Strawberry Chiffon Cake

Strawberry Chiffon Cake

The strawberry season has started again. And every day, I harvest quite a few strawberries from the garden. And you can eat them out of hand or on a biscuit because these strawberries from our garden have a full, sweet taste.

But of course, you can also use this summer fruit for baking! If you want, if you have strawberries, you can make delicious cakes and pies. For example, I can recommend this chiffon cake. Chiffon cake means that the cake biscuit is fluffy and creamy with oil and egg whites instead of butter.

All these Delicious Flavors in One Cake

The chiffon cake consists of two layers of sponge cake filled with homemade buttercream and fresh strawberries, molded against the baking pan (for a fantastic view of upright strawberries) as it is. This is a cake with a WOW factor.

Ingredients for a Biscuit

• Flour - Use regular All-purpose flour in this recipe.
• Baking powder and cream of tartar - Both are used to get some air in the biscuit. Cream of Tartar is prepared from natural raw materials. In contrast to baking powder, which is made out of chemical substances. The reaction it gives in your batter is the same. So you can replace the cream of tartar with baking powder and the other way around.
• Vegetable oil - use a neutral oil, like sunflower oil.
• Vanilla extract - For a touch of vanilla flavor in the biscuit. You can also replace this with one teaspoon of vanilla sugar.
• Egg whites - give extra air to the biscuit. Make sure no egg yolk is present (not even a trace). The egg whites won’t stiffen when it’s there. When beating, make sure your bowl and mixer hooks are fat-free. Thus, wash them in hot water with detergent before using.
• Egg yolks - make the biscuit rich and creamy. 

Ingredients Buttercream, sugar syrup, and filling

• Milk, cream, egg, and mascarpone - make sure the buttercream becomes rich and creamy.
• Vanilla extract - To give a hint of vanilla to the buttercream.
• Corn starch - Thickens the cream when brought to a boil a bit. That way, it won’t drip off your cake later on.
• Gelatin - You can buy it as sheets or as gelatin powder. When purchased in sheets, you first have to soften it in some cold water. And then you’ve got to dissolve it in a hot liquid. When using gelatin powder, you can use ¾ teaspoon (which is equal to 1 ½ sheets - 3 grams). So one teaspoon of gelatin powder corresponds to 3 grams of gelatin. It doesn’t matter which sort of gelatin you use.

How to prepare a Chiffon Cake with Strawberries and Cream?

You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.

1. Mix the flour, ½ cup of sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl and mix. Mix oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla, and lemon zest in a second bowl. Pour the liquids into the first bowl and mix until smooth. Add the egg whites to a clean bowl and mix until stiff. Then sprinkle the tartaric acid on top and mix until stiff. Add the remaining sugar, so the egg white becomes shiny. Add the egg whites to the flour mixture and gently incorporate with a spatula. The beaten egg whites are added in two portions and not all at once. You do this to let the butter and egg whites mingle better, so the cake will get airier.
2. Pour the batter into a spring form. And bake for 55 minutes in a preheated oven of 320 °F (160 °C) until the biscuit is done. With a skewer, you can check the doneness of the cake. Prick with a skewer into the center (the thickest part) of the cake. When the skewer comes out dry, then the cake is done.
3. Mix the water with the sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil and dissolve the sugar while whisking. Let it cool to room temperature.
4. Heat the milk with vanilla extract and salt until you see steam. Turn off the heat. Mix the corn starch, sugar, and eggs in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour the hot milk little by little with the egg mixture until all milk is mixed. Keep whisking when adding the milk. Pour everything back into the pan and warm until the custard thickens (keep whisking). Remove from the heat and strain the custard mixture. Mix the gelatin with hot water and whisk through the custard. Cover with a plastic foil to keep a sheet from forming and let it cool for 15 minutes.
5. In a bowl, mix the mascarpone with the cream until stiff. Fold the cream mixture through the custard with a spatula (don’t use a whisk or mixer). You want to preserve as much air as possible in the cream. Mixing with a mixer or whisk would make the cream less airy!
6. Line a springform with plastic foil. Half the biscuit horizontally and put one half on the bottom. Sprinkle sugar syrup on top. Place halved strawberries with the sliced side against the side of the tin. Pipe some buttercream between the strawberries and a thin layer on the cake. 
7. Cut the remaining strawberries into quarters and spread them on top of the buttercream—pipe buttercream on top of the strawberries. Make sure to keep four tablespoons of buttercream behind. You need it for the topping. Flatten the buttercream and place the second biscuit on top. 
8. Sprinkle the remaining sugar syrup on the top biscuit. Pipe the remaining buttercream on top, and even with a spatula. Decorate with the strawberries you use for garnish and cover with plastic foil. Let it stiffen in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (but you can refrigerate it overnight). Before serving, remove the springform and plastic foil. Sprinkle confectioner's sugar on top and serve!