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Le Fraisier Cake

This is a delicious cake made with chiffon, mousseline cream, strawberries and marzipan.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour 40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Servings: 8
Calories: 0.5kcal
Cost: $5

Equipment

  • 6" Cake ring, 2" high
  • 4" Acetate cake collar

Ingredients

==Chiffon Cake==

Liquids

  • 6 g Lemon Juice (1 tsp)
  • 28 g Canola Oil (1oz)
  • 28 g Egg Yolks (1oz)
  • 32 g Water
  • ¼ tsp Vanilla Extract

Dry ingredients

  • 57 g Cake Flour (2oz)
  • ½ tsp Baking Powder
  • 47 g Sugar

Egg Whites

  • 57 g Egg Whites (2oz) - approx. 2 eggs
  • 25 g Sugar
  • sprinkle Cream of Tartar

==Vanilla Crème Mousseline==

Milk-sugar mixture

  • 247 g Milk
  • 40 g Sugar
  • 1 Vanilla Bean, scraped

Starch-sugar-yolk mixture

  • 40 g Sugar
  • 20 g Corn starch
  • 70 g Egg Yolk Approximately 3 eggs
  • 200 g Unsalted Butter Room temperature

==Marzipan==

  • 100 g Marzipan
  • 5 drops Food coloring Green or red is typical

==Strawberries==

  • 15-20 Stemmed, cored fresh strawberries

Instructions

Make the chiffon cake

  • Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar into the lemon juice, oil, yolk, water and vanilla until smooth.
  • Whip the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar into medium peaks.
  • Mix the whipped eggs ⅓ at a time into the cake batter until smooth.
  • Place 265g of batter into a 6" cake pan with parchment liner and no grease. Bake at 330°F for about 40 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Place the cake inverted on a paper towel and cooling rack until room temperature. Then de-pan and slice the cake into two layers.

Make the Crème Mousseline

  • Bring the milk, vanilla bean (scraped) and sugar to a boil.
  • Mix the sugar, starch and egg yolks together. Pour in about ⅕ of the boiling milk and stir well to temper the eggs. Pour this back into the pot.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil and then cook for about 2 minutes while mixing constantly.
  • Turn off the heat and add 1 stick of room temperature butter and mix thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and allow to cool to room temperature.
  • Add the remaining 87g of room temperature butter and whip on high speed until light, airy and creamy.

Assemble the cake

  • Place the 6" metal cake ring on a cardboard base. Insert the 4" acetate cake collar. Place one layer of chiffon cake inside.
  • Add halved strawberries along the edge, cut portion facing the acetate strip. Then fill the entire base with strawberries.
  • Pipe in 95% of the crème mousseline until all strawberries are covered.
  • Add the second half of the chiffon cake on top and pipe on a crumb coat with the remaining crème mousseline.
  • Roll out 100g of marzipan which has been colored with about 5 drops of food coloring as desired. Make sure to roll out chilled marzipan and use powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Cut out a 6" marzipan ring using the same cake collar used for the cake assembly. Place the disc in the refrigerator for 15 minutes so it firms up before applying to the cake. Apply to top of cake. Use a damp paper towel to smooth the top and give a shiny appearance.
  • Place on gold cakeboard and garnish with other fruits as desired. Refrigerate for up to 3 days. Do NOT freeze this cake.