Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake

I'm going to tell you straight up, this is not your Mama's strawberry shortcake.  It's better.  Like, 'he's going to ask you to marry him after eating this' kind of good.  And trust me, I will warn you, once you eat this cake, there is no going back with normal old shortcake ever again.

No, this cake is not low-fat, but it is a fantastic treat.  It is much, much easier than it's fancy meringue exterior let's on, and is a hit at family dinners and parties.  Make the cake, screw the extra calories that day, and enjoy!

Nigella Lawson's Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake

You'll need:

- 1 cup all-purpose flour

- 3Tb cornstarch

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- Scant 1/2 cup very soft unsalted butter

- 1 cup granulated sugar

- 4 eggs

- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 2Tb milk

- Scant 1/4 cup slivered almonds (I skipped the almonds bc Ky is not a fan)

- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

- 1/2 pint strawberries

Instructions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 450-degrees fahrenheit

2.  Line, butter and flour two 9-inch springform pans. (I used two 9" cake pans because our springform pans are in storage.  They worked out fine.)

3.  Combine the flour, cornstarch and baking powder in a bowl.

4.  Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the butter and sugar, saving the whites to whisk later.  Gently fold in the measured-out dry ingredients, add the vanilla, and then stir in the milk to thin the batter.  Divide the mixture between the two prepared pans.

5.  Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add the remaining sugar.  Spread a layer of meringue on top of the cake batter in each pan, and sprinkle the almonds evenly over.

6.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, by which time the top of the almonds-scattered meringues will be a dark gold.  Let the cakes cool in their pants, then spring them open at the last minute when you are ready to assemble the cake.

7.  Whip the cream, and hull and slice the strawberries; that's to say, the bigger ones can be sliced lengthwise and the smaller ones halved.  Invert one of the cakes on to a plate or cake stand so that the cake crumb is uppermost.  Pile on the cream and stud with the strawberries, letting some of the berries subside into the whipped whiteness.  Place the second cake on top, meringue upward, and press down gently, just so secure it.

8.  If you've got any more strawberries in the house, hull and halve them, and serve them in a dish on a table to eat alongside.

Serves 8.

**You can also use other types of berries if you prefer.

Yogurt Cake by Ms. Independent

I recently read the book, "Bringing Up Bebe", by Pamela Druckerman.  She's an American married to an Englishman, living in Paris with her three children.  It's really interesting to see how she takes the American"isms" that she grew up with and molds them with the French way of parenting.  Some of the main tenants of French parenting are teaching children balance, independence, and boundaries at an early age so that they are more confident and capable as they get older.  This is not always the American way of doing things, but it was very interesting to read about these independent, well behaved little people that aren't overweight and pigging out at their whim.  Instead, they are taught through gentle firmness and repetition that some things, such as when the family eats is when the family eats, is the way things are.  Children are brought into the world to be a part of it, instead of grown-ups revolving around their children.

I'm not going to get into my personal views on child-rearing and the American versus the French ideal, but I will definitely get behind teaching children new skills, such as how to make a yogurt cake all by themself.  I will also fully advocate keeping children (and adults for that matter) on a normal meals schedule- breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner.  It teaches self control at an early age, and let's face it, learning to wait at an early age- even for your food, is probably one of the more important lessons in life.  In  a world of instant gratification, our kids (and let's face it, a lot of adults), are suffering from obesity.  I'm not telling you to take the cake away, I'm telling you to give a moderate slice at snacktime.

For the last few months, Laela has wanted to help more and more in the kitchen. I started small at first- adding the veggies to salad, sprinkling cheese on tacos and spaghetti, and holding the mixer while making a cake or cookies. Then she wanted to beat the eggs for breakfast, so I started giving her little jobs, like pulling the thyme leaves from the stalk and then beating them in with eggs and veggies for a yummy frittata.

Laela has learned that she can do something really cool- cook!  I let her use the big girl spatula to flip the eggs, and now, she has learned to make her own cake!  The proud look of satisfaction when she made her cake was one I'll never forget.

The first time we made it was on a rainy day with Laela's best friend Bailey.  The recipe calls for full-fat yogurt, but I couldn't find any, so we used low-fat.

Yogurt Cake

You'll need:

• 2 six-ounce containers plain whole-milk yogurt (use the empty containers to measure the other ingredients)
• 2 eggs
• 2 containers sugart (or just one, depending on how sweet you like it)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Just under one container vegetable oil
• 4 containers flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 containers of frozen berries or chocolate chips
• Creme fraiche (optional)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375- degrees farenheit.
• Use vegetable oil to grease a 9" round cake pan or a loaf pan.
• Gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Mix gently until well combined. (Don't overmix.)
• You can add 2 containers of frozen berries, a container of chocolate chips, or any flavoring you like.
• Bake for 35 minutes, then five minutes more if the cake doesn't pass the knife test.  Bake for five more minutes if the cake doesn't pass the knife test.  It should be almost crispy on the outside, but springy on the inside.
• Let it cool.
• The cake is delicious served with (or in Laela and Bailey's case spread), with creme  fraiche.

Notes:

• The first time that you make this, lay towels on the table to easily soak up any mess.
• Do your best not to help.  This is a pretty fool-proof recipe.  Yes, you should be standing there if they need you, but by 3 years old (Laela will be 3 in September), they probably understand 4 scoops of the ingredient your putting in front of them.  For me, this was one of those proud mama moments, because I got to see Laela do it on her own and really get it.  The girls both did an amazing job!
• When we made this the first time, I foolishly didn't take our higher altitude into account.  The cake seemed done, but when we took it out, the center was stone raw.  (I cut the cooked part off, dumped the remainder in the still hot pan, and baked it for ten more minutes.)  After baking it some more, and molding it together, it was perfect, but it wasn't as pretty as it should have been:

Bailey was a definite fan though:

• That said, if you are in a high climate, preheat the oven to 375. 
• When you put the cake in the oven, bring the heat down to 350.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes.  If the cake is still gooey inside, bake for five more minutes.
• Enjoy!
• **And take lots of pictures!  This is a lot of fun!