Strawberry Crunch Cake (VIDEO)

For the Strawberry reduction

Place strawberry puree, sugar and fresh lemon juice into a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the strawberry mixture to a boil while stirring occasionally

Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes to allow the reduction to thicken up and become concentrated. Once it coats the back of a spoon, remove it from the heat and let it cool

For the Strawberry sponge layers

Heat the oven to 170 C / 338°F (no fan) and prepare 3 baking pans

Mix food coloring and strawberry extract into room temp milk, then mix it with the strawberry reduction. This is your "wet ingredients"

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together, this is the “dry ingredients”

Cream room temperature butter and sugar together in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy then beat the eggs in, one at a time, finally mix in the vanilla extract

Add the wet and dry ingredients gently into the whipped mixture (butter+sugar+egg) in 4 steps: first, add half of the wet, then half the dry, then the remaining wet, and then the remaining dry. Make sure you finish with the dry ingredients.

Pour the cake batter into 3 different baking pans

Bake them for 20 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let them cool on a cooling rack before frosting

Frosting

For the frosting whip mascarpone, cream cheese, vanilla bean paste and powder sugar until smooth and fluffy, this will only take a few minutes. Use a hand mixer and do not over beat as it can become runny

Strawberry Crunch

Start with the melting butter in the microwave, then let it cool slightly while preparing the crumbs

The Crumble can be made either in a food processor, or in a ziplock bag beating it with a rolling pin until the cookies and strawberries are evenly broken up not leaving any big chunks

Then, add a good pinch of salt to balance the sweetness. Add melted but not hot butter to the mixture.

Once the crumble is placed in the fridge the butter cools off and acts as a binding agent creating bigger chunks. Use a plate or sheet pan to spread the crumble out before placing it in the fridge to set

Assemble and Decoration

Start building up the cake from the bottom to the top (red) and spread the frosting in between the layers equally. I suggest 200g frosting per layer, use a digital scale to measure

If at any point the frosting gets soft or the cake gets unstable, place it into the fridge to chill then only after continue

Once all the layers are assembled, place the cake into the fridge for min 30min to set

On a turntable apply your first crumb coat around the cake. then let it set for min 30min refrigrated

Cover the cake completely on the top and all sides with the strawberry crunch. Then, chill the cake one last time for 30min in the fridge before decorating with the remaining cream cheese frosting

Pipe the decoration on top of the strawberry cake using a piping bag with a Wilton 1m nozzle tip. Add fresh strawberries on top for more decoration and freshness.

Store the cake in the fridge however let it come to room temp for 30-60min before serving for the softest, most moist texture