June 27, 2016
Rob
3

Framboisier (Creamy raspberry cake)

I’ve had quite a busy time in the last weeks. I was abroad for work for around 20 days, went to a wedding in Italy and then my parents visited me here in Cannes.

Very little or no time for baking, but I was able to make something for my parents last weekend. You must know that they are very used to Italian pastry, which in my humble opinion is a bit stuck in the 70’s: an abundance of whipped cream, Maraschino-soaked spongecakes and too often that chemical-red candied cherry on top.

So whenever they taste my typically French creations, they are turned off by the important amount and strong taste of butter and by the lack of a “light” whipped cream (they say all my cakes are heavy!). The only cake they “accept” from me is a spongecake with pastry cream and red fruits. The most basic of the basics! Boring! It would include Maraschino too, but that’s too much, I cannot handle it! (Does anybody really like Maraschino?)

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A good compromise I found for our weekends together is a French equivalent of the classical spongecake with cream. Years ago I made a fraisier, but this year I tried for the first time a framboisier, a raspberry-filled cake with a vanilla mousseline cream (read: “lots of butter”).

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Nothing too complicated with this recipe: I just had a problem when I removed the acetate strip because it removed part of the spongecake too! I think this can be solved by dusting the spongecake with powdered sugar before baking, as it should normally happen for ladyfingers.

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I am also very proud of my chocolate decorations on the top. Now, tempering chocolate is very stressful and delicate for me so, even with my mum helping me, I could not take a single picture of the process, but I’ll provide a tutorial soon! 🙂

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Not so proud of the red “blood-like” stains on top, but at least they help the cake stand out! And it’s a nice, simple technique to know, anyway (see below for details).

So, how was this cake? Very good, fresh and summery. Did my parents like it? No, it was too heavy for them………………….

 

Framboisier

Print recipe

Ingredients

Ladyfingers spongecake

110gEgg yolks (~4.5 yolks)
50gGranulated sugar
135gEgg whites (~4 egg whites)
60gGranulated sugar
60gPastry flour
50gCornstarch
As neededRaspberry pieces

Vanilla mousseline cream

350gWhole milk
1/2Vanilla bean
90gGranulated sugar
35gEggs (almost 1 egg, beaten)
50gEgg yolks (~2.5 yolks)
30gCornstarch
175gUnsalted butter

Lemon syrup

145gWater
65gSugar
1Lemon zest

Neutral glaze

60gWater
60gSugar
2gGelatin

Decoration

As neededFresh raspberries
As neededChocolate decorations

Directions

Lemon syrup

1
Bring the water, sugar and lemon zest to a boil for one minute. Then let cool down, strain, and set aside.

Neutral glaze

2
Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan. After one minute, remove from the heat and let cool down.
3
Soften the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes; heat the sugar syrup to around 50 degrees and then incorporate the gelatin. Refrigerate overnight

Ladyfingers spongecake

4
Whip the egg yolks with 70g of sugar
5
Whip the egg whites with 80g of sugar
6
Add 1/3 of the egg whites in the egg yolk mixture
7
Incorporate the flour and cornstarch sifted together
8
Incorporate gently the rest of the egg whites without deflating the batter
9
Pipe two rounds of batter on a parchment-lined pan. The rounds should be around the size of the cake ring or slightly smaller (I drew a circle on the other side of the parchment paper using a pen and the cake ring)
10
In another pan, spread the remaining batter so to obtain at least 2 long 4-cm wide stripes
11
Add some raspberry pieces on top of them
12
Sprinkle the pans with powdered sugar and then bake at 190°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown

Vanilla mousseline cream

13
Heat the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla bean and half of the sugar, whisking regularly
14
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, corn starch and the remaining sugar
15
When the milk is boiling, strain it on the egg mixture in three times, whisking well each time to prevent the yolks from curdling
16
Put back the liquid mixture into the saucepan and cook on medium heat whisking continuously
17
Allow the pastry cream to boil for 2 minutes then remove from the heat and pour it in a large container
18
Cover the pastry cream with the remaining part of the plastic wrap and refrigerate
19
Whisk the pastry cream (at 18-25° more or less, i.e. room temperature) at high speed, then add the room temperature diced butter, little by little. If the resulting mousseline cream is grainy, keep on whisking.

Assembling the cake

20
Put a strip of clear acetate around the inner side of the cake ring to facilitate unmolding
21
Cut one or two 4cm-wide strip of raspberry spongecake; they must be long enough to cover the inner side of the cake ring
22
Cover the inner side of the ring with the spongecake stripe(s) and then place the first spongecake round inside (trim it if necessary)
23
Brush the spongecake rounds generously with the lemon syrup
24
Pour one third of the mousseline cream on the moistened spongecake round, then add some rapsberries
25
Pour the second third of cream, cover with the second spongecake round and moisten it with the syrup
26
Pour the remaining cream and level it with a spatula until the edge of the cake ring (I ended up not having enough cream, but I´ve adjusted the recipe before publishing it) 🙂
27
Optional: pour a dash of vodka or rhum in a bowl with a few drop of red food colouring; dip a kitchen brush in the bowl and then pass your finger through its edge to sprinkle red stains all over the top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for at least a couple of hours.
28
Heat the neutral glaze gently at around 35°C and then pour it on the cold cake. Wait a few minutes then gently remove the cake ring and the acetate strip. Add fresh raspberries and chocolate decorations on top.

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