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:

Credit: Pasticceria Sinatra

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