My father has been looking for an excuse to make this cake since he first saw it in Cook’s Illustrated (May/June 2006). With dual imperatives of Mother’s Day being two weeks away and my brother John’s birthday (never mind that John lives in Oklahoma and we live in California) dad finally had the motivation he needed. Cook’s Illustrated mentions in its write-up that this is a “special occasion” cake, and indeed it is. The cake is much more involved than our usual strawberry shortcake, but perhaps more suited to a formal occasion. In the following, our adapted recipe, we omit the 2 Tbsp of Kirsch from the strawberry purée, and we mash the strawberries with a potato masher instead of using a food processor.

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