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Fraisier Cake

Fresh strawberry cake | Fraisier Cake

This classic French cake is made with moist vanilla cake layers, filled with smooth mousseline cream and packed with tons of fresh strawberries.
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Course Dessert

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for the cake batter:

  • 3 large eggs
  • 110 g sugar
  • 50 g melted butter
  • 100 g flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 500 ml whole milk
  • 200 g sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 50 g cornstarch
  • 8 g gelatin powder
  • 50 ml water
  • 200 g softened butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 800-900 g fresh strawberries

Ingredients for the simple syrup:

  • 100 ml water
  • 100 g sugar
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C degrees.
  • Line the base of an 8-inch springform with parchment paper. Next, in a saucepan heat a little bit of water to create a water bath.
    In a stand mixer bowl combine the eggs, sugar and salt. Whisk to combine and place the bowl over the heating water. Keep whisking constantly until all the sugar has dissolved.
  • Remove the bowl from the heat and start whisking on the high speed of your mixer for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the egg mixture increases in volume and becomes light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and whisk on medium speed for another 2 minutes. If the mixture leaves a pattern on the surface, then it’s ready.
  • Next, sift in the flour. Using a spatula, very carefully stir the cake batter with upward movements. The last thing we need to add is the melted butter. Add about a tablespoon of cake batter into the melted butter, mix it and pour back into the bowl. Stir again to incorporate the butter.
  • Transfer the cake batter into a prepared baking pan, smooth the top with a spatula and bake at 350 F degrees for about 30 minutes.
    If you push on the baked cake it will spring right back. You can also check the readiness with a skewer or a toothpick. Inserted into the cake it should come out dry. Let the cake cool in the baking pan for about 5 minute or so, then run a knife between the cake and the baking pan. Take the ring part off, invert the cake and carefully take off the parchment paper from the bottom. Let the cake cool down.
  • In a saucepan combine the milk, sugar and vanilla paste. Whisk together and bring to a boil. The moment you can see the first boiling bubbles, take the saucepan off the heat.
  • Next, in a large mixing bowl combine the eggs with cornstarch and stir together until you get a smooth and even mixture without any lumps.
  • Then slowly drizzle in the hot milk while whisking. Strain the mixture back into the saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and cook while whisking continuously until thickened and slowly boiling.
  • Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the custard into a bowl. Cover the hot custard with a plastic wrap making sure that the plastic wrap is touching the whole surface. This is to prevent the custard from forming a skin on top. Let it cool to room temperature. To speed up the process, place the bowl with the custard into a larger bowl filled with iced water.
  • While everything is cooling down, let’s prepare the strawberries. I already rinsed them well in water and transferred them onto a paper towel. Now, using more paper towels is necessary to soak all the water, so that the strawberries are completely dry. Choose similar sized strawberries, cut off the green stalk and slice them in half.
  • Put the water, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring it to the boil and cook for about one minute or until all the sugar has dissolved. Pour the syrup into a glass and let it cool down.
  • My custard has cooled down to room temperature and now it’s time to finish the cake filling. Pour the gelatin powder into water and mix well. Let it sit for 15 minutes.
  • Place the butter into a mixing bowl and using a hand mixer whisk for about a minute. After the custard cooled down, it become thicker, so using a hand mixer give it a quick whisk.
    Add about half of the butter and whisk on the lowest speed of your mixer. Add the second half and whisk again. Don’t whisk to long, we just need to combine the butter and custard.
    Now we need to dissolve gelatin by microwaving it for 15 seconds. Add the liquid gelatin to the cake filling and mix well. Our filling is ready. Transfer it into a piping bag and set aside.
  • Using a cake leveler or a bread knife divide the cake into two layers.
    For assembling the cake, I will use the same 8-inch springform pan. I have already wrapped the ring part with plastic wrap and now I’ll also cover the bottom part with a piece of plastic wrap. Instead of using a plastic wrap for the ring part of the pan, you can use an acetate cake collar.
  • I will use an upside-down method of assembling the cake, but you can assemble any way you like. First, I arrange the strawberry halves facing cut-side up on the bottom. That way when I will flip the cake, I will see the red part of the strawberries on top. Another way is to arrange the strawberry halves facing cut-side down, that way you will see the middle part of the strawberries.
    Next, fill out the empty spaces between the strawberries with the cake filling, then cover all the strawberries with the cream and spread it with a spatula. Place the first cake layer on the top and press it down carefully. Using a brush, soak the cake layer with the simple syrup.
  • Squeeze out the filling along the edge of the pan. Arrange the strawberry halves with the pointy part down against the pastry ring. Add more filling in the middle and spread evenly using a spatula. I decided to spread some chopped strawberries, but you can also fill it with whole strawberries or don’t add them at all. Squeeze the rest of the filling on top and spread evenly using a spatula.
  • Cover with the second cake layer and soak with the simple syrup. Cover the cake with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
  • My cake spent a night in the refrigerator and now we can finish it up. Take the plastic wrap off, cover with a serving plate and flip it. Open the springform and carefully take it off. Decorate the cake with mint leaves if desired.

Notes

All the ingredients need to be at room temperature.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, heat the eggs in a large heat proof bowl until the sugar has dissolved, remove it from the heat and whisk it with a hand mixer for about 10-15 minutes.
I want to bring to your attention that the butter should also be at room temperature, so don’t forget to take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before you start making the filling.
You can assemble the cake any way you like.
Store the cake in the refrigerator up to 2 days.