Strawberry Raffaello cream cake for little show-offs

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 3 eggs
• 100 g sugar
• 3 drops of vanilla flavor
• 50 g flour
• 50 g cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 500 g mascarpone
• 500 g low-fat curd cheese 0.2%
• 100 g sugar
• 3 packets of vanilla sugar
• 1 ½ packs of white gelatin powder
• 2 cups of cream
• 2 packs of cream stiffener
• 600 g strawberries
• 400 g confectionery (Raffaello)
• some desiccated coconut
• 150 g strawberries
• 60 g confectionery (Raffaello)
• Lemon balm, some leaves
• 1 cup cream, optional
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar, optional
• 1 pack of cream stiffener, optional

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 30 minutes

Preheat oven (electric oven: 175°C/ fan oven: 150°C). First, separate the eggs and beat the egg whites in a grease-free bowl until stiff peaks form. Then, add the sugar and continue beating until glossy. Then fold in the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Combine the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder, sift them onto the foam mixture, and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Grease a springform pan well or line it with baking paper. Pour in the prepared batter, smooth it out, and place it in the preheated oven. Baking time varies depending on the oven; it’s best to check after 25 minutes whether the batter is already firm and fluffy; if it hasn’t reached the desired consistency, simply check every few minutes. Once the batter is baked, remove it from the oven and, once it has cooled completely, cut it crosswise to form a base and a top for the cake. For the cream, mix the mascarpone, quark, sugar, and 2 packets of vanilla sugar until smooth. You can use more or less sugar for the cream, depending on your taste. Prepare the gelatine according to the package instructions (for cold dishes) and then mix it with a few tablespoons of the mascarpone cream. Mix this gelatine mixture with the remaining cream and refrigerate until the mixture is nice and firm (about 1 hour). In the meantime, wash the strawberries and cut them into pieces. Quarter the Raffaello. Then whip the cream with the cream stiffener and the remaining packet of vanilla sugar until stiff, mix with the diced strawberries and Raffaello, and refrigerate if necessary. Once the mascarpone cream is firm, set aside 1/3 of the cream. Fold the strawberry-Raffaello-cream mixture into the remaining cream. Wash out the springform pan and place the cake base in it. Spread the mascarpone, strawberry, and Raffaello cream mixture on top in a dome shape and cover with the cake lid. Carefully press the sides of the lid down to create an even dome shape. Remove the cake from the springform pan and cover both the lid and the sides with the reserved (pure, white) mascarpone cream until a smooth surface is formed and no more of the cake base/lid and filling are visible. Return the cake to the refrigerator (approx. 30 minutes). Once the cake is nice and firm, you can decorate it with (toasted, if desired) desiccated coconut, strawberries, Raffaello, and lemon balm. You can also whip the cream again with vanilla sugar and cream stiffener to create puffs of cream on the dome (using a piping bag with a star nozzle). Be sure to refrigerate the finished cake until ready to serve! The cake is a real eye-catcher, with its mascarpone and quark filling resembling a fruit cream rather than a traditional cake. It’s a treat for even the most cake-despiser! The amount of strawberries and Raffaello can be varied as desired; for example, this recipe is based on 3 250g tubs of strawberries and 2 230g boxes of Raffaello.