Years ago, at a course with Chef Maurizio Santin, we learned how to make a modern cake with strawberries and a spritz flavor, very good but not suitable for all palates. I simplified it a bit and this is what I do in the spring when in Rome you can buy the wonderful Terracina strawberries.
Strawberry Cake
- Preparation time: 3 hours
- Ingredients for a 22 cm mold cake
- Difficulty: Average difficult recipe
- Ingredients
- For the sponge cake:
- 3 eggs
- 60 g of granulated sugar
- 60 g of all-purpose flour
- Zest of ½ organic lemon
- For the custard:
- 230 g of fresh cream
- 100 g of whole milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 40 g of sugar
- 1/2 vanilla pod
- For the vanilla cream:
- 330 g of custard
- 9 g of gelatin
- 330 g of whipped cream
- For the strawberry jelly:
- 270 g of strawberry pulp (I use the ones from Terracina which are very tasty)
- 42 g of honey
- 30 g of granulated sugar
- 5 g of gelatin
- For the syrup:
- 50 g of sugar
- 20 g of boiling water
- For the decoration:
- Strawberries to taste
- Strawberry jam to taste
- Instructions
- Prepare the sponge cake.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a bowl, break the eggs and add the sugar. Beat with an electric whisk for ten-fifteen minutes. The mixture should be frothy. Sift the flour a couple of times and add it to the mixture together with the lemon zest. Mix briefly until it is incorporated without forming lumps. Pour into a buttered and floured cake tin. Bake in the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes.
- Prepare the strawberry jelly. Soften the gelatine in cold water. Drain and squeeze it well. Heat a small part of the strawberry pulp with the sugar and dissolve the gelatine in it. Add the remaining pulp and the honey and pour it into an 18 cm silicone mold. Place in the freezer to solidify.
- Prepare the custard.
- In a saucepan, boil the cream and milk with the vanilla bean cut in half. In a saucepan, mix the egg yolks with the sugar, pour the boiling cream and milk over them and place on the heat, stirring continuously. When the cream veils the spoon, it is ready. Remove the vanilla bean.
- Put the gelatin in the water in a small cup. Drain and squeeze it well.
- Weigh the right amount of custard and add the gelatin. Blend with the immersion blender. Leave to cool. Finally, add the whipped cream in two or three times.
- Prepare a syrup. Add the boiling water to the sugar and mix.
- Remove the top crust of the sponge cake. Place it in an acetate ring. Soak the cake in the syrup. Take some strawberries from the basket and cut them in half. Create a crown of strawberries at the edges.
- Pour part of the vanilla cream. Put it in the freezer to freeze for about ten minutes. Finally remove the strawberry jelly from the silicone mold and put it in the cake. Complete with the remaining vanilla cream.
- Leave in the refrigerator for at least four hours.
- Before serving, remove the acetate and decorate it with the remaining strawberries brushed with some jam.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- If you want, you can add some liqueur to the syrup like limoncello (at that point it would be a good idea to add some grated lemon zest to the custard) or some rum or strawberry grappa.
- This cake can easily be left in the freezer. Then it will be defrosted in the refrigerator and before serving it is decorated with strawberries.
