To celebrate, of course, I could only bake a cake. I should have done a big party but the current lock-down situation doesn't allow me.
This cake as the last week one (also for another celebration), I've made it in 3 days. The Dark chocolate sour cherry festive cake of last week was heavy, in the sense that you couldn't eat too much and a small portion was more than enough. This is how I arrived with some chocolate cake slices in the fridge while starting a new one. This one, had to be on the opposite side. It should have been a light one and absolutely with strawberry. At least this was the desire of my daughter.
First day was the sponge. The more sponges I do, the more experience I get and I feel quite confortable making them. This was probably the best I've done this year. A new recipe (of course customized) but a great success. Although there was no top (as I learnt how to bake a nice flat sponge cake), I had to cut a top as my kids were asking to eat it. This is a nice irony of life, but then, I better keep my kids happy than targeting for the ever best cake of my life.
The strawberry sauce was a bit of a mess. I put it then in the fridge overnight hoping that the next day I'll do something to fix it. In fact, I followed a recipe that didn't turn at all the way it was described, so I corrected it myself by adding some gelatine. This costed me the next day half an hour more rest (per each layer) in the fridge for the strawberry layer to harden.
The white cream was the most simple to do and there I was for the decoration. A total invention on the spot. I had in mind some strawberry cakes with nice patterns but I simply followed my instinct and it turned as you can see.
Being a light cake, it was eaten in less time than the cooking one. Not so sweet and with such a spring fruity flavor inspired by strawberries. Needless to say what a perfect taste it had... you'll have to try it to be convinced.
Happy Birthday, my sweet son!
Ingredients:
Sponge cake:
- 200g all purpose flour
- 6 eggs
- 200g sugar
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- a pinch of salt
Strawberry filling:
- 1kg of frozen strawberries (defrosted, but could be fresh as well)
- 4 tablespoons of sugar
- 6 gelatin sheets
White filling cream:
- 500g whipping cream
- 500g mascarpone
- 200g powder sugar
+300g of strawberries for decoration
+300g of chopped strawberries to hide inside the cake.
Directions:
- Prepare first the sponge cake. It can be done in advance, even the day before:
- Separate the egg whites and beat them until they foam.
- Add the sugar and continue to mix until the sugar is incorporated and the foam looks shiny.
- Add the salt and the yolks and mix on the slowest speed of the mixer.
- At the end, add the olive oil and mix gently.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 180ºC for 30 minutes in a round 25cm pan on which you lay a baking paper.
- Let it cool completely on a wired rack before cutting it.
- Prepare the strawberry filling:
- Transform the defrosted strawberries in puree using a blender.
- Put them in a pan under medium heat, add the sugar and cook them for 30 minutes, steering from time to time.
- Remove the pan from heating.
- Moist the gelatin sheets in water for 5 minutes.
- Add the gelatin sheets into the strawberry pure while still warm and gently mix with a spatula.
- While cooling, prepare the white cream.
- Prepare the white filling:
- Mix the mascarpone with powdered sugar.
- Foam the whipping cream with a mixer.
- Add the mascarpone into the whipping cream while reducing the speed of the mixer to minimum.
- Cut the sponge cake into 3 layers.
- Arrange the cake in the following way in a spring form:
- one sponge cake
- one third of the strawberry puree. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes if you want a clear layer, if not it will just moist the sponge cake that is very fine as well.
- one thirds of the white filling cream
- a hand of chopped strawberries
- repeat the above for the second layer and for the third layer, on top of the sponge cake add only the strawberry puree.
- Put the entire cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Open the pan, and with the remaining white cream decorate the borders.
- Cut in 2 or in slices the strawberries for decoration and be creative to make a nice cake top.
Recipe inspired from here.
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