Daffodil Cake

Preheat oven to 325º. If your cake pan does not have a removable bottom, trace the base and cut out a ring of parchment. Place parchment ring in bottom of pan (do not grease).

Use a sifter or fine-mesh sieve to sift together 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, and ¾ cup (150 g) sugar 3 times, reserving the sifter for later. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, whip 6 large egg yolks, at room temperature and ¼ cup (50 g) sugar on high speed until mixture is very light in color and forms marshmallow-like ribbons when lifted, 8–10 minutes. Whip in 1 tsp. vanilla extract to combine. Remove bowl from mixer and reserve. (If you only have 1 bowl for your mixer, remove egg yolk mixture to another bowl and wash and dry mixer bowl and whisk attachment very well; any residual egg yolk will interfere with achieving the most voluminous egg whites.) Note: If you have both a stand and hand mixer, you can start whipping your egg whites with the hand mixer when your yolks are about halfway through mixing on the stand mixer (the yolk mixture can whip longer without much impact, but don’t cut down the time).

In clean mixer bowl, a second mixer bowl fitted with a clean, dry whisk attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat 12 large egg whites, at room temperature, 1 tsp. cream of tartar, and ¼ tsp. kosher salt on medium-high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Once mixture stops looking liquid and starts looking like the top layer of a bubble bath, begin to add the remaining ½ cup (100 g) sugar about 1 Tbsp. at a time. Continue to whip until egg white mixture is whipped to medium peaks, about 3 minutes total (think billowy marshmallow rather than super-stiff shaving cream). Add 1 Tbsp. lemon juice and whip to incorporate.

Remove egg white mixture from mixer and sift one-quarter of reserved flour mixture over surface. Using large exaggerated motions, fold with a large whisk until nearly combined; a few flour streaks should remain. Continue to sift and fold in another quarter of flour mixture in 3 more additions, until completely combined.

Add one-third of egg white mixture to bowl with egg yolk mixture. Fold with a rubber spatula to combine so that no white streaks remain.

To layer batter: In an ungreased, unlined angel food cake pan or 10” tube pan, drop spoonfuls or gently pour about one-third of white batter into pan, spreading it with a rubber spatula to cover bottom of pan. Repeat with one-half of yellow batter, spreading it to cover white layer. Alternate between remaining batters, spreading each layer as you go.

Bake, rotating pan from front to back once after 60 minutes for even baking (rotating a little further than halfway into baking ensures the cake gets the best height and doesn’t fall in the pan while rotating), until top springs back to the touch and cake is a deep golden, 75–90 minutes total. Remove from oven, invert immediately onto pan’s feet (if using a pan without feet, invert onto a bottle with a slim neck, such as a wine bottle), and let cake cool completely on a flat surface, about 2 hours. Allowing cake to cool completely helps ensure it retains its height and lightness; unmolding when warm can lead to a mangled shape and dense texture.

Using an offset spatula or long, thin knife, unmold cake by running spatula or knife around outer edges of pan and inner tube, and then freeing it from its base. If the cake looks a little “fuzzy” on the outside, rub your fingers in a circular motion over sides and top of cake to gather and remove any stray bits of crumb.

About 20 minutes before serving, add zest of 1 lemon and ¼ cup (50 g) sugar to a large bowl and rub together with your fingers until sugar smells lemony and looks slightly moistened from oils in zest. Use a potato masher, sturdy whisk, or the back of a fork to mash 1 quart strawberries, hulled until chunky and juices have started to collect. Stir to combine and encourage more juices to pool. Let macerate, refrigerated, for about 15 minutes.

Whip 2 cups heavy cream and 2 Tbsp. sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer at medium-high speed to medium peaks.

Top each slice of cake with a cloud-like layer of whipped cream and a sweet helping of strawberries with their juice.