Strawberry Mirror Cake 草莓镜子蛋糕

I was captivated the moment I saw the picture!! And I hadn't even tasted it!! I'd just got to try out this cake. Pink with strawberries, layered with a nice yellow sponge... Yummy yummy. The picture is in http://simplyannes.blogspot.com/2007/07/pretty-in-pink.html. Well, it was a Daring Baker's challenge, and the recipe can be found at http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2007/07/30/mirror-mirroron-the-wall/

Well, I'm a novice at making cakes, other than pound cakes or chiffon cakes. And I've never whipped cream using dairy whipping cream, never made real custard with egg yolks and milk.... Yet, I'm determined to try this out, all because I love strawberries.


My first attempt :
Made several mistakes with the bavarian cream, but the sponge cake and mirror was good.
Mistakes:-----
1. Over beat the whipping cream, and made butter instead. But I still dumped them into the filling. Looked ugly, but still tasted alright.
2. Boiled the custard, so it curdled... looks grainy.. ugly, but still tasted alright.
3. Made manila card sqaure spring form pans. And they were too soft that they didn't remain a square when filled, but bulged by the sides.
4. Didn't wait for the custard to cool down enough before mixing with the curdled whipping cream and the whole bavarian cream was too liquidy when poured onto the frozen sponge. My sponge cake floated..

2nd attempt: Successful!!! In terms of assemby and taste.
And I made one in a springform and one in a square cake tin. It was my niece's birthday and I'm glad I didn't spoil her cake..... totally. But... I don't know why there are white streaks on the mirror.. and me, being worried that I won't be able to unmould the cake properly, put cling film on the sides of the spring form pan. when I did unmould it, there were lines on the sides of the cake from the cling film... looked pretty ugly that way. I should've prepared some whipped cream to cover up the streaky sides.


3rd attempt. Changed the assembly method and made a single layer of each.. I find that I like it this way better as I can serve it in smaller cuts without having to prepare plates and knife. It's easy to hold with fingers. Nice party dessert.


Some Daring Baker's blogs had some negative comment on the cake saying that it was not flavourful enough, I think, it might be due to the quality of the strawberries. I found that imported strawberries are not that fragrant and Cameron's strawberries are really really flavourful and fragrant. (Cameron's strawberries ripen on the plant, which is why they are so nice but spoils easily), I didn't even use colouring at all!! It was so red! So, for those who are not from Malaysia, try to use local strawberries that you know ripens on the plant. And if u ever go to Camerons, bring along a water tight container, so that u can get those so so ripe strawberries that goes on sale when it's almost closing hours for the Saturday night market at Brinchang. Wash, hull and freeze them. They are still yummy the next time u may need them. The problem of bringing down so so ripe strawberries from Camerons is that they bleed..so better clean and place them in a water tight container when u bring them down so that u can retain those yummy juices.


I made some ammendments to the portions of the recipe and eliminated the kirsch. And I wrote the modified instructions based on my experience.

Strawberry Mirror Cake Recipe
The sponge:-
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
100gm sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites
1 pinch cream of tartar
1 tbsp sugar
50gm sifted cake flour


Moisting syrup:- mix and cool down.
50ml hot water
1 tsbp sugar


Strawberry Bavarian Cream:-
1 ½ tbsp unflavored gelatin
150 gm fresh strawberries + strained strawberries from preparing the mirror.(pureed)
2 egg yolks
70gm sugar
180 ml milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
200ml whipping cream

Strawberry Mirror:-
250 gm fresh strawberries
150 gm sugar
180ml water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

**I did this cake in less than 4 hours with lotsa breaks in between. I know the list of ingredients and the instructions seemed so long.... but once u get the hang of it, it's actually pretty easy to make.



Method:

Assembling the cake.
1. Prepare cake. Place trimmed cake onto a 10 x 10 jelly roll pan. Put in the freezer.
2. Prepare strawberry juice.
3. Prepare bavarian cream.
4. Moisten cake with moisting sugar syrup and pour bavarian cream onto cake. Level the cream. Put in the fridge to set.
5. Prepare strawberry mirror and when mirror mixture has turned syrupy pour onto the bavarian cream layer. Place cake in the fridge to set.

Sponge cake:-
1. Preheat oven to 180/200C. Line a 10 X10 inch jelly roll pan.
2. Beat eggs whites until foamy, then add in cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks, then add in 1 tbsp of sugar and beat until stiff and glossy.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until creamy, pale and light. Beat in vanilla.
4. Sift cake flour. Fold into egg yolk mixture.
5. Stir in 1/3 of beaten egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites.
6. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
7. When cake has cooled, remove baking paper, trim cake so that cake will have an even surface and remove the brown upper skin. Cover and place in freezer.


Bavarian Cream:-
1. Puree strawberries and sprinkle in gelatine powder. Stir it until the gelatine is well blended in well with the puree.
2. Whip egg yolks and sugar until pale and light.
3. Bring milk to a boil and pour in 1/4 of the milk into the egg yolk mixture while still beating with a mixer. Pour in the rest of the milk slowly. Mix well.
4. Return this mixture to the fire and cook with a low fire, stirring constantly, until your finger leaves a clear trail in sauce when drawn across the back of the spoon.(Do not boil or mixture will curdle.)
5. Immediately remove from heat and stir in strawberry mixture.
6. Pour into a stainless steel bowl and place over a bowl of ice water. Stir in lemon juice. Stir once a while to prevent the sides from solidifying.
7. While waiting for the strawberry custard mixture to cool down, whip whipping cream to soft peaks. Do not overbeat!!
8. When strawberry gelatin mixture has cooled and thickened to the consistency of softly whipped cream, fold whipped cream into strawberry custard mixture.


Strawberry Mirror:-
**I prepare strawberry juice(step 1-3) in advance because I `recycle' the strained strawberry pulp from the juice into the bavarian cream.
1. Chop strawberries into large chunks.
2. Place strawberries, sugar and water into a saucepan. Lightly press the strawberries to release juice. Bring to a boil.
3. Strain the juice with a strainer and don't press the fruits at this point.
** this step to be done only after bavarian cream has set on the cake.
4. Bring the strawberry juice that was prepared earlier to a boil. Remove from fire. Sprinkle in gelatine powder and stir to ensure the gelatine has melted.
5. Put in lemon juice. Stir. Wait for it to cool down and turn syrupy.


3rd attempt....



2nd attempt : -My niece's birthday cake




Made a base out of old milk powder packaging. Look at the ugly streaks at the side from the cling film. This assembly is based on the recipe from the Daring Bakers.