Glorious Sponge Cake with Champagne Roasted Strawberry Whipped Cream
 
 
Recipe type: celebration cakes, birthday cakes, layer cakes, cake, baking, dessert
Ingredients
For the Cake (adapted from allrecipes.com)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup white sugar ( I used a little less because I find the sugar in India slightly sweeter)
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 1 cup cake flour (I used all purpose flour)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
For the filling and frosting (adapted from chow.com)
  • 8 ounce mascarpone cheese
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ¼ cup icing sugar
Lime sugar syrup
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • juice of 1 lime
For the roasted strawberries:
  • 450-500 gm strawberries, quartered
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1½ tbsp white wine
  • few drops of champagne flavored oil (optional)
To make home made mascarpone cheese:
  • 1 ltr cream ( I used 25% fat cream)
  • 2 tbsp fresh lime/lemon juice
Instructions
For the Roasted Strawberries
  1. Place the strawberries in a glass baking dish.
  2. Sprinkle over the vanilla sugar, followed by the white wine and champagne flavored oil. Mix gently.
  3. Bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool. Resist to finish the whole thing off.
  4. Drain strawberries. Put the liquid into a sauce pan, and reduce to a thick concentrate. It will thicken a bit as it cools. Chill before use.
For the Mascarpone cheese
  1. Heat the cream over a waterbath/double boiler until it reaches 180ºF/82ºC
  2. Stir in the lime/lemon juice and keep at this temperature for a few moments longer until it starts to thicken.
  3. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit at room temperature until it is cooled down a bit.
  4. Refrigerate over night. The next day it will have thickened further.
  5. Pour it in a strainer lined with multiple layers of cheesecloth or clean towel. Refrigerate for about 24 hours to let the whey drain.
For the cake:
  1. Separate the eggs. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon colored. Beat in sugar gradually. Add water, lemon juice and almond extract. Beat in flour.
  2. In another bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Then add ½ tsp of lemon juice and salt. Beat mixture until whites are stiff, but not until they are dry. Fold this whipped mixture into yolk mixture.
  3. Pour batter into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan. I used an 8 inch pan and a 6 inch pan since I was planning to make a 4 layer 6 inch cake. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for one hour, or until done.
Make the lime sugar syrup:
  1. Boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes till the sugar dissolves. Add lime juice. let cool.
Assembly:
  1. Beat the mascarpone cheese with powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth. Taste and adjust sugar if required.
  2. Whip the cream to soft peaks, and fold into the whipped quark cheese.
  3. Add the roasted balsamic strawberries {reserving ¼ cup for topping}, and gently fold in to mix through.
  4. Split the sponges horizontally to make 4 layers.
  5. On the plate you plan to serve the cake on, put the first layer of sponge on it. I always slide strips of parchment on the plate so that any extra frosting that leaves the cake does not touch the plate, giving a neat final presentation. Brush the sponge with the lime sugar syrup.
  6. Pour ¼ of the whipped frosting with mascarpone strawberry filling on the bottom layer. (If you like more frosting to cake ratio, you could use the entire filling in between the layers and for the top, frost with plain whipped cream. But since I am an average frosting to cake ratio, I did not whip any more cream and just used the filling to frost the top as well.)
  7. Sandwich with the second sponge layer. Brush the second layer with lime sugar syrup and repeat layering.
  8. Top with remaining ¼ cup roasted strawberries. You can lace the borders with chocolate decorations. Let chill for 2 hours for the cake to set.
Recipe by The Novice Housewife at https://novicehousewife.com/2013/01/17/glorious-sponge-cake-with-champagne-roasted-strawberry-whipped-cream/