
Classic Strawberry-Marzipan Cake (Fraisier)

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This is a striking, colorful cake with red strawberries, white cake, and a green marzipan topping. There are lots of steps, and while the marzipan topping is easy to roll out and put on, you can skip it if you like. The top of this cake is finished with a sheet of marzipan-an easy way to make elegant, very even, and professional-looking cakes. Green marzipan is traditional, but any color will do. A square cake-a lovely change from the usual rounds-makes an elegant impression. This recipe is for one of the great classic French cakes, fraisier, but you can make square cakes using any cake, fillings, or frostings you like. To assemble a square cake, you need a metal cake square or a square springform pan. Here we show an adjustable cake square, but if you plan on baking square cakes mainly of a certain size, a nonadjustable square or springform pan is less expensive and easier to work with. An 8-inch or smaller square is convenient because a 15 by 17-inch sheet cake will give you two 8-inch square cake layers. The filling for this cake is a classic crème mousseline flavored with kirsch, although in an ideal world, wed use dry strawberry brandy-eau de vie de fraise-but it's almost impossible to find in the United States. If you already have 5 1/2 cups pastry cream on hand, beat 1 3/4 cups butter into it to make your creme mousseline. There are several flavoring alternatives to kirsch, including mirabelle, which is French plum brandy and eau de vie de framboise, which is French raspberry brandy.
ingredients
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serves: 1
2 1/2 cups milk (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
2 eggs (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
2 egg yolks (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
1 1/2 cups plus 4 tablespoons butter, cubed or sliced (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
3 tablespoons to 5 kirsch, mirabelle, eau de vie de framboise, Cognac, or strained strawberry puree (for 5 1/2 cups classic crème mousseline)
1 sheet cake 13 by 17 by 1/2 inch, such as butter-enriched sponge cake or cream and butter sheet cake
1 1/2 cups simple syrup, flavored with kirsch, Cognac, or strawberry puree
25 large strawberries, about 1 pound total, stemmed
1 inch square green marzipan 9 by 1/8
Royal icing (optional)
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount per Serving
Calories: 8275
- Total Fat: 456.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 210.2 g
- Trans Fat: 11.2 g
- Cholesterol: 2049.2 mg
- Sodium: 3481.8 mg
- Total Carbs: 991.7 g
- Dietary Fiber: 39.6 g
- Sugars: 484.4 g
- Protein: 107.9 g
preparation

comments
Mommy_loves_to_cook
February 27, 2012