Fraisier

The Sponge

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Oil a round-shaped 24cm cake tin and powder with flour.
• In a heatproof bowl, combine 5 egg yolks with 100g of sugar. Put the bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water, making sure that the bowl doesn't touch the water. Beat until the mixture is warm. Take the bowl away from heat and whip until completely cooled.
• Combine together the egg whites with a bit of salt in a separate bowl and beat. Next, beat in the remaining 50g sugar and whip till there are firm peaks.
• Delicately put flour and melted butter into the chilled yolk mixture. Once smooth, add the egg whites. Move the mixture into prepared tin.
• In the preheated oven, bake for about 30 minutes. Remove and let cool completely.

The Syrup

• Heat up sugar, water, and vanilla in a small saucepan. Take to the boil and simmer till the sugar is well dissolved. Reduce heat and keep the syrup warm until utilizing.

The Filling

• Heat milk with vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.
• In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg yolks with the caster sugar. Slowly add the corn flour. Bit by bit pour the hot milk into the yolk mixture, beating constantly. Move back into the saucepan over medium heat while beating constantly until the custard is dense. Once dense, dispense into a bowl and cover with a sticky film. Let cool at room temperature and then move to the fridge to cool fully.
• Whisk the chilled cream with the tablespoon caster sugar till firm. Fold up the whipped cream into the refrigerated custard and move to a piping bag. Let stand in the fridge until needed.

Finalizing

• Put a baking ring on a clean surface. Line up the interior of the ring with parchment. Horizontally, slit the cooled cake in half to make two layers. Put a layer in the bottom of the baking ring and immerse generously in the warm vanilla syrup. Put the strawberry halves along the ring, flat side out. Ascertain that the strawberries are pressed firmly.
• Using the piping bag, cover the bottom layer with the cooled custard cream mixture. Fill with cream to just over the strawberries, spreading the cream in the middle with the cubed strawberries.
• Cover up with the second layer of sponge cake, and then lightly bathe it with warm vanilla syrup.
• Garnish the top of the cake with fondant, royal icing, or whipped cream. You can also add small fondant designs.
• Refrigerate the cake for two hours and take away the ring right before serving.

Trivia

• History suggests that the first ever genoise cake was made in the year1892 i.e. over 199 years ago.

The major ingredient of fraisier i.e. strawberries were first grown in Brittany, France amid the late 18^th century. The fruit was also talked about in ancient Roman literature because of its health benefits.