Fresh strawberries, creamy vanilla pastry cream and light whipped cream sandwiched between fluffy sponge cake layers. This take on the classic fraisier cake is creamy and refreshing!
Author:Catherine Zhang
Prep Time:60 minutes
Cook Time:75 minutes
Total Time:2 hours 15 minutes
Yield:7 inch cake 1x
Category:Cake
Method:Intermediate
Cuisine:French
Ingredients
Scale
Sponge
15g Unsalted butter (1 tbsp)
30g Vegetable oil (2 tbsp1 tsp)
40g Milk (2 tbsp2 tsp)
30g White sugar (I) (2 tbsp1 tsp)
70g Plain flour (1/2 cup2 tsp)
3 Eggs
60g White sugar (II) (1/2 cup1 tsp)
Vanilla Pastry Cream
200g Milk (3/4 cup4 tsp)
100g White sugar (1/2 cup)
16g Cornstarch or cornflour ( 2 tbsp)
1 Egg yolk
1/2 tsp Vanilla paste
20g Unsalted butter (1 1/2 tbsp)
Stabilised Whipped Cream
450g Thickened/Heavy cream (2 cups)
1/4 tsp Gelatine
1 tbs Cold water
50g White sugar (1/4 cup)
Assembly
500g Fresh strawberries, evenly sized (17 oz)
Instructions
Sponge
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan forced
Line the bottom of a 8-inch cake tin
In a medium sized bowl whisk the egg yolks
In a small saucepan heat the milk, oil, butter and sugar (I) over low heat until melted
While whisking pour the milk mixture into the egg yolks and whisk until smooth
Sift the flour into the egg yolk mixture and mix until combined
In another bowl whip the egg whites with sugar (II) until stiff peaks
In three additions fold the meringue into the egg yolk mixture, being careful not to deflate the bubbles
Transfer the batter to the cake tin
Place the cake tin in a water bath (a tray/tin of boiling water) and bake for 60 minutes
Turn the oven off and leave in the oven for 15 minutes
Once cooled run a knife around the edge of the cake tin and invert the pan
Wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge until assembly
Vanilla Pastry Cream
Heat milk in a small saucepan over low heat until steaming
Combine egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla in a medium sized bowl and whisk
Add the heated milk to the egg mixture and whisk
Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and heat on low heat while stirring constantly
Continue to stir until thickenedÂ
Remove from heat and stir in butter
Transfer to a small bowl and cover with cling wrap, pressing the cling wrap to the surface of the pastry cream
Chill
Once chilled, whisk to smoothen it out and transfer to a piping bag
Stabilised Whipped Cream
Combine gelatine and water in a small bowl and set aside to bloom for 5 minutes
Combine the cream and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until soft peaks
Heat the gelatine mix in the microwave for 20 seconds, or until just melted
Add a spoonful of cream to the melted gelatine and mix until smooth and well combined
With the stand mixer on medium speed add the gelatine-cream mix and whisk until medium-stiff peaks are reached
Fill a piping bag and set side until it's ready to be used
Assembly
Remove the top caramelised layer of the sponge cake, then slice the cake into two thin layers
Trim the cake layers into 7-inch circles with the help of the cake ring
Line the cake ring with a strip of acetate (or baking paper if you don't have any)
Place a sheet of cake at the bottom of the ring and line the sides with halved strawberries, cut side facing the wall of the cake ring
Fill the gaps between the strawberries with whipped creamÂ
Pipe the pastry cream in the centre
Arrange whole strawberries flat bottom down on top of the pastry cream until the base of the cake is coveredÂ
Fill in the remaining gaps with whipped cream (make sure to leave some cream for the top of the cake) then top with the remaining cake layerÂ
Pipe on the remaining whipped cream and smooth it off with a spatulaÂ
Decorate with remaining strawberriesÂ
Place in the fridge to set for 3-4 hours, or overnight
Once set remove from the cake ring and carefully remove the acetate strip (or baking paper) before serving