Daring to do it: Fraisier

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

This month's challenge looked amazing. Ihad seen cakes like this before in bakeries, but never thought how they were accomplished. Thanks to Jana, now I know!

Start with a chiffon cake, which will be split in half. Yum... Light, airy, and not too sweet.

Then make pastry cream. This is actually a whipped cream substitute made with tofu which was blended with the soy pastry cream I made...Get together the cake, cream and the other components you will need: simple syrup and fruit. Traditionally, fraisier is made with strawberries. (Fraise...) I added blueberries to the mix, too. And don't forget your springform pan lined with plastic wrap.

Assembly was so easy, my two year old did it!! (Ok, she just helped... best sous chef ever!)

First wet the bottom layer of chiffon cake with the simple syrup.

Then arrange halved strawberries around the edge of the pan, cut sides facing out. Add blueberries if you want...

Pipe (or in my case, squeeze!) cream around the berries, essentially holding them in place. Then add a layer of cream on top of the cake.

Put more fruit on top of the pastry cream, This will then be covered with the second layer of chiffon cake.

Soak the top layer of cake with more simple syrup.

Wrap the whole cake in the plastic wrap, let it set in the fridge for at least four hours.
I topped the cake with more berries and some colored sugar sprinkles. The pastry cream didn't set up as firmly as I had hoped, but I was still very pleased with the way the cake looked!

And, more importantly than the look, the taste of the cake was amazing! I could eat this cake every day! All of us, including my parents, loved the way it turned out. As long as my dad doesn't know that the filling was made with tofu, I think he will go on loving it! (He knows it was non-dairy. We just didn't point out the whole tofu thing. Safer that way.)

Thank you, Jana, for this fun, beautiful and delicious challenge! I can't wait to make this one again! If you want to give it a try, here is the recipe.

If you want to see what fabulous creations the other Daring Bakers came up with, look here.