Strawberry cake

Fraisier carré

Strawberry cake made of

– sponge cake
– mousseline cream
– fresh strawberries
– almond paste
– strawberry jelly

Material used
– 15 x 15 cm square pastry frame
– Elbowed spatula to spread the sponge cake mixture
– Roller to spread the almond paste
– A whisk
– A maryse

For the sponge cake
– 4 eggs 🥚
-110 g sugar
-55 g flour
-55 g cornstarch

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, place this in a double boiler and whisk until it reaches 55°C. Pour into the bowl of the processor and whisk until completely cooled. The mixture will double in volume. Then sift in the flour and cornstarch. Stir delicately with a maryse.

Pour onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Spread the preparation with an angled spatula. Bake in a preheated oven at 210°C, then immediately lower the temperature to 180°C for about 10 minutes (time may vary depending on the oven, remove as soon as the sponge cake has a nice golden color).

After cooling, cut out two identical rectangles slightly smaller than your pastry frame (15X15cm). With these proportions, you will have some sponge cake left.

 

For the mousseline cream
– 480 g milk
– 100 g sugar
– 4 egg yolks
– 20 g flour
– 160 g butter
– 20 g cornstarch
– liquid vanilla or better vanilla bean
– 160 g of butter

Heat the milk and vanilla in a saucepan.

In a bowl, mix the yolks, sugar, flour and cornstarch. Pour in the hot milk, stir and return to the saucepan. Stir until the cream thickens. Remove from heat, add 160g of diced butter and blend. Filter and let the cream cool.

In the bowl of a food processor, whip the remaining 160g of butter into a cream. Then add the cream muslin that has cooled to room temperature. Mix and set aside for assembly.

For the syrup
30g powdered sugar
30g of water

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan. Stop the heat and add a little alcohol (kirsch or rum for example). Set aside.

Assembly
Place your pastry frame on your plate. Place a rhodoïd film. Arrange strawberries cut in half all around. Place the first sponge cake on the bottom. Soak it with syrup using a brush. Poach some cream muslin, some cut strawberries, some cream, the second sponge cake soaked with syrup and finish with a little cream. Smooth and set aside in a cool place. With the remaining cream and sponge cake I was able to make a smaller strawberry cake.

Spread the almond paste between two sheets of parchment paper. Using different sized sockets, make holes. Place the pastry on your strawberry tree. Roll it out using the edges of your pastry frame.

Strawberry jelly
Heat 40 g of strawberry puree with a little water and sugar. Add 1 leaf of gelatine, wrung out, off the heat. Stir to mix. Filter with a fine sieve to eliminate the seeds. Let cool a little. Fill the holes with the strawberry jelly. With the remaining jelly, I made small cubes of jelly that I put on the strawberry cake.