The strawberry drip cake.

It’s my favorite cake for Mother’s Day, but also ideal for a first communion, an eighteenth birthday, or the birthday of a sweet little girl.

With drips along the edge and the right decoration, this cake will be the centerpiece for special occasions.

Simple and delicate, with lots of strawberries to contrast the richness of the mascarpone cream. You can soak the sponge layers either with blended strawberries or with limoncello syrup if there are no children.

Ingredients

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5 eggs
2/3 cup (~130 g) granulated sugar
7/8 cup (~110 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (~35 g) potato starch (or cornstarch)
1 packet vanilla powder
1/2 lemon zest (grated)
1 pinch salt
2 cups (~300 g) strawberries
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 cup (~100 g) granulated sugar
2 tbsp water
3 1/2 tbsp (50 ml) limoncello
1 1/3 cups (~200 g) strawberries
7 oz (~200 g) white chocolate
2 1/4 cups (~500 g) mascarpone
4.2 oz (~120 g) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup (~250 g) heavy whipping cream
to taste red food coloring (or pink or color of choice)
2 1/2 tbsp (~35 g) heavy whipping cream
to taste food coloring (or color of choice)
2 1/2 tbsp (~35 g) heavy whipping cream
to taste meringues
to taste strawberries (fresh flowers and decorative cookies)

The strawberry drip cake

Tools

What we need to make it

1 Stand mixer
1 Oven
2 Piping bags
1 Spatula
1 Knife long, thin blade
4 Bowls
1 Pan
1 Immersion blender

Steps

Sponge cake procedure.
The eggs must be at room temperature — crack them into the bowl of a stand mixer together with the vanilla powder and the grated lemon zest.
Whisk with the whisk attachment until foamy, then add the sugar and continue whipping for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour and the starch together, then add them all at once to the whipped mixture along with the pinch of salt.
Mix with a spatula from the bottom up to avoid deflating the batter.
Pour the batter into 2 cake pans 7 1/8 in in diameter or into 4 shallow pans.
Bake at 356°F for about 13–15 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and unmold the sponge cakes.
Wash and chop the strawberries; bring them to a boil and cook for 8 minutes in a small saucepan together with a small cup of water (about 2 tbsp), the lemon juice and the sugar. Remove the pan from the heat and blend. Once cooled, add the limoncello if you wish.
Wash and dry the strawberries, then blend them with an immersion blender. Put half of the purée and the white chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 40 seconds.
Then stir until melted; if it hasn’t fully melted after the first 40 seconds, repeat in short bursts until completely liquid. Once melted, add the remaining strawberry purée that you set aside. Stir and set aside.
Take another glass bowl and pour in the cream; warm it in the microwave until almost boiling, then add the finely chopped white chocolate.
Stir well until completely melted.
Add a little food coloring, testing one drop at a time until you reach the shade you like, then stir and set aside.
Chill both the cream and the bowl you’ll whip it in for at least 30 minutes in the freezer. Then whip with an electric whisk. As soon as the cream is nicely whipped, refrigerate it and move on to the mascarpone.
Take another cold bowl from the fridge, add the mascarpone and, while slowly pouring in the condensed milk, beat with a whisk.
When the mascarpone looks nicely whipped, fold in the whipped cream with gentle movements from the bottom up using a spatula.
If you made 2 sponge discs, carefully slice them in half; if you made 4 layers you’re already in good shape.
Soak the sponge layers with the strawberry soaking syrup.
Spread the mascarpone cream over the first sponge layer, add sliced strawberries, and finish the first layer using another piping bag filled with the strawberry ganache that you’ll pipe over the chopped strawberries.
Then simply stack the next sponge layer on top.
Continue in this way until the cake is complete.
Close with the fourth and final sponge disc. Spread the remaining mascarpone cream over the top layer and take a little of it down the sides, leveling perfectly with a spatula.
Heat the cream together with the white chocolate in the microwave, stopping occasionally to stir. When the chocolate is completely melted, add drops of food coloring a little at a time, stirring until you obtain the desired color.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a very small round tip and make the drips around the cake.
Finish decorating as you like with sprinkles, fresh flowers, strawberries, or whatever you prefer.
The strawberry drip cake is ready to be served.