Strawberry cake is a pastry made from strawberries, sponge cake, mousseline cream and often covered with a thin layer of almond paste (mostly pink). It can also be made from diplomat cream to obtain a more airy texture. This is what I would do to not load my cake with butter and I will replace the strawberries with mango because my niece doesn’t like strawberries…

The history of strawberry cake dates back to a cake created by Auguste Escoffier at the end of the 19th century. This initial version was then modified by different French pastry chefs. For my part, who makes videos, I will preserve the structure with the sponge cake soaked in passion fruit syrup, the diplomatic cream flavored with Tahitian vanilla and I will replace the strawberries with mango and the layer of dough almond with a mango brunoise.

Special utensils

• 1 mixing bowl, an electric whisk and ice cubes to whip the whipped cream
• A marise or spatula, a small strainer.
• A rolling pin to roll out the almond paste.
• A container for the bain-marie and circles 22 cm in diameter and 2 cm in height and baking paper.

Ingredients for the revisited strawberry cake

A sponge cake for 3 circles of 22 cm in diameter and 2 cm in height

• 5 whole eggs
• 150 g of caster sugar
• 65 g of flour (type 55)
• 75 g cornstarch

Diplomat cream

• 500 g of milk.
• 90 g of egg, including 3 egg yolks (to make my cream smoother).
• 50 g of flour or cornstarch
• 1 Tahitian vanilla pod or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.
• 70 g of sugar. (for me, that’s enough, but you can add a little more depending on taste.)
• 2 sheets of gelatin
• 200 g of liquid cream with 30% fat pre-cooled in the freezer for 12 min.
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar, or approximately 6 g

Passion fruit syrup

• 140 g of water
• 140 g of sugar
• 2 passion fruit (passion fruit/water/sugar ratio is simple: It’s 1 passion fruit for 70g of sugar for 70g of water minimum).
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Fruit and almond paste for assembly

• 2 mangoes in brunoise
• 200 g of almond paste

Preparation of passion fruit syrup

• Before starting my sponge cake, I made a passion fruit syrup. To do this, I poured the water and sugar into my saucepan, brought it to the boil for a few minutes, added the inside of my passion fruit with the seeds and a teaspoon of lemon.
• After a few minutes, I turned off the heat, passed my syrup through a strainer to remove the seeds and let everything cool with a sheet of parchment paper on top. I reserve the syrup.

Preparation of the sponge cake for the strawberry cake

• Butter, molds and baking papers and set aside in the refrigerator.
• Mix the sugar and whole eggs in a bain-marie.
• Whisk the mixture for a few minutes until you obtain a thick, bleached and foamy mixture which has tripled in volume, then continue to whisk out of the bain-marie until cooled.

• Gently incorporate the sifted flour with a « Maryse » or spatula so that the aerated mixture does not collapse. Technique that I use: I pour a little flour in a fine rain, I turn the spatula on itself at the edge of the bowl and we bring the spatula from the edge towards the center and I start this gesture again, turning the bowl on it -even 1/4 turn (see tip)
• Once all the flour and starch have been gently incorporated.
• Pour the dough about 1 cm high into the molds and bake in a preheated oven, ventilated heat and high and low plate, at 170 °C, for 7 min. Cook the sponge cakes without wasting time, as the mixture could fall off.
• You can stick a knife blade into the cake to check the cooking if in doubt. The blade should come out dry.
• Let the sponge cake cool for strawberry cake.

