Strawberry Fraise Cake – Samantha Matete

Samantha says ” Last Christmas it was my turn to do the Christmas luncheon and pudding. I wanted to something along the lines of a trifle but abit more special.

So I went googling and came across a french cake called Strawberry Fraisier cake. It still had the basic idea and similar ingredients to a trifle I thought so I bravely set out to make and it was a success! Fraisier is a French cake composed of custard cream and strawberries sandwiched between two layers of sponge cake covered with raspberry jelly.
I slightly adapted it to compensate for food allergies. Its gluten and dairy free!

So here’s my recipe for Strawberry Fraisier Cake.”

Step I: Sponge Cake
3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
¾ cup maize cornflour (not wheaten)
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180 °C.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff using an electric beater. Beat in egg yolks.
Add sugar gradually and beat in a figure 8 motion until the mixture forms stiff peaks (the mixture should hold a figure 8).
Sift together cornflour, baking powder and salt and fold into the wet mixture. Mix until well blended.
Grease two 20-cm (8 inch) sandwich pans and line with baking paper.
Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and bake for about 20 minutes.
Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Step 2: Boozy Strawberry Syrup
1 can of strawberries in syrup
1/4 cup of alcohol

Drain liquid from can into a small sauce pan, reserving the strawberries in a bowl.
Bring liquid to a gentle simmer and reduce by a third.
Remove from heat and let cool then mix in the alcohol and set aside.

Step 3: Custard Creme
3 tbsp custard powder
3 tsp sugar
3 cups soy milk

Put custard powder and sugar into a saucepan.
Mix to a smooth paste with 1/2 cup of the measured milk.
Add the remaining milk and stir to combine.
Gently heat until almost boiling.
Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens.

Step 4: Fresh Strawberries
2 punnets of strawberries
Wash and cut ends off strawberries then cut them in half.

Step 5: Assembling Fraisier
Cut the cake horizontally into 2 equal layers.
Lay one layer down on the bottom of the spring form pan lined with gladwrap.
Brush with sugar syrup generously.
Spread a thin layer of custard over the sponge.
Line the edge of the cake pan with halved strawberries of similar height then distribute the remaining strawberries around the cake pan evenly.
Spread the remaining custard over the strawberries; ideally, they should be completely covered.
Tap the plate gently on the worktop to settle in the custard.
Brush the other half of sponge with the remaining strawberry syrup.
Place in fridge for an hour to let the custard firmly set.

Step 6: Jelly Topping
1 packet of strawberry flavour jelly crystals
reserved canned strawberries

Mix jelly crystals with boiling hot water until dissolved.
Let cool but not to setting point.
Mix in strawberries.
Remove cake from fridge and pour over the jelly.
Evenly arrange the strawberries around on top.
Place in the fridge again to let the jelly firmly set.

Note: You will see in the photo that I have lined my cake tin with cardboard as I wasn’t sure my cake tin would be high enough. Turns out it was, just! but its best to be safe than sorry!

So there you go my first attempt at making a celebratory cake!!! I was very proud!