Strawberry Cake: What It Means Now - No. 333

Two years after a school shooting, I bake the cake I couldn’t bake then

THURSDAY MARKS THE TWO-YEAR anniversary of the Covenant School shootings in Nashville. For nearly two years a black and red bow in the school’s colors was tied to my mailbox.

It came down on its own after a hard rain just before Christmas, and we replaced it with holiday greenery. But to this day, every time I pull into my driveway and check for mail, I remember the three schoolchildren and three adults fatally shot March 27, 2023.

When I first heard the news of the tragedy, I was in the car driving home from visiting my granddaughter in Florida. I had planned to bake a strawberry cake for this newsletter, but by the time I got home, I couldn’t write about strawberry cake and needed to talk frankly about guns instead.

That issue of my newsletter had the highest open rate of anything I’ve written in nearly four years here. More than Tina Turner’s cornbread, Trisha Yearwood’s apple pie, or the recent Very Good Chocolate Cake.

Many readers were outraged that I would turn a cooking column into something political. Their emails began with “shame on you.’’ But I never considered gun safety to be political. Isn’t it more of a common sense or moral issue?

Other readers were appreciative of my words because they felt sadness and were unable to speak about it. One subscriber wrote to tell me how her grandmother had been a victim of a hospital mass shooting and how the trickle-down effect of gun violence in a family doesn’t go away.

Today I’m sharing a wonderful strawberry cake recipe and three ways to present it, but this isn’t the same cake I might have shared two years ago.

This cake is based on an old-fashioned hot milk sponge cake formula made with ingredients already in your kitchen pantry, so it’s practical.

In this cake no food coloring is needed as often is with strawberry cakes. You get the vivid red color and strawberry punch of flavor from lots of fresh berries. And it’s a versatile cake. You can bake, slice and serve it smothered in strawberries. Or, bake some of the strawberries on the bottom, creating an upside-down cake. (Kinda how life feels right now…) Or, layer everything—cake, whipped cream, strawberries—in an icebox style of cake that sits in the pan in the fridge until you’re ready for dessert.

At a dinner party last weekend, I toted the icebox cake (option three) in its pan to my friend’s house and cut it into fat squares in her kitchen. It had rested in my fridge for several hours, enough time for the whipped cream and sweetened berries to soften the layers and come together as one.

While strawberry cake two years ago would likely have been a two layer, fluffy pink confection beginning with a cake mix, today’s cake is simpler and wiser. It’s ironically similar to what our grandmothers might have baked in a pinch. It’s seen some things. It tastes nostalgic. It’s a cake of remembrance.

Cakes have long been a way to show sentiments without speaking them.

Back in 1775, the good ladies of Edenton, North Carolina, gathered for a tea party without tea. They noshed on little butter cakes as they plotted strategies to boycott British tea and higher taxes.

There wouldn’t have been an American revolution had colonists not gathered in local taverns and home parlors to talk politics. Women wouldn’t have won the hard-fought right to vote if they hadn’t shown up at tea rooms to spoon into sponge cake, speak of the resistance, and inspire hope and courage in each other.

Even Prohibitionists spoke their mind through cake—angel food—because it did not contain yeast, a by-product of beer making. One of its biggest fans was Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes. "Lemonade Lucy," as she was called because she did not drink alcohol, served angel food cake and lemonade at the White House while her husband was in office from 1877 to 1881.

Chocolate cake became the patriotic Blackout Cake after America’s entry into World War II. It was named for the mandatory Brooklyn blackouts that protected battleship and aircraft carrier assembly and 71,000 workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The name stuck to chocolate cake even after the war.

In the 1960s in the Deep South, pound cake was a cake of social justice and racial equality. Sales of it funded the 1956 Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. The irony was that Black women had always been baking pound cakes and selling them, so their baking and making a statement went unnoticed.

More recently, red velvet cakes have been linked to Juneteenth. The color red in this cake as well as hibiscus drinks, watermelon, and barbecue with sauce all symbolize the blood of the enslaved.

Peaceful protesting near the Tennessee Capitol after the Covenant shootings.

With everything happening now in America, firearm safety might seem like the least of our worries. Until another school shooting.

Looming tariffs and the threat of a recession, tax cuts for the rich, a reckless dismantling of the Department of Education and much of the U.S. government, denying education to undocumented children (my state of Tennessee is proposing such a bill), and USDA cuts to school lunch programs, not to forget cutting ties with European allies, cozying to Russia, and bullying Canada, we are consumed with chaos at the moment.

But let’s not forget about the guns. Why do we ban books but not guns?

Guns are the number one cause of death to children in this country for the third straight year, according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence. And yet, Trump shuttered the White House Office of Gun Violence on January 21, citing second amendment concerns. The powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) has opposed legislation to limit gun use and donated heavily to those legislators.

America’s assault rifle ban expired in 2004. And according to Everytown Gun Safety research, only nine U.S. states ban assault rifles—California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Washington.

On the two-year anniversary of a school shooting that took place just down the street, and when Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and so many other school shootings are in the rear view mirror, I baked a strawberry cake to remember them.

Musician Peter Frampton, a Nashville resident, posted this on Instagram after the Covenant shootings: ‘’26 years ago, a gunman entered Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, killing 16 kids and a teacher. The UK govt responded by enacting tight gun control legislation. In the 9400+ days since, there have been a total of O school shootings in the UK.’’

