Berries & Cream Cake
Strawberry cream, raspberry jam, nilla wafers, and a raspberry vanilla yogurt cake make up this whimsical Berries & Cream Cake. If my birthday was in May, this is the cake I would make for it!
Servings: 12
Equipment
- 10 cup mixing bowl with 8" diameter opening
- 8" round metal cake pan
Ingredients
Strawberry Puree
- 475 grams strawberries fresh or defrosted
- 25 grams granulated sugar
- 50 grams cornstarch
Raspberry Jam
- 300 grams raspberries fresh or frozen
- 30 grams granulated sugar
Raspberry Cake
- 75 grams granulated sugar
- 75 grams all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons for coating raspberries
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 60 grams salted butter soft
- 50 grams full fat greek yogurt
- 30 grams whole milk
- 1 egg large, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 170 grams raspberries fresh or frozen
Strawberry Whipped Cream
- 450 grams heavy whipping cream cold
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 grams strawberries
Assembling
- 22 nilla wafers
Whipped Cream Decoration
- 300 grams heavy whipping cream cold
- 100 grams full fat greek yogurt
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste vanilla extract will work too!
Instructions
Strawberry Puree
- Take the tops off of the rinsed strawberries, add them into a blender and blend until smooth.
- In a medium pot, whisk together the corn starch and sugar. Pour in 1/3 of the strawberry puree and whisk until smooth (if you pour it all in the starch will clump).
- Pour in the remaining puree and whisk again.
- Heat over medium low heat, whisking constantly until thick. At first it will just thicken a little. Keep cooking for about 3-4 more minutes until it's so thick it's almost hard to whisk.
- Turn off the heat and press the thickened puree through a fine mesh sieve into a container. It will be hard to pass through but just keep spreading it through the sieve and it will go.
- Cover the surface with a sheet of plastic and place in the fridge to cool completely.
Raspberry Jam
- In a medium pot, add in the raspberries and sugar.
- Cover the pot with the lid and place it over medium low heat. Allow it to come to a simmer, then remove the lid and stir frequently while it reduces. Continue to reduce until it becomes thicker and the liquid looks more thick and syrup like.
- Once reduced, take the pot off the heat and pour the compote into a large shallow bowl to let it cool down.
Raspberry Sponge
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center.
- Line the base of an 8" cake pan with a parchment round.
- In a medium bowl add in the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine.
- Add in the butter, sour cream, eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Use a mixer to mix the ingredients first on medium low until 90% combined.
- Toss the rinsed raspberries with a couple tablespoons of flour in a small bowl. Pour the coated raspberries into the cake batter.
- Use a flat rubber spatula scrape the bottom and edges of the bowl and fold in the raspberries.
- Pour the cake batter into the pan. Smooth out the cake with a rubber or offset spatula.
- Bake the cake in the hot oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, rotate the cake and bake again for another 15-20 minutes until golden brown on the edges and set in the center.
- Take the pan out of the oven and leave them to cool for 15 minutes. Flip the partially cooled cake out and leave it to cool completely on a wire rack.
Strawberry Cream
- Rinse and chop the fresh strawberries into 1/4"-1/2" chunks and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add in the cooled strawberry puree. Whip with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in about 200 grams of heavy cream and whip on medium speed until smooth and thick.
- In a separate bowl, add in the remaining 250 grams of cold heavy cream along with the salt and vanilla. Whip until medium stiff peaks form.
- Add the plain whipped cream into the strawberry cream and fold to combine. Pour in the chopped strawberries and fold again until dispersed.
Assemble
- Fully line the bowl you plan to use for this cake with plastic wrap. I used a 10 cup metal mixing bowl with an 8" diameter.
- Add about 2" of the strawberry cream into the lined bowl. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cooled raspberry jam overtop of the cream and spread it out with the back of a spoon. It's ok if it mixes in slightly with the cream.
- Add a single layer of nilla wafers with the flat side face up.
- Top with about 2 more inches of strawberry cream, then raspberry jam and finally nilla wafers.
- Finally top with the remaining strawberry cream and raspberry jam.
- Use a serrated knife to trim off the rounded top of the cake. Flip the cake over so the cut side is face down and lay it into the bowl on top of the last layer of raspberry jam.
- Take the excess plastic wrap and cover the top of the cake. Put it into the fridge to set overnight.
Whipped Cream Decoration
- In a medium mixing bowl, whip the cold heavy cream with the yogurt, vanilla, salt, and sugar to stiff peaks. Be careful not to over whip and split the cream.
- If you're unsure, put the bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes, then whisk by hand until stiff.
- Take the cake bowl out of the fridge and pull the plastic wrap off the surface of the cake.
- Place a big plate upside down over the top of the bowl, making sure the plastic wrap isn't tucked under. Holding onto the plate and bowl, flip both over. The cake should gently fall out of the bowl. Remove the bowl and peel away the plastic.
- Add the whipped cream into a piping bag. Pipe the cream in any way that you want over top of the cake. Decorate however you want with flowers, sprinkles, raspberries - anything works!
- Slice and serve immediately or place back in the fridge until you are ready to serve. Store leftovers in the fridge.
Notes
Tips for making a Berries & Cream Cake
- Fresh or frozen strawberries will work for the strawberry puree but make sure to use fresh berries for the ones folded into the cream.
- You may have to make a few adjustments depending on moisture levels but blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries will all work for this recipe!
- With a little planning and math you can adjust the recipe according to your bowl size. Adjust and bake your cake in a pan that matches the size of the opening of the bowl.
- Make sure your eggs and butter are at room temperature for a soft and fluffy cake.
- It's important to cook the strawberry puree until very thick - this will indicate that the corn starch has fully cooked out.
- If you don't have nilla wafers you could use any other butter cookie or graham crackers!
- This cake should be stored in the fridge when not being served. This is not the kind of cake you want to let sit out for too long as it will begin to melt.