Monday, May 11, 2009

Strawberry Torte

Out of all the baking I've done, one thing I've never attemped was a (jelly) rolled type cake. Since I picked up some wonderful strawberries from the farmers market, and finding this recipe online, I thought, why not?
As intimidating as it seemed to me, it was actually quite easy. Get the recipe here, Strawberry Torte, and give it a shot yourself! This is a great spring or summer "outside" dessert!

This "cake" part of the recipe consists of seperated eggs, sugar, cake flour, baking powder and vanilla. The filling & icing consists of freshly whipped cream, a little confectioners sugar, fresh strawberries and vanilla.

Start out by whipping the egg yolks & sugar until pale!


Then add the cake flour, baking powder and vanilla.

Now start beating the egg whites! This is always fun!


Beat the egg whites until they're stiff!

Gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture.

Until it's completely incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan, making sure it is evenly distributed! Get this into the preheated oven!


While the cake is baking, lay out a CLEAN cotton towel and generously dust it with confectioners sugar.


The cake should take about 20 minutes to bake and is done when it springs back when touched in the center.


Flip the cake (carefully) onto the towel. Now this can be tricky and you have to work fast! It may be a bit messy too. Remove the sheet pan and peel off the parchment paper from the cake. Using the towel, begin to roll up the cake, with the towel.

Let the cake cool completely.
While the cake is cooling, begin whipping the cream with a little confectioners sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Set half the whipped cream aside.

To the other half of the cream, fold in your sliced strawberries. This, alone, looked good enough to eat on its own!

Unroll the cake and evenly spread with the strawberry-whipped cream mixture. Re-roll the cake, without the towel.


Transfer to a serving platter and "ice" the top and sides with the reserved whipped cream.

Garnish with some whole strawberries and serve! Delicious and surprisingly light tasting!


3 comments:

  1. I made a Buche de Noel once for my French class, but I haven't made another rolled cake since. Yours looks amazing and I don't think I have seen a jelly cake recipe where you roll it on a sugar-covered towel. Cool!

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  2. Elaine - A Buche de Noel is something I definitely want to try. One like Martha did a while back called the "Birch de Noel" - all white with the meringue mushrooms. So gorgeous!

    The confectioners sugar on the towel was instructed in the recipe, to prevent sticking, I assume. When I flipped the cake onto the towel it get a bit messy with a cloud of sugar! LOL!

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  3. This looks lovely! I collect vintage cookbooks, and it is pretty traditional to roll with the tea towel. But the filling really looked awesome!

    Ah, yes - Buche de Noel. Another pagan holiday-throwback!

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