Strawberry Thyme Buttercream Cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 5 g thyme, dried
• 300 ml milk
• 300 g butter, soft
• 540 g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla flavor in rapeseed oil
• 5 egg yolks, size M
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ packs lemon peel, grated, 1 pack = 12 g
• 400 g flour
• 135 g cornstarch
• ½ pack of baking powder, 1 pack = 16 g
• 3 g salt
• 6 egg whites, size M
• 200 g sugar
• 300 g butter, room temperature
• 160 g cream cheese, room temperature
• 30 g strawberries, freeze-dried, coarsely ground
• 1 pinch of salt

Instructions

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

Perfect as a “naked” wedding cake

This recipe was developed for a wedding cake and is also suitable for cupcakes. The instructions given here are for a 28 cm springform pan. Bring the thyme and milk to a boil (preferably in a tea bag or alternatively filter it out later) and let it steep until cool. You will need 300 ml of thyme milk later. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Finally, add the lemon zest. Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt together. Stir the mixture alternately with the thyme and milk into the butter mixture. Do not overbeat; pour quickly into the baking pan. Bake at 160 °C (convection oven) for approx. 80 minutes. Do the skewer test! Do not cut the cake into three slices until it has completely cooled down. For the cream, heat the egg whites, sugar and salt in a bain-marie to at least 60 °C, stirring constantly, to kill any germs. 70°C is on the safe side, but the egg whites must not coagulate, so check with a thermometer. Beat with a stand mixer at full speed for 8-10 minutes until cold. Slowly stir in the butter and cream cheese in batches. It’s important that the ingredients are at room temperature, not from the refrigerator. Finally, stir in the freeze-dried strawberries. Layer the cake slices and filling, preferably in a cake ring. For a “naked” cake, only lightly spread the outer edge. Decorate with fresh thyme and fresh strawberries. Chill in the refrigerator. Note: For cupcakes, the baking time is significantly reduced to about 30 minutes. The toothpick test helps here too. Stored in the refrigerator, they will stay perfect for up to a week.