So here comes the cake! I created it for the first time for our wedding anniversary. I wanted to cook something special so I asked Klaus what would he like to have. Well, you have to know that in Finland there is a dessert called mansikkakakku (strawberry cake) that consists in a bottom (ready made or homemade), whipped cream and strawberries.
Now, that in Italy this wouldn’t be called cake because just whipped cream by itself is used only in decorations or in this kind of pastry:
That’s why I never understood his passion for this cake-no-cake since whipped cream hasn’t enough flavor to make a real cake filling. Anyways now I understand why Klaus loves this kind of dessert: it has to be viewed as a way to eat fresh strawberries. They play a key role, without them there would be no cake at all. So, if in summertime a Finnish family would receive unexpected visitors or if they would have just picked fresh strawberries from a field, that’s exactly what they would do. And of course, coffee would go with it.
So I decided to make my own version of this mansikkakakku, getting closer to the Italian standards of cake.
The bottom is moist and firm, due to the whipping of the egg whites. The cream is full of flavor, thanks to the mascarpone cheese and the lemon zest.
It’s also very easy to make, but still aesthetically beautiful.
Strawberry blueberry cake
Preparation time: 20 min |
Cooking time: 25 min |
Serves: 8 people |
Ingredients
For the bottom (makes one 7 inches cake):
- 3 eggs
- 30 g potato starch
- 50 g flour
- 100 g sugar
- 30 g butter (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
- Half a teaspoon baking soda
- Half a teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
For the filling:
- 200 ml heavy cream
- 250 g mascarpone cheese
- Zest of one lemon
- 30 g icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
For decoration:
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Icing sugar
- Orange juice
Instructions:
Cake:
- Separate the egg yolks and whites
- Whip the egg yolks with butter, sugar and vanilla sugar
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt till they will be so foamy and firm that they wouldn’t fall even if you would turn the bowl upside down
- With a rubber spatula, fold gently the whipped egg whites and yolks with with a circular movements from the bottom of the bowl towards you
- Sieve the dry ingredients (potato starch, flour, baking soda and baking powder)
- Add slowly the dry ingredients to the creamy mix, continuing to fold from down to up in circular movements
- Add a piece of baking paper to the bottom of the springform pan and butter the edges (if you have a normal cake pan just butter the all pan and sprinkle some flour)
- Pour the dough to the pan and bake in oven at 180 for 25 min
Filling and assembling:
- Whip the cream till firm consistence
- Add the mascarpone cheese, the lemon zest and the sugars to the cream and continue whipping until creamy compound
- When the bottom will be cool, cut it in half horizontally
- Place one bottom disk on a serving plate and moist it with some orange juice
- Put half of the filling on the top of the disk, level it and add strawberries and blueberries as much as you feel like
- Repeat the procedure with the second disk, the filling and the berries
- Dust with icing sugar