Strawberry Cream Angel Cake

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Vanilla Cream
1/4 c. Sugar
4 tsp Cornstarch
1/8 tsp Salt
1 c. Light cream
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean)
2 Egg yolks, beaten

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt together. Slowly stir in the light cream. (If using, split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrap out the seed into the mixture and then add the whole vanilla bean.)

Cook the cream mixture over medium heat, whisking often until thickened and bubbly. Cook for 1 more minute.

Gradually whisk approximately half of the cream mixture into the egg yolk. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 2 more minutes, whisking constantly.

Remove the cream from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. (Or discard the vanilla bean.)

Place the bowl of cream in ice water and chill for approximately 5 minutes, stirring often to allow the cream to chill evenly. Cover the cream with plastic wrap and continue to chill in the fridge until cold.


Strawberry Sauce
1.5 c. Strawberries, chopped
1/8 c. Sugar
1 tbsp Fresh lemon juice

Stir the ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a slow boil.

Reduce heat and simmer until the strawberries are soft. (Do a taste test here to see if the sauce is sweet enough. Add more sugar as desired.)

Chill the sauce until cold.



Cake Assembly

4 Mini angel food cakes
Whipped cream (optional)
Fresh strawberries

Prepare the vanilla cream and strawberry sauce the night before.

Using a large bread knife, gently holding down the cake and slice the mini angel food cakes horizontally into 3 layers.

Spread the vanilla cream and the chunky strawberry sauce between the cake layers.

Spread vanilla cream on the top layer, drizzle a little bit of strawberry sauce on the cream and garnish with strawberries or whipped cream.


My comments:

This cake was so good that Hubby and I had it for dinner. We couldn't wait until after dinner. And of course, after eating the cake, mini as they were, we didn't feel like real food anymore. Ah well...it's Saturday night, we are allowed to indulge, aren't we? ;)

I swiped the vanilla cream recipe from Leslie and she wasn't lying when she said you have to make her strawberries and cream tart NOW. The cream went perfectly well with the strawberries, so creamy, so heavenly...and super easy to make. I didn't have any vanilla bean at home so I doubled the amount of vanilla extract. However, I have every intention of making this again and next time, I will track down a vanilla bean because I do agree it would make a big difference in taste.

The strawberry sauce wasn't difficult to do either, very similar to the raspberry coulis I've made before. I wanted to use store-bought angel food cake rather than making my own. So I added enough sugar to give the sauce a hint of sweetness instead of turning the sauce into a strawberry syrup. This worked out well for me. However, if you want to make your own cake, you can play around with the sugar content in the cake as well as the strawberry sauce to satisfy your sweet tooth. Try experimenting the sauce with different types of berries!!

This cake is perfect for a dinner party. It looks fantastic and it tastes fabulous. The fillings can be prepared the day before and it's quick to assemble right before serving. Your guests will be totally wowed because they'll think you've spent hours slaving over this dessert.

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