Fraisier cake (French strawberry cake)
Fraisier cake, the French strawberry cake, consists of buttery sponge layers filled with incredibly delicious and silky Crème mousseline (pastry cream enriched with butter), a layer of refreshing strawberry compote, and the signature strawberry decoration around the cake.
Servings: 8
Calories: 483kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
For the 2 Sponge layers
- 75 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content, room temperature
- 75 g Powdered sugar sifted
- 2 Eggs room temperature
- 75 g All-purpose flour sifted
- Pinch of salt
Strawberry compote insert
- 200 g Strawberry use fresh or frozen strawberry
- 30 g Granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
- 2 Gelatin sheet 1.7g gelatin / sheet
Mousseline creme
- 500 g Whole milk
- 100 g Granulated sugar
- 80 g Egg yolk approx. yolk of 5 eggs
- 25 g Corn starch
- 25 g AP flour
- 2 Teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
- 100 g Unsalted butter soft - will be mixed into pastry cream straight after it is cooked
- 100 g Unsalted butter will be whipped into the pastry cream to make the mousseline cream
Strawberry jelly
- 150 g Strawberry pure use fresh or frozen strawberry
- 20 g Granulated sugar
- 2 Gelatin sheets 1.7g gelatin / sheet
Decoration on the side and top
- 7-8 fresh strawberries cut into halves side
- 2-3 fresh strawberries top
- edible flower top
Instructions
Start with the pastry cream
- In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, mix together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes
- Then, mix corn starch, flour, and vanilla into the egg yolk until throughly incorporated and have a smooth paste
- Bring milk to boil in a saucepan on medium heat then remove it as soon as it starts simmering. Make sure it is simmering but not crazy boiling, see my tips above
- Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely it is approximately 1 min after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, don't worry just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy
- If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump free, creamy end result.
- Add in room temperature soft butter and mix with a Rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth to add the butter in 3 stages and mix well after each addition.
- Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it cool
Sponges
- Continue with the sponge by pre-heating oven to 180 C / 356°F
- With the help of a Electric hand mixer beat together room temperature butter and powder sugar until pale then mix in eggs, one at a time, continue whipping
- Sift in flour and salt then fold with a Rubber spatula just until combined
- Grease two 18 cm / 7 inch round cake pan and pour the cake batter into them making sure that the volume of the cake batter is identical in both, use a Digital scale. Smooth the top with an Offset spatula
- Bake the sponge for 10 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
- Allow the sponge to cool completely on Cooling rack. Once cooled, trim one of the sponges to 16cm / 6inch, leave the other one as it is (18 cm / 7 inch)
Strawberry compote
- Continue with the strawberry compote insert by making strawberry puree, it is fine to leave in some strawberry pieces
- Soak gelatin sheets into cold water
- In a saucepan bring strawberry puree, sugar and lemon juice into boil, cook for a minute or two stirring constantly
- Squeeze excess water from gelatin and stir into the strawberry mixture
- Pour the strawberry compote into a 16 cm / 6 inch silicone round cake pan and place it into the freezer
- Once the strawberry insert almost fully set place the 16 cm / 6 inch sponge on top and freeze them together. When assembling the cake it is much easier to work with a frozen insert so make sure you don´t skip this step
Make the mousseline cream
- Crème mousseline can be made with room temp pastry cream and room temp butter. Make sure everything is at room temp otherwise the mixture might curdle
- Once pastry cream cooled to room temp, prepare the mousseline cream by whipping room temp butter first for 1-2 minutes. Start adding in the room temp pastry cream in 4 stages until cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture
- Do not over whip the mixture as it can become runny
Assembling the cake
- Assemble the Mousse cake ring (adjustable in size) and set it to 18cm / 7 inch
- For a neat looking, smooth side surface use Acetate cake collar
- Start to build up the cake from bottom to top. Place the larger sponge into the mousse ring then arrange the strawberry halves on top of the sponge tightly
- Fill a Piping bag with the mousseline cream and pipe cream on top of the sponge carefully and neatly filling the gaps in between the strawberry halves.
- Place the frozen strawberry insert on top (strawberry side down, sponge side up)
- Pipe the rest of the cream around and on top of insert. Smooth the top with an Offset spatula
- Chill the cake in the fridge for 2 hours for the mousseline cream to set
- Once cake set, make the strawberry jelly topping
- Soak gelatin sheets into cold water. In a saucepan bring strawberry pure and sugar into boil. Squeeze excess water from gelatin and stir into the strawberry puree
- Wait until the puree slightly cool, then pour it over the chilled cake
- Pop cake back to the fridge for 4 hours the jelly and entire cake to set
- Once cake fully sets carefully remove cake ring and acetate
- Decorate with fresh strawberries and edible flowers
- Store in fridge
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES:
- Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
- Good quality butter and pure vanilla are the heart of making the cream. Use high-quality 82% fat content European butter and the best quality vanilla you can access
- Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking.
- While baking the sponge layer, remember not to overbake it. Over baked sponge cake can become too dry
- While making Creme mousseline, it is crucial that both the pastry cream as well as the butter is at room temperature
- Make sure you do not open the cake tin before the cake actually sets
Nutrition
Calories: 483kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 230mg | Sodium: 76mg | Potassium: 201mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 1169IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 111mg | Iron: 1mg