trim and dry strawberries, separating into 2 groups of large, perfect berries and the others. Save imperfect and/or small berries for center layer of whipped cream. You may cut these if still too large.

Assembling cake: Put layer of whipped cream on top of bottom layer, about 1/2 inch. Spread evenly with rubber spatula or frosting knife. Place imperfect, cut or small berries evenly. Cut berries no thicker than half an inch or so for this layer. Press gently into whipped cream. Add more whipped cream to even layer out; spread evenly with spatula. Leave cake sides alone for now.

Carefully place second layer on top of first, top side up. Spread top with whipped cream. Now use remaining whipped cream for sides. Make it pretty with spatula or frosting knife.

Place largest, most beautiful strawberry in the center of the top of the cake. Add remaining strawberries evenly around. Sing Happy Birthday! (optional)

Take a picture; it is so pretty! (required)

Refrigerate after serving. When serving, cut straight down with very sharp knife, using sawing motion.

The story in our family is that Mom would make the requested strawberry shortcake for a birthday, but since it had to be kept refrigerated until after dinner, when we saw it there after school she would pretend that we were dreaming and say, “Cake? What cake? There’s no cake there,” so that we could all enjoy the “surprise” later. Mom is gone now, but What-cake lives on. Here’s the one, almost exactly like she used to make, from my recent birthday.

For more ruby redness in photos around the world, click HERE.

It’s winter here in Seattle and the two weeks of snow is gone, but summer is far away and seems almost impossible, somehow. But here are strawberries from July, sweet as sugar, to feast the eyes on, at least. For more ideas about the color red, click HERE.

Today is Ruby Tuesday! I took these the other day and saved the photo for today. They are Tristar and so sweet. The daughter plants seem to produce more than last year’s old, tired plants. For more Ruby Tuesday photos, click here.