French Strawberry Cake

Our baking challenge this week was a French Strawberry Tart. The cake is a genoise which is the most important cake a french pastry chef learns to make. When I read about it - I felt the pressure. Is this something that I could do? The recipe seemed reasonable, but I was still anxious about how fragile the batter seemed to be.

According to Julia, the eggs and sugar should take about 5 - 6 minutes until the batter is complete (when a ribbon of batter stays on top for about 10 seconds). My mixture took almost 10 minutes to get to that point. Unfortunately, I don't have a whip attachment for my mixer which is why I think it took so long. For the majority of Julia's recipes I have had to extend my baking time, but not for this one - I baked the batter for 25 minutes exactly.

The whipped cream was easy and simply delicious. I did not need all the whipped crean, so that I can use it for my left over strawberries. I only cut the cake in two layers, as I was not confident enough to cut it into three.

I brought the cake for Baba's birthday party tonight, and the cake seemed to be a hit, as there were no pieces left. This only means that I have to make another cake soon as the family went strawberry picking today and I have so many strawberries that need to be eaten.

On a side note, I wanted to let my fellow bakers know that I have made at least three batches of the cantuccini - my husband can't get enough of them. I think he ate at least 6 tonight!

Until next time beauties, happy baking.