Strawberry weekend.

It was a perfect weekend. Just the right amount of everything - food market, sun, fresh veggies, brunch with friends, afternoon nap, delicious dinner, evening with a book, wide open windows until late, coffee with cream and fresh strawberries....

It really feels like the weekend was a day longer or at least somehow it squeezed in an extra couple of hours.

Summer food is definitely more veggie / fruity - heavy dishes turn into salads, soups into fruit smoothies, desserts into a simple bowl of fruit, lightly sprinkled with sugar. Unless there's an occasion to make a real fruity masterpiece.

Strawberry bday cake with vanilla cream.
prep time 30min, baking time 40min + breaks to cool things down

for base:
6 eggs (separate yolks from whites)
160g sugar
180g flour
1sp baking powder
50g almond powder (grained almonds)

for cream:
4 egg yolks
50g sugar
1 cup milk
1 vanilla stick (cut in the middle)
1sp gelatine (soaked in 2tbsp of cold water)
1 cup of cream (36%)

+ 400g of fresh strawberries

1. Mix egg yolks with sugar, beat whites until stiff then gently add to yolks/sugar mix. Constantly mixing add flour and baking powder, then almond powder. Pour into a round spring form (greased). Bake for 40min in 180 degrees. Take out of the oven, set aside to cool. When cold cut the middle part out (don't throw out, just set aside for later), leaving just thick rims and bottom.
2. Prepare cream. Mix egg yolks with sugar. Boil milk with vanilla stick, then slowly add egg mixture. Pour back to into the pot and continue boiling, constantly mixing until thickens. Take vanilla stick out and add gelatine - stir to make sure it's well dissolved. Set aside to cool.
3. In a separate bowl beat cream until thick. Add cold yolk mixture (point 2) and crumbled pieces of remaining base. Gently pour into the base, decorate with strawberries and leave in fridge for min 30min before serving.

This recipe is not easy and it involves multiple little steps. You need to make sure you have enough time in between to let things cool. The result is stunning and will make every bday person (and I guess not only) happy. I only used half of the remaining base for the cream and only half of the cream to fill the cake. The remaining cream will be used as extra and to decorate the plates.
Last but not least - I have been waiting to make it for a year. The cake was on the cover of last years 'Kuchnia' magazine and I just could not get it out of my mind...

Voilà! Enjoy!