(more images coming)
A fraisier or French style strawberry cake for spring with creme mousseline or mousseline cream filling and topping that is a bit bavrois-like to help the added thick yogurt cream cheese set
The genoise sponge is baked in a 20cm/9inch cake pan, then horizontally split into two layers
You will need a bain marie set up for the cake.
I use a metal mixing bowl that nestles snugly over and slightly into, but not inside, a saucepan filled with 2-3 inches of boiling water
Make the creme patissiere for the mousseline ahead of time if wanted.
Ingredients
For the cake
6 large eggs, at room temperature
225g/1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar or caster sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g/2 cups flour + 20g/2tbs cornstarch, sifted together plus a pinch of fine salt
50g/3.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For the Creme Mousseline
The creme patissiere:
1 large whole egg
4 large egg yolks
50g flour
100g/ 1/2 cup sugar divided into 2
500g/2-1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Adding for the mousseline:
160 g soft butter divided into two
1 envelope/7g gelatin bloomed in 60 ml cold water (sprinkled and left for 10 minutes)
200g cream cheese consistency Greek style yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
100g powdered sugar
Instructions
Prepare the Sponge Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a 20cm/9-inch spring form cake pan using parchment paper; set aside until needed.
Fill a large saucepan one-third of the way with water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, reduce heat to medium-low.
Beat together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla in a large heatproof bowl; place over the saucepan of boiling water, making sure that the bowl is above that water and that no water touches the bottom of the bowl. Whisk the egg mixture constantly until an instant-read thermometer registers about 40C/106°F, about 6 minutes.
Remove bowl from heat and beat the mixture to ribbon stage with an electric mixer on medium speed until mixture is at least doubled in volume, very thick and mousse-like, pale in color, and leaves a thick trail on the mixture surface when the beaters are lifted, about 8 minutes.
Working with one-third of the flour mixture at a time, sift flour into egg mixture, and fold in gently until fully combined, making sure no flour is visible.
When all the flour is folded in, gently pour the melted cooled butter down one side of bowl to ensure weight of butter does not deflate egg mixture, and gently fold until the butter is completely incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared spring form pan; bake in preheated oven until golden brown and centre of cake bounces back when lightly pressed, or an inserted skewer comes out ckean, about 35-40 minutes, loosely covering with aluminum foil after 20 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning, if needed.
Remove from oven, and let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Release clasp to remove outer ring of pan and allow cake cool completely on a wire rack, about 45 minutes more. Set aside until ready to use.
For the Creme Mousseline
Make a creme patissiere with
1 large whole egg
4 large egg yolks
50g flour
100g/ 1/2 cup sugar divided into 2
500g/2-1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Heat milk over a medium-low heat in a large saucepan until just steaming, but not simmering, stirring often, about 8 minutes.
Remove from heat. Whisk in vanilla extract
Beat or whisk together the egg, egg yolks, sugar, and flour in a large heatproof bowl until combined.
Pour the hot milk mixture into the bowl with the egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.
Place the bowl over hot water in the bain marie setup and cook over the boiling water on a medium heat, whisking constantly, until fully thickened, about 8 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally to prevent anything sticking. Once fully thickened, remove from heat.
Bloom an envelope/7g of powdered gelatin in 60ml/1/4c cold water for 10 minutes - sprinkle evenly over the water and allow to sit and absorb.
Add the bloomed gelatin to the hot creme patissiere, stirring gently until dissolved and mixed in thoroughly.
Beat in 80g/2.5 tablespoons butter in small pieces.
Cool the creme patissiere to room temperature or fridge until needed.
Making the mousseline
In a bowl
Beat
80g softened butter until light and fluffy
Add and beat in
200g yogurt cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Then add and beat in
100g powdered sugar
Add the prepared creme patissiere in spoonfuls until incorporated.
Assemble the cake
Using a large serrated knife or cake leveler, cut the cake across horizontally to create 2 equal, thinner rounds about 1.25cm/¾-inch thick each.
Line inside edges of a clean 9-inch spring form pan using an acetate sheet or parchment paper, leaving at least a 1 1/2-inch overhang above pan. Place a parchment round in bottom of springform pan. Place 1 cake half, cut side up, in pan. With a pastry brush, brush cut side of cake lightly with 2 1/2 tablespoons of flavoyred syrup or liqueur of choice.
Place strawberry halves, cut sides facing out and points of strawberries facing up, around the sides of the cake so that cut sides are placed against the parchment paper. When the cake is lined with strawberry halves, roughly chop remaining strawberries, and set aside.
Pipe about 120ml/1/2 cup of the mousseline cream in spots between the strawberries to fill any spaces. Then pipe about 120ml/1/2 cup mousseline cream to completely cover the strawberries. Pipe more cream in a thin layer (about 129ml/1/2 cup) to cover the rest of the cake showing through and top with chopped strawberries in even layer. Pipe a thin layer of cream (about 2t0ml/1 cup) over the chopped strawberries in an even layer. Place remaining cake half, cut side down, on top of cream, pressing gently to adhere to cream layer. Brush cake with remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur. Pipe remaining Mousseline Cream (about 2 1/2 cups) over top of cake, and spread into a smooth layer. Cover pan using plastic wrap, placing wrap directly on surface; refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours. Remove collar of pan, and remove and discard parchment. Garnish with sliced strawberries in a ring around perimeter of cake, overlapping as needed.
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