Fraisier cake (French strawberry cake)

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

Then, mix corn starch, flour, and vanilla into the egg yolk 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

Continue with the sponge by pre-heating oven to 180 C / 356°F

With the help of a Electric hand mixer beat together room temperature butter and powder sugar until pale then mix in eggs, one at a time, continue whipping

Sift in flour and salt then fold with a Rubber spatula just until combined

Grease two 18 cm / 7 inch round cake pan and pour the cake batter into them making sure that the volume of the cake batter is identical in both, use a Digital scale. Smooth the top with an Offset spatula

Bake the sponge for 10 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean

Allow the sponge to cool completely on Cooling rack. Once cooled, trim one of the sponges to 16cm / 6inch, leave the other one as it is (18 cm / 7 inch)

Continue with the strawberry compote insert by making strawberry puree, it is fine to leave in some strawberry pieces

Soak gelatin sheets into cold water

In a saucepan bring strawberry puree, sugar and lemon juice into boil, cook for a minute or two stirring constantly

Squeeze excess water from gelatin and stir into the strawberry mixture

Pour the strawberry compote into a 16 cm / 6 inch silicone round cake pan and place it into the freezer

Once the strawberry insert almost fully set place the 16 cm / 6 inch sponge on top and freeze them together. When assembling the cake it is much easier to work with a frozen insert so make sure you don´t skip this step

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

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. Place the larger sponge into the mousse ring then arrange the strawberry halves on top of the sponge tightly

Fill a Piping bag with the mousseline cream and pipe cream on top of the sponge carefully and neatly filling the gaps in between the strawberry halves.

Place the frozen strawberry insert on top (strawberry side down, sponge side up)

Pipe the rest of the cream around and on top of insert. Smooth the top with an Offset spatula

Chill the cake in the fridge for 2 hours for the mousseline cream to set

Once cake set, make the strawberry jelly topping

Soak gelatin sheets into cold water. In a saucepan bring strawberry pure and sugar into boil. Squeeze excess water from gelatin and stir into the strawberry puree

Wait until the puree slightly cool, then pour it over the chilled cake

Pop cake back to the fridge for 4 hours the jelly and entire cake to set

Once cake fully sets carefully remove cake ring and acetate

Decorate with fresh strawberries and edible flowers

Store in fridge