Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake
By: Deeba Rajpal
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 2:49am

Ingredients




Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake
Sponge
6 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 cup vanilla sugar, divided into 2 bowls
Bavarian Cream Filling
4 egg yolks
 cup vanilla sugar
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup + 3 tbsps milk
1 1/4 tablespoons gelatin (reduce to 1 tbsp if you use high fat cream)
400 m cream (25% fat)
400 grams strawberries (Reserve some for garnishing)
Dark Chocolate Ganache Topping:
150 grams dark chocolate
3 tablespoons cream. (I eyeball the amounts. We just need enough for the top.)

Preparation

1 Sponge / Method: 2 Separate the yolks and whites. 3 With clean beaters, whip the whites with 1/2 cup sugar until firm. Keep aside 4 Add the remaining sugar to the yolks and beat until tripled in volume or all the sugar has dissolved and the yolks are pale and creamy, about 8-10 minutes 5 Now add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and fold in gently so as not to release any beaten in air. Sift in half the flour and fold in gently, followed by 1/3 beaten whites, then remaining flour, and finally remaining beaten whites. Gently turn into prepared tin, and bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes until a tester comes out clean. 6 Remove from tin immediately, peel off parchment and cool completely on rack. 7 Bavarian Cream / Method: 8 Whisk the egg yolks with a balloon whisk with 1/3 cup of vanilla sugar until smooth. 9 Simmer 1/2 cup of milk and 200ml cream with 1 scraped vanilla bean, bean included. Turn off heat and allow to infuse for 30 minutes. 10 Bloom gelatin in 3 tbsps of cold milk 11 Put the pan back on simmer. Once the milk mixture comes to a boil, take it off the heat and whisk into the yolk mix, somewhat like in French pastry cream. 12 Return to a heavy bottom pan, and place on medium heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly. 13 Take off and whisk in bloomed gelatin. Strain and leave to cool. (You can quicken the cooling by stirring the bowl held over a bowl of ice.) 14 Once it is completely cooled, whip 200ml of cream with 1-2 tbsps of Castor sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and fold it into the custard gently but thoroughly. You will notice the Bavarian thickening. 15 While the custard is cooling, slice the sponge into two, and gently paint with some sugar syrup with a little lime juice added. This moistens the sponge a bit. 16 Place the lower layer on your serving platter within a cake/dessert ring. Arrange chopped strawberries and cover with the cooled Bavarian cream, which will be held within the mold. Place the top layer over it, and gently push over cream to level it. Cling wrap the entire thing, and chill for 8 hours, preferably overnight for the Bavarian to set. 17 Unmold gently the next day. 18 Ganache /Method 19 Whisk with a spoon till smooth and shiny. Leave to cool. It will thicken as it cools. Use it before it becomes too firm or it will be difficult to spread smoothly. 20 Assembling: 21 Unmold the cake onto a serving platter. Top with ganache, chocolate shavings and reserved strawberries. 22 Border with chocolate lace if desired.

About


This year I was spoilt for choice since I had 2 boxes of delicious strawberries on hand as they are just showing up in the market. Also have been fortunate enough to receive many new baking books I was itching to try out, and exciting dessert ideas off blogs and web sites. This is what the holiday season does to you; spoils you with so much visible eye candy, that you want to try everything at once. Strawberries in the market doesn't seem to make it simpler, just widens the horizon!
My cake was inspired in spirit by Summertime Strawberry Cake by Roland Meisner.
I tried a new form of cake decoration this time ... a white chocolate piped border. The white chocolate we get here doesn't melt as easily and smoothly as the dark chocolate, so it wasn't a very easy task. I managed something anyway, and I've included a how-to on my blog post. I have done it many times thereafter. It works beautifully.

Comments:
Abigail Blake

One of the most beautiful cakes I've ever seen.
Helen Pitlick

Agreed- piping white chocolate may be a challenge, but it adds such a wonderful touch of extra elegance!
tamie tyra

I am in love with the concept of this recipe and will be attempting this over the weekend for my niece's 21st birthday! Will let you know how it goes! Thanks for posting your recipe!
tekercselés

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