Yogurt Cake with a Strawberry Surprise
This cake is an exercise in contrasts: a dense chocolate sponge, a springy layer of strawberry jelly studded with real chunks of berry, and a light, almost cloud-like cream built on yogurt and white chocolate. It’s that yogurt-and-cream filling that makes the dessert noticeably lighter than traditional buttercream cakes. It’s a technique from the French pastry school that the recipe’s author, a head pastry chef from the “Kofemania” chain, deliberately chose over heavy butter.
Building the cake with a separately set jelly insert is a modern mousse-cake technique: the berry layer is assembled in a smaller ring and frozen, then hidden inside the cream, so that in cross-section it holds a clean shape instead of running.
A Few Pointers
- Always bloom the gelatin in cold water and add it to a warm, but not hot, base, otherwise it loses its setting power.
- Use good-quality white chocolate made with cocoa butter rather than confectionery coating: the stability of the cream depends on it.
- You can swap the strawberries for raspberries or sour cherries; a more acidic berry plays off the sweet white chocolate even better.
The cake needs at least a few hours (ideally overnight) in the refrigerator so the cream sets and the sponge soaks through. Serve chilled; it keeps in the cold for up to 2 days. If you like, slice the sponge into 2 or 3 layers and stack them with cream for a multi-layered version.
Part of French cuisine — 22 more recipes in the section.
You might also like
Ingredients
Instructions
Sponge
Crack the whole egg into the bowl with the yolks, add 30 g of sugar, and whip into a pale, airy mass. Separately, whip the egg whites with 50 g of sugar into a stiff foam.Combine the flour with the cocoa and sift them together. Melt the butter together with the chocolate over a water bath or in the microwave.
Fold the flour and cocoa into the whipped yolks, then add the melted chocolate butter, and finally gently fold in the whipped whites.
Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Line a baking sheet with silicone-coated paper, set an 8-inch (20 cm) baking ring on it, pour in the batter, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Let the sponge cool in the form, run a spatula around the edges, and remove it. If needed, cut out an even round of slightly smaller diameter (7 inches / 18 cm).
Strawberry layer
Bloom the gelatin ahead of time in cold water.Put the strawberries and sugar in a saucepan over low heat, let them thaw, bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and crush the berries so that large chunks remain.
Squeeze out the gelatin, stir it into the strawberry puree, and mix well. Pour the puree into a 6-inch (16 cm) ring and refrigerate until fully set.
Yogurt cream
Bloom the gelatin in cold water. Whip the cream into a thick, airy mass. Melt the white chocolate.Stir the squeezed-out gelatin into a portion of the yogurt, mix, and pour it back into the rest of the yogurt. Combine the yogurt with the melted chocolate, then gently fold in the whipped cream.
Soaking and assembly
Cook a thin syrup from the sugar and water, cool it, and add liqueur or brandy to taste.Place the sponge in an appropriately sized ring and brush it with the syrup using a pastry brush, so it soaks in evenly.
Lay the strawberry jelly over the sponge, then cover the cake with a thick layer of white chocolate cream, smooth the surface with a scraper, and pipe a pattern on top. Refrigerate so the cream sets.
Decorate the finished cake with fresh berries and pieces of fruit, and serve.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.