Have you ever seen that cake with strawberries and pastry cream that made you crave it, but the strawberries were out of season? Well, this is the recipe for those of you who want to enjoy strawberries all year round, like me, without spending a fortune at the supermarket when fresh fruit is not in season. For this delicious and fragrant dessert we’ll use Fabbri 1905 strawberries!
Perfect from breakfast to afternoon snack, ideal as a gift if you’ve been invited to dinner, the cake with candied strawberries and homemade cream will win everyone over, bite after bite! This strawberry cake is soft, creamy and super fragrant already during baking. The soft cream that wraps the strawberries, and the sponge cake even softer thanks to the presence of Greek yogurt in the batter. In short, I’m already tempted to make it again — this cake with cream and strawberries!
Tip: prepare the pastry cream the evening before making this strawberry dessert. That way you’ll be sure it’s completely cold and of the perfect consistency to be used to assemble a cream-filled dessert that stays soft and indulgent.
Over the years I published Grandma Licia’s pastry cream recipe which you can find here on the blog and at the link below. I’ve gathered for you all the dessert recipes with homemade pastry cream and, additionally, the collection of recipes with strawberries in season! In short, at any time of year we can enjoy delicious, easy and quick desserts to prepare by following my recipes!
Every link below is clickable and will take you directly to the recipe you chose to read, including the two collections where you can find all the delicacies made with these two ingredients. I also remind you that I wait for you every morning in the Facebook group and fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day! A can’t-miss appointment to start the day with a sweet or savory treat!
But now let’s move on to today’s recipe, the cake with strawberries and homemade pastry cream using Grandma’s recipe!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 8 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter and Spring, Spring, Summer and Autumn
- Energy 268.41 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 48.39 (g) of which sugars 17.19 (g)
- Proteins 9.87 (g)
- Fat 5.33 (g) of which saturated 2.60 (g)of which unsaturated 2.49 (g)
- Fibers 5.20 (g)
- Sodium 95.64 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 125 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for a cake with strawberries and cream for a 9.5 in (24 cm) pan
- 1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
- 3 eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 1/3 cups flour (for soft cakes)
- 3 1/3 tbsp milk (at room temperature (approximately 50 ml))
- 2 1/2 tbsp potato starch (or cornstarch)
- 1 packet baking powder
- 1 packet vanillin (vanilla powder)
- 1 cup whole milk (at room temperature (approximately 250 ml))
- 1 egg (at room temperature)
- 1/4 cup flour (or cornstarch (about 30 g))
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 vial vanilla (or one vanilla bean)
- to taste lemon zest (grated)
Tools to prepare the cake with cream and candied strawberries
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Electric mixer
- 1 Kitchen scale
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Pan
- 1 Parchment paper
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Oven
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Small saucepan
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Electric mixer
- 1 Stove
- 1 Kitchen scale
Recipe steps for cake with strawberries and pastry cream
I start by preparing the pastry cream. I recommend doing as I do: make the homemade cream the evening before assembling the cake, so that it is completely cold and ready to be used for this recipe.
Here is my method. Take a small saucepan, crack in the egg at room temperature and beat it with the mixer together with the sugar. Add the flour, or the cornstarch, the grated lemon zest and the vial of vanilla. Work until you have a smooth, lump-free mixture.
Then place the saucepan on the stove and turn to low heat. Take the glass of milk and gradually pour it into the saucepan, stirring the cream with a whisk from this point on. It will take about 5 minutes for the cream to thicken. Turn off the heat and continue whisking by hand for another 5 minutes. Let it cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
You will get a smooth, glossy cream free of lumps. Cover the surface of the cream with a piece of plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill overnight. The next morning it will be perfect to use in many recipes!
Now that the homemade pastry cream is ready, I can explain my recipe for the base of the cake with candied strawberries. Take a bowl and add the brown sugar. Crack the three eggs at room temperature, sprinkle a pinch of salt which will help to work the eggs, and start the electric mixer. You should obtain a nice smooth and fluffy cream; this will take about 5 minutes.
Then add the jar of plain Greek yogurt and the amount of milk, continuing to work the mixture. Weigh the flour for soft cakes, add the measured potato starch (or cornstarch), the packet of vanillin and the packet of baking powder. Turn off the mixer, take a spoon and a sieve to add the dry ingredients.
Turn the mixer back on and work everything until you obtain a smooth batter free of lumps. Take the cake pan, in my case with a removable ring, wet a sheet of parchment paper, wring it out and place it on the bottom of the pan. Pour in the cake batter and set aside. Preheat the oven to 356°F so it will be hot when you bake the cake.
Place a generous amount of candied strawberries on the cake and continue with the preparation.
Retrieve the pastry cream from the refrigerator and transfer it into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Create a nice spiral on the surface of the cake. Decorate with additional strawberries and cream. Now it is ready to be baked. Place in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. I always do the skewer test before turning off the oven. Because this is a dessert with pastry cream, it will take a bit longer to cook through, so make sure the center is fully cooked before removing it from the oven.
Then let it cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving. The cake with strawberries and pastry cream is finally ready to be served. I can only wish you a good appetite and remind you that I wait for you every day here on my blog with many easy, quick and delicious recipes like this one!
Tips, variations and storage:
Tips: where specified, ingredients should be at room temperature. Properly working the eggs, the flour and the whole batter is fundamental for a successful dessert. This way you’ll obtain an extremely soft texture and a flavor that makes you want another slice with every bite.
Variations: you can replace brown sugar with classic white sugar. If in season, of course you can substitute candied strawberries with fresh strawberries. If you don’t want to prepare the pastry cream, you can use a mascarpone-and-whipped-cream filling or mascarpone and Philadelphia, so as to obtain a creamy and indulgent dessert just like this one.
Storage: you can store the dessert with strawberries and cream in a container with a lid for a couple of days. The cream, being cooked, will remain soft and indulgent and will not go bad as a raw cream might when used only to decorate a dessert. The strawberries themselves, being candied and already preserved in a jar, will not mold like fresh seasonal strawberries and you may not need to refrigerate this dessert, although I recommend refrigerating during the summer.
