Tuesday, June 19, 2012

TwD: French Strawberry Trifle




Strawberries and Cream is one of my favorite cake flavors so I was really excited to make this genoise version called French Strawberry Cake with the Tuesdays with Dorie group.  The recipe is from the book Baking With Julia and was contributed by one of my favorite cook book authors, Flo Braker.  I've tried some of her recipes from a few of her cook books before -- all really delicious -- so I had a feeling that this one would be really good as well.  I was particularly interested with the fact that this cake makes use of a genoise base which I knew would soak up all the yummy juices from the macerated strawberries without making the cake soggy -- only delightfully moist and intensely flavored with strawberries.  



I've made a few genoise cakes before so I felt somewhat confident that I would be able to make this without any hitches.  What I found challenging really was the measuring of the flour.  I know Dorie wrote a section in the book explaining how the flour in the recipes should be measured but I just got confused when I read "sifted cake flour" in the list of ingredients.  It made me wonder -- should I sift the flour first onto the cup then level off?  Or should I dip and sweep, level off then sift?    I did the former and in retrospect I think it was a mistake doing that as I ended up with very little flour which I believe caused the middle to somewhat collapse.  It wasn't a complete disaster though, I only got a slight depression in the middle but it did make it impossible for me to slice the cake into 3 layers without making each of them too thin to hold all the liquid from the filling.     


This is why I decided to turn this French Strawberry Cake into a French Strawberry Trifle instead :-)  I simply cut the cake into 2 layers, placed one layer in the bottom of a clear 8-inch glass bowl then topped it with one-half of the macerated strawberries and a little whipped cream.  I then repeated the process but putting a thicker layer of cream on top.  I sliced a few large strawberries for garnish.  I'm happy that I still ended up with a very delicious cake and I especially like the fact that I didn't have to bring out my piping bags and star tips to decorate the cake!

The only changes I made were the addition of Creme de Fraise to the macerated strawberries and the use of beurre noisette instead of just plain melted butter.  I also beat the eggs for much longer than 5 minutes.


If you're interested in trying out this recipe please check out our hosts' blogs Sophia's Sweets and Think, Love, Sleep, Dine.  The recipe should be posted along with their own take on this Tuesday's bake.  


Likewise, if you wish to join our group head on over to the Tuesdays with Dorie blog!

28 comments:

  1. I love that you made a trifle cake instead!!!

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  2. this would make a fabulous trifle! good save!

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  3. Improvisation is the sign of a good cook :-) I like the trifle version.

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  4. Trifle is a great use of genoise! Great idea!

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  5. Inspired improvisation. In retrospect I should have let the cake sit longer so it would have been moister.

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  6. Great approach and very innovative.
    Lisa

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  7. actually thats a good idea on how to salvage this cake...will keep it in mind!! thanks for sharing!!

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  8. very creative! well done :)

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  9. Perfect idea to get the decoration out of the way. Trifles are great and you did three layers which was hard to achieve with the whole cake (I did only two). It looks great! And the way you sifted the flower is the right one.

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  10. Oh, I love the idea of a trifle! I avoided the piping, too...not my forte :) Now I'm craving your version~

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  11. Now I am confused about the flour ... measure and then sift or sift and then measure? I thought about making a trifle as I thought it would look lovely in the bowl. Next time! Nice baking with you, Catherine at www.praycookblog.com

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  12. Yum! I love this! No fuss fancy dessert.

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  13. I love trifle! Very clever!
    (Love the title of your blog!!!)

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  14. The trifle was a great idea! I'm going to keep that in mind. I didn't pipe but I'm eager to try it.

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  15. I also had thoughts of a trifle. Looks wonderful!

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  16. ooh. brown butter. Great idea

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  17. Trifle is a great idea. Looks yummy.

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  18. Triffle is a perfect interpretation of this recipe! Great job.

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  19. Great idea to make trifle. It looks absolutely delicious!

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  20. You have read this hundred times by now:
    The idea of a Trifle is brilliant!
    It looks so yummy.
    Great!

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  21. actually, you interpreted the flour measurement correctly. 1 cup sifted flour (sift first, then measure). 1 cup flour, sifted (measure first, then sift). I too felt that I ended up with too little flour, and with the "extra" butter, ended up with a little collapsing too. but it was delicious in the end.

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  22. Turning it into a trifle is a great idea! It looks beautiful! I loved how the strawberries soaked into the cake layer on this one.

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  23. Smart! Great idea to make a trifle instead!

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  24. mmmmmmm...I would love to dig into that trifle

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  25. I love trifle - good thinking! I ended up using my genoise "pancake" as a shortcake.

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  26. I have always wanted to make a trifle. They always look so pretty. Nice job.

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  27. Thank you everyone for all your wonderful comments! Looking forward to next month's recipes!

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