The strawberry season is just around the corner, and I'm always looking for new ideas for fruit cakes. This year this torte has jumped to the first place of the season's cakes !! Not only it looks beautiful but it tastes great. It is light and delicious and it's hard to stop after one piece;) It is made on the basis of Genoise sponge, which is incredibly fluffy, soft and retains moisture for a long time. Together with strawberries and yogurt cream, the taste is amazing and the look will attract the most demanding eye.
Ingredients
18x18 cm tin
Sponge cake: 310-315g eggs 150g sugar flat teaspoon of salt 40g honey half a teaspoon of vanilla extract 60g milk 150g of sponge flour 40g corn or potato starch 60g melted butter Cream: 600ml double cream 150g of natural or Greek type yogurt 50g sugar
half a teaspoon of vanilla extract 600g strawberries Other fruit to decorate as desired
Methode:
To make this cake I used a Genoise sponge - it requires a bit more work than a regular sponge - but it's really worth the extra effort, because the effect is great !! The sponge is very fluffy and soft as a real sponge, and it also stays moist for longer and almost does not need to be soaked with syrup. If you want to use a different sponge - no problem - it's not the main hero here - the strawberries are;)
Grease the tin walls with butter line it with baking paper.
Remove all ingredients from the fridge at least an hour earlier - they must be at room temperature or even warmer.
Put the whole eggs in a large bowl, add sugar, salt and honey - mix thoroughly.
Prepare a water bath - you can put boiling water in a smaller bowl and put a bowl with eggs on it, so that the bottom touches the water, or you can boil the water in a pot and put the bowl with eggs on top so that only steam heats it from below. Place the bowl with eggs on the water bath and stirring all the time wait until the egg mixture reaches a temperature of 40-42 oC.
Remove the bowl from the water bath and start whipping with a mixer. After about 3 minutes of whipping - when the foam begins to change its color to lighter - add vanilla extract. Keep whisking for at least 5 minutes. The foam is ready for the next stage when it reaches the consistency of thick cream, or when after removing the whisk you can write a letter on top, and it is visible for about a minute - it does not immediately fall into the dough. (if in doubt please check the video)
Heat the milk to a temperature of about 40-45oC. Pour slowly preferably over a spoon or spatula so that it does not run straight to the bottom of the bowl. Mix thoroughly with the rest of the foam.
Add flour in at least two batches - each time sieve it into a bowl with foam. Stir thoroughly so that no dry flour remains. Do this gently so that the foam does not deflate.
Heat the butter to a temperature of 45-50oC. Put some foam into a bowl with butter and mix thoroughly. Then pour the butter foam into the rest of the batter and mix thoroughly to obtain a homogeneous mass - slowly so not to form too many air bubbles.
Preheat the oven to 175oC. Top and bottom heater.
Pour the batter into the tin and remove most air bubbles with a wooden stick. You can also drop the tin form couple of times gently on the worktop surface.
Put the tin in the oven and reduce the temperature to 165oC. Bake for 30 minutes - check with a wooden stick if ready.
After removing from the oven, the form should be dropped - to the ground or 2 times on the worktop from a small height - this will prevent the sponge from collapsing - this is not a joke - you really have to drop the cake;)
Remove the cake from the mold and set aside to cool.
Prepare the syrup for soaking. Add sugar and rum flavour to the glass with warm water - mix. Set aside to cool.
Prepare the cream. Pour cream into the bowl, add sugar and vanilla as well as yogurt. Whip the cream - not completely stiff - we want the cream to be easily spreadable.
Prepare strawberries - cut the stalks and cut in half.
After the sponge has cooled off, remove the paper from it and cut it into 3 even layers - cut away the very top very thinly.
Sprinkle the bottom layer with syrup - as desired. Put a little cream on it and spread as a thin layer. To make all layers equal, it is worth using something to measure the amount of cream used - I use an ice cream scoop. Arrange the strawberries - first around the edges of the cake the thicker side outside, then fill the centre of the cake. (if in doubt, please check the video) Cover the strawberries with more cream and spread thoroughly to cover the strawberries. Spreading gently press the cream - to fill the spaces between the fruits. Apply another layer of sponge cake and repeat what you did with the first part.
Apply the last layer of sponge cake - this layer can be soaked a little harder so that it is easier to cut through so not to crush the fruit. Apply a thin layer of cream and even out the top. Put in a fridge for 4-5 hours or overnight.
After removing from the fridge, cut off very thin edges of the cake with a very sharp knife to reveal beautiful layers.
Decorate the cake using the same cream and piping bag with any nozzle of your choice. Arrange the selected fruit on top - I used kiwi, strawberry, blueberry and apricot - for a variety of colors.
Enjoy!!