For my final in my Baking & Pastry III class, we had to do a “mystery basket” kind of thing – basically we had to incorporate cake, fruit and a sauce into a dessert.  One of my immediate thoughts (after a recent episode of “Cupcake Wars”), was to do a deconstructed drink (either that or a red velvet cake).

I thought through my dessert a lot, and after my first day of my final, I had to start over on my cake – I tried to make my first cake strawberry red, and it ended up being a kind of day-glo red/pink.  Very non-appetizing.  But once I remade the cake, the dessert came together perfectly.

The real star of this dessert was the ice cream – my chef loved it, my classmates liked it, and when I brought it to my parents, they adored it as well.  Rum and lime ice cream – absolutely delicious.

What I ended up doing for this dessert was a rum-syrup soaked strawberry cake with a lime whipped cream, a lime curd decoration, and a rum & lime ice cream over diced strawberries and a plain tuile.  Below are the recipes I used to make this delicious plate 🙂

Rum Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1 sugar
dark rum – to taste

1. Heat water and sugar in a sauce pan over high heat until sugar completely dissolves. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in rum, to taste.
3. Let cool.

Lime Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
3/8 cup sugar
zest of 1-2 limes (to taste)

1. Put heavy cream in a mixer with whip attachment, and start whipping until bubbles form.
2. Zest lime into sugar.  Add lime-sugar mixture into cream in mixing bowl.
3. Whip on medium-high until soft peaks form.
4. Continue to whip on medium, watching carefully, to get to fluffy, stiff peaks.

Strawberry Cake (From Scratch)  adapted from http://adashofsass.com/2009/03/01/homemade-strawberry-cake/

3 cups self-rising flour*
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup strawberry puree
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lime zest
4 large eggs, beaten
red food coloring – two drops

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray and flour two 10-by-2-inch round cake pans, tapping out excess flour; set aside.
2. Prepare the cake batter; in a large bowl, stir to combine self-rising flour, sugar, oil, pureed strawberries, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs.
3. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertips, 26 to 28 minutes.
4. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
5. Place first cake layer on a turntable and, using a serrated knife, trim to make cake flat.  Using a pastry brush, soak with rum simple syrup.
6. Spread a layer of lime whipped cream over cake, and place second layer of cake on top.  Repeat with syrup and whipped cream.