Something Fancy

Usually when I bake at home I stick to simple desserts that have a maximum of two components, and I leave the fancier stuff for work. But yesterday I decided to make something a little more complicated. What an exciting way to spend my day off!

I knew I wanted to create layers of flavor...but what flavors? I came across a recipe for Cream Cheese Bavarian Cream in my Gisslen Professional Baking book and that got me to thinking about cheesecake. Then I went to my favorite grocery store, Rainbow Grocery, and I saw some small, red, perfectly ripe strawberries. Are you thinking what I was thinking? Strawberry cheesecake? Yep. But I wasn't going to make an ordinary strawberry-topped cheesecake, I was going to make a cheesecake-inspired fancy dessert! 

So here is what I came up with. I've included recipes and pictures..enjoy!

Strawberry and Cream Cheese Bavarian Cream Layers with Graham Flour Langues de Chat, Rose Cream, and Fresh Strawberries

Step 1: Make the Langues de Chat:

*This recipe is from Lindsey Shere's Chez Panisse Desserts cookbook, but I use graham flour instead of all-purpose. It makes them more cake-like.

2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softed

1/3 c. sugar

a few drops of vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

2 egg whites

1/3 c. graham flour

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet either by placing parchment or a silpat on it. I used a silpat.

2. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy. 

3. Add the egg whites and mix until combined, scraping the bowl as many times as necessary. If it won't mix well, turn the speed way up for a bit.

4. Add flour and mix until combined. It might look broken, that's ok.

5. Before you start on this step, decide what shape you want your cake to be. It is a molded cake that you will turn out, so choose a container to put it in. I used a medium-sized pot and a small loaf pan for the two cakes that I made. Once you do that, take your batter and spread it on the silpat or parchment making shapes that are slightly bigger than what will fit in the container. You will need three layers per cake. After they bake you will trim them to fit in just right. So because I made one round cake and one small rectangular cake, I spread the batter to be three circles and 3 small rectangles. E-mail me if you have questions about that step.

6. Bake for about 5 minutes, until they no longer look moist and are starting to brown around the edges.

7. When cool, take a spatula and carefully remove them from the tray, being careful not to break them. If you do, it's not the end of the world, just make it so you can patch them together.

8. Now take a pair of scissors and cut them to fit perfectly inside your chosen container.

Step 2: Prepare the mold:

1. Line the mold with plastic wrap making sure there is overhang. 

2.Put your first langue de chat on the bottom of the mold, lying flat.

Step 3: Make the Strawberry Puree:

1. Puree about 2 cups of strawberries in a food processor.

2. Pass the puree through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding seeds and pulp 

Step 4: Make the Strawberry Bavarian Cream:

*This recipe is adapted from Gisslen's Professional Baking, 4th Edition

4 oz. strawberry puree

2 oz. sugar

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1/4 oz. gelatin

2 1/2 oz. cold water

6 oz. heavy cream

1. Whisk together the puree, sugar, and lemon juice

2. Pour the water over the gelatin and let sit for a minute. Heat briefly, just until the gelatin is dissolved. Make sure you don't heat it too much or the gelatin won't work. Add that to the puree mixture.

3. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Fold it into the strawberry mixture. You might need to whisk it in at the end. That's fine.

4. Pour into mold and smooth it off. 

5. Place your second langue de chat layer on top. Refrigerate until set.

Step 5: Make the Cream Cheese Bavarian Cream

*This recipe was adapted from Gisslen's Professional Baking, 4th Edition

6 oz. cream cheese

2 oz. sugar

pinch salt

zest of 1 lemon

a few drops of vanilla extract

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1/8 oz. gelatin

1 oz. water

1 c. heavy cream

1. Paddle cream cheese, sugar, salt, lemon juice, zest, and vanilla in a mixer until soft and fluffy.

2. Put water over gelatin and let sit for 1 minute. Heat briefly to dissolve the gelatin. Stir into cream cheese mixture.

3. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Fold into cream cheese mixture.

4. Pour into mold on top of strawberry layer and langue de chat. Place your 3rd langue de chat on top. Refrigerate until set.

Step 6: Unmold your cake:

1. Place a plate on the top of your mold and flip it all over, so now the cake is on the plate and the mold is upside-down. Pull on the plastic to get the cake to come out of the mold. Remove the plastic.

Step 7: Make the rose cream:

1/2 c. heavy cream

 few drops of rose water

2 tsp. sugar

1. Whip all to soft peaks

2. Fluffily spread on top of your cake.

Step 8: Garnish:

1. Cut some fresh strawberries however you would like. Arrange them on top of the cake.

Step 9: Show it off!

I know this recipe has a lot of steps, so if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.