Strawberry cake with fresh strawberries, lemon curd cream and chocolate cream

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1.2 kg strawberries
• Marzipan paste
• 6 eggs
• 6 tbsp water
• 180 g sugar
• 180 g flour
• 1 packet of baking powder
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 1 pack of chocolate pudding powder
• 1 tbsp, heaped cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 750 g low-fat curd cheese
• 4 ½ tbsp lemon juice, alternatively 2 untreated lemons, juice and zest
• 1 ½ bottles of lemon flavor
• 12 tbsp sugar
• 5 sheets of gelatin
• 400 g cream
• 200 g chocolate
• 2 packs of cream stiffener

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours

for a 26cm springform pan

For the sponge cake, separate the eggs. Add the tap water or bottled still water to the egg yolks. Then beat the egg yolks until frothy and the egg whites until stiff. Then add half the sugar to each bowl. Add the vanilla sugar to the bowl with the egg yolks and mix. The egg whites usually need to be beaten again. Then add the egg whites to the egg yolks and mix everything together. Mix the flour with the baking powder, chocolate pudding powder, and cocoa powder and sift it over the egg mixture. Carefully fold in with a whisk. Grease the bottom of a 26 cm springform pan and pour in the batter. Bake in an oven preheated to 160 °C (fan-assisted) for about 30 minutes on the middle rack. Divide the cooled sponge cake horizontally and in the middle. Roll out the marzipan mixture, if possible, thinly to the size of the sponge cake and place it on a sponge base. You can also cut out the marzipan using a cake ring that’s adjusted to the size of the sponge cake and will be needed in the next steps anyway. (I used pre-rolled marzipan for this, but I wouldn’t recommend it.) For the cream, stir the low-fat quark until smooth. First stir in the sugar, then carefully add the lemon juice and lemon flavoring, or alternatively the lemon zest, in small amounts. Season to taste and mix well again. Prepare the gelatin or gelatin substitute according to the package instructions and stir into the finished cream. Chill the cream for about 1 hour until it begins to set. Wash the strawberries, remove the stems, and cut them in half vertically. You need to consider how many pieces you want to divide the cake into; you should leave as many strawberries whole and set aside accordingly (e.g. 16 pieces = 16 strawberries). Then place the strawberries upright on the marzipan-lined sponge cake base with the smooth inside facing out, until the base is completely covered. Place the cake on a cake plate and place the cake ring around the base. Pour the cream over the strawberries, place the sponge cake lid on top, and refrigerate the cake for another 1-2 hours. Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate cream. Whip the cream with the cream stiffener until stiff. The cream should be very stiff, almost buttery. Then melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once it is completely liquid, let it cool to lukewarm. This is important, otherwise the cream will run again. Stir the cooled chocolate into the cream. Once the cream has completely set, pull the cake ring up slightly, but do not remove it. Spread the chocolate cream on top of the cake, reserving a little for decoration. Then divide the cake into slices and, using a piping bag, pipe a cream curl around the edge of each slice. The curl in the middle visible in the photo is purely optional and primarily for aesthetic reasons. Now place the reserved strawberries one at a time on each curl. Remove the cake ring very carefully.