America won’t give up its guns. I’ll settle for an assault rifle ban, expanded background checks, secure firearm storage, and temporary transfer laws so every child has the right to a life full of possibilities.

The way I see it is that gun safety isn’t political. It’s just humane.

- xo, Anne

P.S. Some good news…Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a bill last week banning Glock switches and other conversion devices that turn semi-automatic firearms into machine guns. Lawmakers in the House and Senate passed the bill with bipartisan support. With a Glock switch, a shooter can fire an entire magazine of ammunition in a few seconds. While there is a federal ban in place on them, that doesn’t stop private sales via the internet and at gun shows.

THE RECIPES:

Option 1: Bake the Hot Milk Sponge Cake (below), top with sweetened strawberries and whipped cream.

Option 2: Fresh Strawberry Upside-Down Cake

Buy 2 pounds of fresh strawberries, make the batter for the hot milk sponge cake, and whip some cream. I baked this cake in a deep 9-inch square pan. If you want to make a larger 9-by 13-inch pan with more surface area on the bottom of the pan, you will need more strawberries and sugar to cover it. I would up the berries to on the bottom to 1 1/2 pounds and the sugar to 3 T. Same amount of cake batter, but as it is more shallow, you will need to bake it in less time, about 40 minutes so watch it. The cake is done when deeply browned, it springs back in the center, and it reads 200ºF on an instant read thermometer.

Makes 8 to 12 servings

Bake: 55 to 60 minutes for a 9-inch pan

• Vegetable oil spray

• Parchment paper for lining the pan

• Bottom Layer of Strawberries:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1 pound fresh strawberries (about 24), rinsed, patted dry, and cut in half

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Hot Milk Sponge Cake:

• 1 cup (8 ounces) whole milk

• 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

• 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) sugar

• 4 large eggs

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• Top Layer of Strawberries:

• 1 pound fresh strawberries (about 24) rinsed, patted dry, and cut in half or quarters

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. For the pan, spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan that is about 3 inches deep. Line the bottom with parchment. Spread the soft butter evenly over the parchment. Scatter the strawberries on top of the butter, and sprinkle sugar over the top. Set aside.

2. For the cake, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the milk simmers and the butter begins to melt. Turn off the heat and let it rest until the butter melts. Stir in the vanilla.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Beat the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl with a mixer on medium speed until the mixture is thick and lemon-colored, 2 to 3 minutes. Continue beating on low, pouring in the oil, until incorporated, about 1 minute. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and hot milk mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour, and beat until smooth. Pour the batter over the strawberries in the pan, and place the pan in the oven.

5. Bake until the cake is deeply golden brown on top, and it springs back with lightly pressed in the center, 55 to 60 minutes. Let the cake rest in the pan 5 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edges and turn the cake out on to a cake plate and peel off the parchment paper. Invert the cake onto a serving plate.

6. Scatter the strawberry halves or quarters on top of the cake and sprinkle with sugar to taste.

7. For the whipped cream, whip the cream in a cold bowl with cold beaters until nearly stiff, 2 minutes on high speed. Continue beating, adding the sugar to taste, and the vanilla, until the cream is stiff, 1 minute more. Cut the cake into squares and serve warm with whipped cream.

---

Option 3: Fresh Strawberry Icebox Cake

The perfect do-ahead springtime dessert for eight. I baked the hot milk sponge cake, split it in half, reassembled it in the pan with a layer of strawberries in between, and added whipped cream and a cooked-down strawberry syrup. The lemon juice and strawberry preserves pick up the flavor of ho-hum berries in the syrup.

Makes 8 to 12 servings

Bake: 50 to 55 minutes for a 9-inch pan

• Hot Milk Sponge Cake (see recipe above)

• Middle Layer of Strawberries:

• 20 ounces fresh strawberries

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Pinch of kosher salt

• Whipped Cream:

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Strawberry Topping:

• 12 ounces fresh strawberries

• 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 to 3 tablespoons good strawberry preserves, if desired

1. Bake the cake for about 50 to 55 minutes, or until it tests done, and set aside to cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and invert onto a rack. Slice in half crosswise. Return the bottom layer to the pan. Set aside the top layer.

2. For the strawberry layer, rinse and pat dry the berries. Hull and finely chop into a medium bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt to taste. Set aside.

3. For the whipped cream, whip the cream in a cold bowl with cold beaters until nearly stiff, 2 minutes on high speed. Continue beating, adding the sugar to taste, and the vanilla, until the cream is stiff, 1 minute more.

4. For the strawberry topping, rinse and pat dry the berries. Hull and slice into quarters into a medium saucepan. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer until syrupy, stirring constantly, about 15 minutes. As the strawberries cook down, mash them with a fork. Season with more sugar as needed for flavor, and add strawberry preserves if you feel the berries don’t have enough flavor on their own. Let cool completely.

5. Cover the bottom layer of cake with the sweetened berries. Spread half of the whipped cream over the top to cover. Place the second cake layer on top. Poke a dozen holes in the top of the cake with a chopstick or wooden skewer. Spread the rest of the whipped cream over the top. Place in the fridge, covered, until the strawberry topping has cooled.

6. Gently spread the strawberry topping over the whipped cream, cover, and return to the fridge. This can be made up to two days in advance. Slice into squares and serve.