Happy National Strawberry Day! On this day, you have the perfect excuse to savour a generous amount of our favorite red juicy and sweet berry. Strawberries are among the most popular berries, if not the most popular. They taste delicious and are superfood. In fact, the health benefits offered by strawberries, no doubt, made a big contribution to their popularity. Nutrient-rich and packed with antioxidants, strawberries are good in smoothies, salads and of course desserts.

So ladies and gents, today is the occasion to try new recipes featuring strawberries. On my part, the recipe I will be sharing with you isn’t really new because I made it in the past on various occasions. In fact, Fraisier cake is one of my favorite cakes.

For my sweet sixteen birthday, my father ordered a Fraisier cake for my birthday simply because he knew I was obsessed with it. If making this cake wasn’t a new thing for me, how I tried to add a new twist by making a strawberry fraisier trifle instead of a classic cake. I put successive layers of sponge cake, whipped crème fraîche with white chocolate and fresh strawberries inside mason jars because I prefer individual trifle.

Even though, this recipe is composed of components that can appear to be difficult to make, it’s very simple to put together. And after getting the first bite, you will declare that the effort worth it.

Prep: 60 min                   Cook: 25 min                      4 servings

INGREDIENTS

For the Sponge cake

4 Eggs
1 and ½ cups of Flour
1 and ½ cups of Sugar
½ cup of Butter, unsalted melted and cooled
1 teaspoon of Baking powder
¼ teaspoon of Salt

Rest of ingredients

1 cup of Fresh strawberries
1 cup of Crème fraîche
1 cup of White chocolate
1/8 cup of Milk
¼ cup of Strawberry wine
2 tablespoons of Sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven at 350°F.

In a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat eggs for 4 minutes. Then add sugar and beat for another 4-5 minutes.

Incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking powder) to the mixture. Mix for 2 minutes before adding the melted butter. After the butter is homogeneously incorporated into the batter, you can add your favourite cake aroma or leave it plain. I personally prefer to add a tablespoon of Cointreau or Grand Marnier.

Pour the cake batter into a tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted inside the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring it on a cooling rack.

For the whipped cream, in a stand mixer, whisk crème fraiche and milk together for 4 minutes. In the meantime, melt the white chocolate.

Then incorporate the white chocolate to the cream mixture. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Let the strawberries macerate in strawberry wine and sugar for 5-10 minutes.

Once the cake is totally cool, with a cookie cutter, cut slices of cake and reserve.

Then it’s time to assembly your individual trifles. In mason jars, alternate cake slices lightly soaked with strawberry wine and sugar with layers of white chocolate cream and fresh strawberries.

Tips:

In the microwave, melt the white chocolate for at least 2 minutes, be sure to check every 20 seconds.

You can substitute Strawberry wine for any other liquor.