This was my very first challenge since joining the Daring Baker's. For those of you that don't know about it, it's an online community of baking enthusiasts who eagerly await a monthly challenge. Once the challenge is assigned, 27 days are given to make the item. Variations are allowed, but certain guidelines must also be followed.
For my Fraisier, I stayed fairly close to tradition but decided to make my own almond paste. Most almond paste recipes use egg whites but there's no cooking involved. Since I'm pregnant, I didn't use the egg whites. Instead I boiled water with corn syrup and sugar and then blended it with ground almonds and icing sugar to make a paste. The paste was a bit intense so i cut it with whipped cream and made the icing you see on the top of the cake.
For my Fraisier, I stayed fairly close to tradition but decided to make my own almond paste. Most almond paste recipes use egg whites but there's no cooking involved. Since I'm pregnant, I didn't use the egg whites. Instead I boiled water with corn syrup and sugar and then blended it with ground almonds and icing sugar to make a paste. The paste was a bit intense so i cut it with whipped cream and made the icing you see on the top of the cake.
Overall this was a big success and the pastry cream was divine. While it was a really light and summery cake (and a great use of strawberries), it was, as the challenge promised, very labour intensive and took about 4 hours of active time. So...this may be the only Fraisier that I ever make!
The recipe info is here (I used the basic chiffon cake and it was very, very light and airy - I will definitely use this recipe again): http://thedaringkitchen.com/recipe/fresh-fraisiers
Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.
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