Strawberry Charlotte cake (VIDEO)

Start with the pastry cream

In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, mix together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes

Mix in corn starch, flour, and vanilla until throughly incorporated and have a smooth paste

Bring milk to boil in a saucepan on medium heat then remove it as soon as it starts simmering. Make sure it is simmering but not crazy boiling, see my tips above

Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely it is approximately 1 min after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, don't worry just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy

If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump free, creamy end result.

Add in room temperature soft butter and mix with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth to add the butter in 3 stages and mix well after each addition.

Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it cool

Ladyfingers (if homemade)

Heat oven to 200 C / 392°F

Beat 4 egg yolks with half of the sugar (50g) until pale and fluffy and sugar fully dissolves, ideally in a stand mixer so it will get fully whipped

Using your stand mixer make the meringue. Whip egg whites with the other half of the sugar, adding the sugar in small amount at a time. Whip for about 5 minutes just until shiny stiff peaks.

While making meringue sift flour and corn starch into the egg yolk and fold carefully with rubber spatula just until combined. Mixture will become thick, that is normal

When the meringue is ready, mix ¼ of of with flour egg yolk mixture to loosen it up then fold in the rest of the meringue very carefully using a rubber spatula

Get your piping bag and Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip and pipe 28 equal sized finger shapes leaving enough space in between them.

Bake for 10 minutes. After baked, let them cool on Cooling rack

Strawberry coulis

In a saucepan cook strawberry puree, sugar and lemon juice for a few minutes untul slighylt thickens

Let the mixture cool to room temperature before using

Make the mousseline cream

Crème mousseline can be made with room temp pastry cream and room temp butter. Make sure everything is at room temp otherwise the mixture might curdle

Once pastry cream cooled to room temp, prepare the mousseline cream by whipping room temp butter first for 1-2 minutes. Start adding in the room temp pastry cream in 4 stages until cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture

Do not over whip the mixture as it can become runny

Assembling the cake

Assemble the mousse cake ring (adjustable in size) and set it to 18cm / 7 inch

For a neat looking, smooth side surface use acetate cake collar

Start to build up the cake from bottom to top. Arrange the ladyfingers neatly and tightly - this will be the side of the cake. Then, arrange the ladyfingers on the bottom - trim the ladyfingers if needed, in order to fit them close to each other

Drizzle the ladyfingers with the strawberry coulis. Be mindful with the coulis, we want the ladyfingers to soften, but not to get overly soggy

Fill a Piping bag with mousseline cream and pipe half of the cream on top of the ladyfingers. Place strawberry pieces on top of the cream

Place another layer of ladyfingers on top and again, drizzle with the strawberry coulis. Pipe the rest of the cream on top. Smooth the top with an offset spatula

Place the cake into the fridge for 4 few hours, or overnight

Once cake sets, remove the mousse ring.

Decorate with fresh strawberries and edible flowers

Store in fridge