Heart Fraisier

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The ultimate strawberry cake

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Cutting Pistachio Joconde Biscuit

Flip one joconde sheet at the time, and remove parchment.
Cut 2 pistachio joconde biscuit hearts per cake. Reserve sponge in the refrigerator.

Marzipan Heart

To prevent sticking, lightly coat your work surface and marzipan with either cornstarch or potato starch. Roll half of the marzipan into a very thin sheet (0.080 inches or 2mm thick). Cut marzipan sheet into 3 hearts. Save leftovers for later use.
Dust cornstarch straight onto a sheet pan (do not use silicone mat or parchment. Carefully, transfer marzipan heart over. Light the blowtorch and lightly burnish the marzipan. Leave them out at room temperature untouched to firm up a bit prior to use.

Preparing Molds

Line each cake ring with collar acetate (strips made out of freezer bags do the trick), place prepared rings onto cake boards.

Preparing Strawberries

Fill up a salad spinner or a large bowl with cold water. Immerse strawberries for a few seconds, drain and lay berries onto paper towels or kitchen towel. Use a paring knife to cut out the stems after washing (removing them before cleaning can cause strawberries to absorb water.
Reserve the nicest looking berries to build the sides of the cakes and garnishing. Save them others for the compote and inner montage.

Strawberry Compote

Soak gelatin in cold water to soften, and drain well. In a small saucepan, gather strawberries along with the sugar, and balsamic vinegar. Place on stovetop and set to low flame. Combine the second part of the sugar with the pectin, and add it to the saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook on medium-low for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the softened gelatin.
Transfer strawberry compote to a clean bowl. Let cool to room temp and fold in the chopped strawberries, and lime zest – keep the compote refrigerated.

Fraisier Montage 1

Carefully insert the first pistachio joconde disc in each cake ring that are lined with collar acetate.
Arrange the selected strawberry halves next to each other touching the acetate. Repeat until done, and keep refrigerated.

Pistachio Mousseline

Soak gelatin in cold water to soften; and drain well. Place the mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer or fridge. In a saucepan, heat the milk (and vanilla bean if using) until just simmering. Remove from heat; cover and let infuse for 20 minutes or so. Remove vanilla pods and save. Learn more about vanilla.
In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar. Then incorporate the cornstarch and flour.
Bring milk back to a quick boil, and slowly pour hot vanilla milk into the eggs mixture while whisking continuously. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens. When custard is boiling, cook for about 2-3 minutes.
Then whisk in the pistachio paste...
Remove custard from heat, and incorporate the soften gelatin and the cubed cold butter. Smooth out custard using the immersion blender.
Now, the temperature of the custard should be around 122ºF/50ºC. Transfer it to the chilled mixing bowl and let the mixer run on medium speed until the custard cools to 82ºF/28ºC.
Gradually add the cold, cubed butter into the custard while beating continuously. Mix until the mousseline becomes smooth, fluffy, and perfectly emulsified. By the end, ensure the temperature does not exceed 59ºF/15ºC—this guarantees the ideal silky texture.

Pro-tip

If your mousseline separates (from being too cold), gently warm the mixing bowl with a blowtorch or over a bain-marie while whisking to bring it back together. If it’s too soft, freeze half for about 20 minutes, then re-whip it with the remaining portion until light and stable.

Fraisier Montage 2

Pipe out pistachio mousseline from bottom to top between each strawberry. Cover bottom sponge as well.
Coat the sides with a tablespoon. Add more mousseline in the center of the cake.
Tuck in strawberries and spread around some of the strawberry compote.
Add another layer of mousseline. Place the second sponge upside down – Gently lower the second sponge layer on top, pressing lightly to adhere. Ensure it sits level for a neat finish. Apply a final, smooth layer of mousseline over the top.
Smooth out cake using a large offset spatula, and refrigerate for 6 hours at least before covering the cake.

Covering Cake with Marzipan

Remove the cake ring but the collar acetate; it must remain in place until ready to cut. Carefully, slide an offset spatula or a dough scraper underneath the marzipan disc, and drape the cake with.

Decorating

Stick strawberries with a dot of red fruit preserves or soft strawberry jelly. Additional decoration maybe added such as red roses petals and dry vanilla pods. Enjoy!