A classic French strawberry cake: airy génoise with marzipan, rich vanilla crème pâtissière and a creamy crème mousseline with Italian meringue and kirsch, surrounding juicy fresh strawberries. A showstopper for a festive occasion, labour-intensive, but more than worth the effort.
Fraisier (French strawberry cake)
Fraisier (French strawberry cake)
Method
01
Génoise
Make a sablage of the marzipan, sugar and 10% of the egg; whisk and add the rest of the egg little by little. Fold in the flour, vanilla and melted butter to an airy mass. Pour onto a 30 × 40 cm tray and bake for approx. 17 min at 180 °C.
02
Crème pâtissière
Heat the milk with half of the sugar and the seeds of the vanilla pod. Whisk the eggs pale with the rest of the sugar, add the cornflour and sifted flour. Pour in some hot milk to loosen, put everything back in the pan and bring to the boil, stirring; cook for 2–3 min. Off the heat, stir in the butter and cool quickly between two sheets of cling film.
03
Italian meringue
Bring the water and sugar to the boil to 116–121 °C. Start whisking the egg whites as soon as the sugar reaches 110 °C. Pour the syrup in a thin stream into the three-quarters-whipped egg whites and continue whisking until the mixture has cooled.
04
Crème mousseline
Mix the crème pâtissière (at room temperature) with the soft butter. Carefully fold in the Italian meringue, followed by the kirsch and the seeds of the vanilla pod.
05
Syrup
Bring the sugar syrup and water to the boil, leave to cool and add the kirsch.
06
Assemble and serve
Cut the génoise into two layers to the size of the ring. Put one layer in, brush with syrup and a generous layer of mousseline. Stand the whole strawberries tightly together, add another layer of mousseline, then the second génoise; brush with syrup. Leave to set in the fridge and remove the ring (loosen the edge with a warm knife if necessary). Finish with a thin layer of glaze, strawberries, dots of mousseline and leaves of cress.
Tips & notes
Use evenly sized strawberries for the outer ring; that way the cake looks neat when you cut it. Work in a cool kitchen: the mousseline collapses quickly in the warmth, so keep the cake in the fridge between the steps.
Variations
- Replace the kirsch with another fruit liqueur such as Grand Marnier.
- Make individual little fraisiers in glasses for an easier presentation without a cake ring.
Contains:
Gluten
Eggs
Milk
Tree nuts
| Calories | 1058 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 13 g |
| Carbohydrates | 130 g |
| Fat | 53 g |
| Fibre | 1 g |
Estimated values, calculated from standard nutritional values per ingredient.
