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Fraisier (French strawberry cake)

This classic French patisserie is a delicious assembly of 2 layers of genoa sponge filled with strawberries and crème mousseline (confectioner's custard with butter). The sponge is soaked in strawberry syrup and the cake is topped with a thin layer of marzipan.

170K 4.2/5 based on 22 reviews

Last modified on: September 18^th 2011

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For 1 Fraisier (French strawberry cake), you will need:

1 300 g strawberries
2 100 g caster sugar
3 350 g Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream)
4 150 g butter
5 1 Génoise (Genoa sponge)
6 500 g strawberries
7 150 g Marzipan (almond paste)
8 30 g apricot glaze (optional)
Total weight: 2,050 grams

Change these quantities to make:

1 Fraisier (French strawberry cake)2 Fraisiers (French strawberry cake)3 Fraisiers (French strawberry cake)

Change measures:

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Times for this recipe

Preparation: 1 hour 43 min.

Cooking: 1 hour

All in all: 2 hours 43 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 1 hour

Begin by preparing the strawberry syrup:

Put 300 g strawberries, cut into pieces, in a bowl which can be used in a bain-marie. Add 100 g caster sugar.

Cover with stretch cooking film to seal the container well and place in a bain-marie over very low heat for one hour.

Stage 2 - 3 min.

At the end of this time, you will have a delicious strawberry syrup. Strain through a sieve.

The pieces of strawberry left will not have much flavour, so you can either eat them or throw them away.

Note: French chefs call this "clarified strawberries", rather than a syrup.

Set aside.

Stage 3 - 30 min.

Prepare 350 g Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream). When it is made and has cooled a little (wait 15 minutes), incorporate 150 g butter very cold and cut into small pieces, beating thoroughly until the butter is well mixed in.

This cream is a "crème mousseline".

Stage 4 - 5 min.

Prepare 1 Génoise (Genoa sponge). When cooked and cooled, cut this to the shape of your cake, round or square.

You can see that here I have cut it round using a dessert ring. If you do not have one, you can cut round a small plate laid on the sponge.

Stage 5 - 5 min.

Split the genoa sponge in two through the middle.

Stage 6 - 2 min.

Place one circle of sponge on the serving plate and place a dessert ring over it.

Stage 7 - 5 min.

Soak the the top of this sponge circle with half the strawberry syrup.

Stage 8 - 5 min.

Spread a thin layer of crème mousseline over the sponge.

Stage 9 - 5 min.

Arrange straberries cut in half around the circle with the cut side towards the outside.

Stage 10 - 10 min.

Then fill the circle with whole strawberries, placed upright.

Stage 11 - 5 min.

Spread the remaining crème mousseline over the strawberries; ideally, they should be completely covered.

Tap the plate gently on the worktop to settle the cream.

Stage 12 - 5 min.

Lay the other circle of genoa sponge on a wire rack and soak with the remaining strawberry syrup, using a brush.

Stage 13 - 5 min.

Then turn this over onto the dessert inside the ring.

This is a tricky operation, so I advise you to turn it over smartly onto a baking sheet to (along with the rack), then slide it onto the top of the cake.

Press gently on the top to make sure it is flat and even.

Stage 14 - 10 min.

Roll out 150 g Marzipan (almond paste) thinly (see this page on the subject), then use it to cover the top of the strawberry cake and trim off any excess.

Stage 15 - 5 min.

Decorate with a half strawberry and brush with an apricot glaze. This is not essential, but adds an attractive finish and prevents the marzipan from drying out.

Stage 16 - 3 min.

At the last minute, gently remove the cake from the dessert ring. Your "fraisier" is ready to be served and enjoyed.

Remarks

If you do not have a dessert ring, use a circle of strong card, lined with a piece of stretch plastic film, held in place with a paper clip.

For a quicker finish, you can simply sprinkle the top of the cake with icing sugar in place of the marzipan.

For Gaston Lenôtre, a strawberry cake should be made with butter cream rather than mousseline, and he called it a "Bagatelle".

Keeping: A day or two in the fridge.

Source: Home made, with Catherine as tester. Her portion is shown in the photo.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	470 180 %	2,380 220 %	970 150 %	14,350 720 %	60,060 720 %
Per 100 g	20 9 %	120 10 %	50 7 %	700 40 %	2,930 40 %

The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man

Possible allergens in this recipe: Egg, Milk, Gluten, Nuts

How much will it cost?

For 1 Fraisier (French strawberry cake) : 8.72 £

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Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

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