Adventures of an American Chef on the Run: Acapulco Cleveland Style Strawberry Cassata Cake

This cake was a reminder that things don't always go according to plan in Mexico.  This is partially my fault as I chose to make a cake that I generally enjoy during February in Northern Ohio, not hot Acapulco.  I had repeated roadblocks I had to work with in making this cake and at the end of the day, it's taught me a valuable lesson.  Make sure I have ALL ingredients for sure available before I commit to the cake and make sure it MAKES SENSE to make it.  My birthday's coming up this month, so stay tuned for a elaborate dessert of some sort.  Maybe I'll delve a bit into sugar scuplting, the glassblowing of the baking world. 

Cake:

2.25 c flour

1.25 and .25 cups flour divided

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

3/4 c water 

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 t vanilla extract

5 large egg yolks

8 large egg whites

1 t orange juice, or 1/2 t Cream of Tartar

Custard:

6 large egg yolks

1/2 c sugar

2 c half and half, media crema here

3 T corn starch

Strawberries:

1 kg strawberries

2.5 T sugar

Whipped Cream:

2 c heavy cream

2 T sugar

I'll start be reminding you nothing went as planned with this one.  It was tasty in it's bastardized form, but could be made so much better.  I'll share with you just what went wrong so you can avoid it yourself.  If you can follow the recipe, the result will be pretty damn awesome, way better than this. 

The first thing I did wrong was the custard.  It requests half and half.  I had been told that half and half isn't found here, by both locals and expats.  Turns out they're all wrong.  The stuff I've been using as heavy cream isn't, which is what I thought.  It's half and half, called Media Crema for anyone wondering.  What I needed was "Crema para batir" literally, creme for beating.   I actually diluted media with milk when I made the custard, so I made a thin custard sauce that wouldn't thicken.  Ideally, you want a thick spreadable custard.

Whisk those ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a bowl over medium low heat, whisking constantly.  Turn once it starts to simmer up and it should thicken a minute or so after by a lot.  Allow to cool then put in a container to chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. 

Sift the flour, baking powder, 1.25 cups sugar and salt into a large bowl. 

Separate the whites from the yolks.  I used white eggs which have yolks more easily broken, so I did this into small bowls and then into a larger bowl. Beat together the yolks, water, oil, zest and vanilla until smooth, add to the flour.

In hindsight, I forgot the water which would have made a big difference with texture.  Make sure you follow the recipe carefully for good results!

Put the whites into a bowl with the orange juice or cream of tartar.  This serves a role chemically to help stabilize the whites as they're whipped.  I was told it was at Walmart and after checking today it wasn't.  I ended up not making it to Walmart before they closed which apparently didn't matter at the end of the day.  I'm not sure where to get this ingredient, but I'm sure it's somewhere.

Beat the egg whites until white and fluffy.  They should form what's called stiff peaks, meaning they hold their shape stiffly when you pull a spoon or beater out of them. 

Slowly fold the whites in, trying not to collapse too many bubbles.  Just pour it in and use a spatula to slowly fold the batter, which causes it to mix without too much agitation. 

Into oiled pans they go and into a 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

They should look something like this, although probably better.

Slice the strawberries and sprinkle with sugar.  I put them into the fridge to chill with the custard.

Once they were cool too, I stacked the cakes and bagged them to put them into the fridge.  You're supposed to do this for 3 hours at the least. I decided to go to bed, as it was 5 in the morning. 

I split the thicker cakes in half.

An just cut the large one in half, to make a rectangular 2 layer cake.

Lay an even layer of strawberries down on the first layer.

Until it looks like this.

Add the custard, you should be spreading about half of it.  Keep in mind, I doubled this recipe and made two cakes, not sure if I was clear on that before or not.

Continue with other layers until it's finished.

Ideally, you're supposed to frost it with the whipped cream frosting and chill for at least 8 hours.  I didn't have heavy cream like I needed so I couldn't do this. This was for the best as any nice decoration would have been ruined on Acapulco's hilly mountainous roads. 

I couldn't find whipping cream either so we went with the spray cans which have WAY less than the ones in the states.  We went through like 6 of them and it was a bit of a mess, as you can see.

All things considred, it wasn't bad. What mattered most was the guests and Gustavo liked it, which was the point at the end of the day, not realizing my dreams as a baker.  It was more like strawberry shortcake and less like the light delicious cake I grew up eating for my birthday every year.  I was disappointed but no one else knew the cake I did.  I didn't realize it was a cake exclusive to Cleveland, a spinoff of an italian classic done with Cleveland ingredients.  This is my Acapulco version I suppose.  The lessons it has taught me for my next baking venture has been valuable, so get ready steemit. There's a fancy dessert coming in the next few weeks. 

Thanks for reading.