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When romance is on the mind, the kitchen fills with sweet treats. Some people make a decadent chocolate dessert, but up in the UK’s Lancashire region, love is professed differently and with a bit of berry brightness. Lancashire Courting Cake is a sturdy vanilla cake layered with whipped cream and plenty of strawberries.
How and where the tradition started it’s hard to say, but up in the northwest of England, love was communicated through food. An unmarried woman would give her love interest this cake both as a confession and as a showcasing of her baking and overall culinary talent.
While you may think this is your average cake, it’s far from what you’d find in a boxed cake mix. What sets the cake apart from your typical shortcake or Victoria sponge cake is the texture. The ratio of butter and sugar is lower than your average butter-based cake recipe, making for a hybrid crossover between a dense buttery pound cake and a melt-in-your-mouth tender cake.
The ingredient list is simple, the only difference being the higher amount of flour and the lower amount of milk.
After creaming the butter and sugar, adding your eggs, and alternatingly mixing in the dry ingredients and milk, you get a golden-hued cake batter. This is definitely thicker than your average cake batter, but don’t worry, it’s meant to be like that. The hefty three teaspoons of vanilla give this cake great flavor. With bare minimal garnish, the cake really has to shine.
Divided between two pans this cake takes around twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, depending on your oven. Let the cakes cool only for a little bit before inverting the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Next comes the eye-catching adornments.
Traditional recipes for this cake call simply for whipped cream, but here I opted to fortify the whipped cream with a bit of mascarpone. Dairy varies from country to country, with American dairy products being more filtered and less thick than other nations’ versions. The mascarpone holds the whipped cream up and gives it a fighting chance! While delicious, a weeping cake oozing melted whipped cream isn’t exactly a great first impression for courting a lover!
Sliced strawberries go in and on the cake, making for a vibrant contrast of color and flavor.
The cake’s sturdiness is perfect against the whipped cream, preventing it from absorbing into the cake itself.
Every component of the cake is an easy forkful to pick up again and again. The mascarpone is subtle and doesn’t overpower the natural sweetness of the cream, while also letting the flavor of the strawberries really shine.
This cake is an example showing that you don’t have to be flashy in order to convey thoughtfulness. Lancashire Courting Cake won’t just court a lover’s interest, but it’ll bring everyone around you to your table for a slice.
Lancashire Courting Cake
Yield(s): Serves 8-10
20m prep time
30m cook time
1h 30m inactive
Allergens: Eggs, Wheat, Gluten, Milk, strawberries
you're making mealtime meaningful.
For the Cake:
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk, room temperature
For the Garnish:
- 4 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 cups heavy cream
- 2 to 3 cups strawberries, sliced
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 8-inch cake pans with baking spray and then line the bottoms with parchment paper, set aside.
- Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Divide evenly between two pans and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few moist crumbs. It should be slightly golden brown around the edges, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
The make the garnish:
- In one bowl use a spatula to soften the mascarpone. Mix in vanilla extract.
- In another bowl whip heavy cream until sturdy peaks form.
- Start by adding a tiny bit of whipped cream into the mascarpone, until completely combined. Fold in remaining whipped cream.
- Put one layer of cake on a plate, spread half of the whipped cream on top, evenly sprinkle on sliced strawberries. Top with a second layer, alongside the remaining whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
Recipe adapted from Downton Abbey Cooks.