Tuesday, June 19, 2012

BWJ - French strawberry cake




I am back in Oz after spending 2 1/2 weeks on the West Coast of the United States. If you thought that I was unusually quiet, this is the explanation. I had a marvellous time on my vacation, and I will share parts of it with you in due course.  It was bright and sunny and warm on the West Coast, and I have returned to miserable, cold weather, and have already contracted a cold. I would love to go back to that beautiful weather, if only I could, but alas, it is a beautiful fantasy, and I have to resign myself to reality.    

This week for Baking with Julia, our recipe brought back images of childhood, when in summer, my mother would bake sponge cake and fill it with cream and strawberries.  Our recipe was French strawberry cake, based on a French sponge, the genoise, and filled with two layers of strawberries and cream, and smothered in more cream.  My kitchen smelt devine after I baked this!

Step by step, you start with a plain genoise:



You then split the genoise into three layers and fill them with mashed strawberries:



and lashings of freshly whipped cream:


and end up with something like this:


then smother it all in whipped cream:


And when you are ready, you cut yourself a generous slice, and admire the layers: 


To see what the other BWJ members thought of this cake, visit the LYL section of the BWJ website.

19 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great vacation!
    This week's recipe was a tasty one, for sure.

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  2. I'm glad you had a good trip! And this cake looks very impressive. I don't like cream but could imagine a variation with a yoghurt-y filling working well. The fresh strawberries are great (much better than jam!).

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  3. Those look heavenly! Great flavors and wonderful texture.

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  4. Oops, my comment didn't stick. Brava to you for cutting 3 layers...I will be braver next time! Glad you enjoyed your holiday...feel better soon, my friend~

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  5. Welcome home! I so enjoyed meeting you in SF;-)
    Your strawberry cake looks perfect! It's always good to get back in the kitchen after a vacation and it looks like this was a challenging but enjoyable cake to make!

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  6. It would be wonderful to be on the west coast right now! Your cake looks great. I haven't seen many who tried the three layers, myself included. Congratulations on yours:)

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  7. Looks great! Thanks for the process photos.

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  8. Glad to hear you had a good holiday! I remember sponge cake with strawberries and cream from my childhood too. Can't beat it!

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  9. Your cake looks like it came out perfect with perfect crumb…my first try was a failure! Very lovely!!

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  10. Looks good to me! It is nice to have such memories of your mom's cooking.

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  11. Glad you had a nice trip. Your cake looks great!

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  12. I am so sorry to hear that you have a cold now! :( I hope you are feeling better and I am glad you are back safe and sound. You missed the unbearable 105 degree day we had this weekend. ;)

    Your cake rose beautifully! I need more practice making genoise, but we did enjoy the flavor and it was an interesting technique for sure.

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  13. This looks so good! My life is crazy with kids and grandkids. I'll bake this yummy looking cake soon.

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  14. Welcome back Cakelaw! :D And that cake looks amazing. In fact, it's like those magical cakes from your childhood which was all cream and strawberries!

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  15. Another three-layer cake - kudos! I ended up with just one sad little layer.

    Sounds like your holiday was wonderful - good thing you didn't make it up the coast as far as Vancouver. We've been having so much rain lately. Seems to be over now (fingers crossed).

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  16. that sounds like a lovely cake - does it improve with sitting for a day or so and get lovely and soft with the cream?

    glad to hear your holiday went well - you have returned to some foul weather here - So Much Rain!

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  17. looks like a perfect cake for a cup of tea! :)

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  18. So many people had such a time with this recipe that I sort of thought I wouldn't make it, but yours is gorgeous and it sounds like it behaved just fine for you. I'm going for it soon. Too bad about your cold...not fun. Happy to hear you had a great time in the US. I wish my part of the US had such wonderful attractions to lure you here...alas, not so much maybe as the big cities can offer. And I am smack ab in the middle of the country so no easy way in or out. But come anyway, okay?

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Thanks for dropping by!