Preparation of the diplomat cream

• I pour my egg and the sugar into the « mixing bowl ».
• I cut my vanilla pod in half and remove all the seeds. I put everything in my milk (pod and seeds).
• I blanch the mixture with a whisk.
• Once blanched, I add the flour and continue to mix with a whisk until I obtain a homogeneous mixture without lumps.
• I bring the milk to the limit of boiling.
• I hydrate my gelatin in a bowl of cold water while I make my cream.
• As soon as the milk is hot, I pour it in two batches into the « mixing bowl », removing the vanilla pods. I’m still mixing.
• I pour my mixture into the saucepan and cook it for about 2 minutes over medium heat, without stopping mixing, until it boils, then I stop cooking when the mixture has thickened.
• Once cooking is finished, I add my softened gelatin and wrung out of the heat, mix well and pour my cream into a cold dish.
• I mix with a whisk until it cools.
• When the cream is cold, I film it on contact and keep it cool.
• I make a whipped cream by whisking heavy cream of 30% fat on a bed of ice cream and adding a packet of vanilla sugar. I reserve.
• After at least 3 hours, I mix to make the pastry cream more supple and I delicately integrate the whipped cream with Maryse.

Preparation of vanilla flavored whipped cream

• While the sponge cake cools, put our utensils and the liquid cream in the freezer for 12 minutes.
• Fill a large salad bowl with ice cubes in which you will place a smaller container to beat the cream.
• Initially, whisk from bottom to top, then when it starts to thicken, whisk down and in circles for absolute effectiveness.
• Add the vanilla sugar.
• Stop as soon as the cream is compact and reserve it

Assembling the strawberry cake

• Prepare a mango brunoise.
• Spread the almond paste into a rectangular strip. Width = cake height (6 cm) and length = cake circumference (72 cm).
• I soak my 3 mini sponge cakes in passion fruit syrup.
• Stack the layers of sponge cake soaked in syrup, interspersed with mango brunoise and vanilla diplomat cream.
• On top of the cake, put only the mango brunoise protected with lemon juice for decoration or cut the mangoes according to your imagination.
• Cover the outline of the strawberry cake with a strip of almond paste flattened with a rolling pin.

Tips & advice for strawberry cake

• Theoretically for a plain sponge cake, for each egg, we multiply the quantity of sugar and the quantity of flour by 30.
• For information: for 4 eggs, I use a 22 cm mold with a removable base, and I obtain a sponge cake about 4 – 5 cm high.
• Density of products used for this type of aerial biscuit: wheat flour (or durum wheat) has a density of approximately 120-130 g/l (grams per liter). This means that 1 liter of wheat flour weighs approximately 120-130 grams. Cornstarch (or corn) has a density of approximately 80-90 g/l. This means that 1 liter of cornstarch weighs around 80-90 grams. Rice starch: 60-70 g/l.
• To prevent a film from forming on the surface of the pastry cream, cover it with a film on contact before putting it in the refrigerator.
• Drizzle the mangoes with lemon to prevent them from blackening.
• To cook the 3 sponge cakes, I used 2 plates from my oven; a sponge cake on each plate. I let the sponge cake on the bottom plate cook a little longer. After 6 min check the color and cooking with a knife blade. I left the dough from the last sponge cake covered for 10 minutes in the refrigerator while I cooked the first two because I only had 2 molds.
• If possible cook all the sponge cakes at the same time, as the mixture may fall off…
• Leave the cake for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator before eating it.

Whipped cream and whipped cream: THE COLD

• Cold cream is denser and heavier than hot cream, meaning it contains more fat and less water. This makes it easier to whisk and whip.
• The cold temperature helps preserve the structure of the cream molecules, which helps create larger, more stable air bubbles. This makes it easier for the meringue to form and allows the cream to rise more quickly.
• The cold also reduces the viscosity of the cream, meaning it is less resistant and whips more easily.

For this revisited birthday strawberry cake, I slightly increased the proportions of my classic sponge cake to be able to use 3 molds of 22 cm in diameter instead of a large mold of 22 cm in diameter and 5 cm in height. I calculated the ingredients again with 5 eggs and then I obviously reduced the cooking time to 7 minutes instead of 20 minutes.

Original ideas for this strawberry cake (Antho’s corner)

1. Use mousseline cream instead of diplomat cream.
2. Change fruits and aromas
3. Change the presentation on the cake.