The Healthy Vegan Kitchen

  I am continuing to catch up on the previous Daring Baker challenges & this months extra challenge is:

Strawberry Mirror Cake!

I had never heard of a Strawberry Mirror Cake before, so I was flying blind on this one, although it sounded intriguing. As always, I put the challenge off to the last minute, so this on the afternoon of the 30th, I set out on my mirror cake adventure. Actually, it came together fairly easy, especially since I didn’t have to temper any eggs, or worry about heat affecting anything. I had to make quite a few substitutions on this challenge, but I think it turned out pretty good. I did half the recipe, just because there isn’t anyone to share it with this month & I really don’t need to be eating the whole thing myself. I have put my subs & notes in pink. For the rules, we had to make a white cake and the flavors had to be strawberry. We were able to sub the alcohol or omit it altogether. Well, I didn’t have any kirsch or strawberry liquor, so I used Grand Marnier. Flavor wise it worked great, I have always loved strawberries & oranges together. We also had to do the mirror. My mirror came out smooth looking, but I don’t know if I would call it a mirror. For some reason, all of my photos came out a little blurry, so sorry about that. I don’t know if I would make this again, but it was good. Mainly a texture thing for me, I really don’t like Jello, so the texture of the Bavarian Cream was a little too jelloy for me. Huge thumbs up for the cake from the whole family.

Strawberry Mirror Cake

Daring Bakers Challenge #9: July 2007 Host: Peabody (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)
Absolute Rules for this challenge:

1. Cake must be a white cake.

2. Cake must be strawberry. If you for some reason don’t make the strawberry flavor Peabody did not find alternative recipes. So if you are going to deviate it will be up to you to figure out how.

3. You must do the mirror

Allowed Modifications: You may substitute the alcohol for a non-alcoholic flavor or omit

You may decorate the cake BUT a portion of the mirror must be visible

Recipe Quantity: One (1) 10″ Cake

Special Pans: 11 x 17″ Jelly Roll Pan, 10″ Springform Pan, 8 1/4″ Cake Round or Tin (or pattern)

A. Strawberry Mirror Cake

3 eggs soy yogurt

3 egg yolks silken tofu

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg whites Ener-g egg replacer

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

2 TBSP sugar

2/3 cup sifted cake flour

½ cup water

1/3 cups sugar

2 TBSP kirsch or strawberry liqueur Grand Marnier

1.Preheat oven to 450F. Butter & flour the sides of an 11 X 17“ jelly roll pan(rimmed baking sheet). Line bottom of pan with a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit bottom pan exactly. I used a square silicone cake pan.

2.Beat eggs, egg yolks & ¾ cup sugar together in a medium bowl until thick & light. Beat in the vanilla.

3.In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar & beat until whites begin to form peaks. Add the 2 TBSP sugar & beat until the whites hold stiff, glossy peaks(do not over beat).

4.Sift flour over the egg yolk mixture & fold in . Stir in ¼ of the whites. Then carefully fold in the remaining whites.

5.Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake until light brown & springy to touch (7 to 10 minutes).

6. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Run a knife along edge to loosen. Invert cake tin to cut out 8 ¼“ circles of cake. Wrap the cake layers, separated with waxed paper, & set aside. Cake may be frozen at this point.

B. Strawberry Bavarian Cream

2 ½ TBSP unflavored gelatin vegan gelatin

1 ½ cups strained strawberry puree(1 ½ baskets) pureed in Vitamix, didn’t strain

5 egg yolks silken tofu

2/3 cup sugar

1 ½ cups milk soy milk

1 TBSP lemon juice

several drops of red food coloring omitted

1 ¾ cups whipping cream silken tofu

1.Sprinkle the gelatin over the strawberry puree in a small bowl & set aside until spongy.

2.Combine egg yolks & sugar in a bowl’ beat until light. Bring milk to a boil in sauce pan. I didn’t heat it at this time. I waited until I combined them. Pour hot milk into yolk mixture ans stir with a wooden spoon (it doesn’t say so but I would temper the egg mixture first to be safe). Return this mixture to the saucepan & cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until your finger leaves a clear trail in sauce when drawn across the back of the spoon. (Do not boil or mixture will curdle.) Immediately remove from heat & stir in softened gelatin mixture. Pour into a stainless steel bowl places over a bowl of ice water. Stir in lemon juice & a few drops of red food coloring. Cool over ice water, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens to the consistency of softly whipped cream. I just put it in the fridge for a bit, whipped, back in the fridge, whipped, etc.

3.While gelatin mixture is cooling, whip the whipping cream until it holds soft peaks. When the gelatin mixture resembles softly whipped cream, fold the whipped cream into the gelatin mixture. This was a little confusing, but just did my best.

Strawberry Mirror

1 tsp lemon juice

1 TBSP kirsch Grand Marnier

1 TBSP water

1 TBSP unflavored gelatin

Few drops of red food coloring omitted

 

1.Prepare strawberry juice.

2.Place lemon juice, kirsch, & water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy & soft.

3.Measure 1 ½ cups Strawberry juice into a small saucepan & bring to a simmer; pour over gelatin mixture & stir to dissolve gelatin. Tint to desired color with red food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water & stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy & just beings to thicken (do not let jell); remove from ice water.

4.When mixture is syrupy, pour a 1/16” layer over the top of cake. Refrigerate until set.

Strawberry Juice pureed in Vitamix, didn’t strain

1 ½ pints of strawberries(18 oz)

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup water

1. Wash & hull strawberries; coarsely chop.

2. Place strawberries in saucepan; crush to start juices flowing. Place over low heat; add sugar & water; simmer slowly 10 minutes.

3.Pour juice & pulp through damp jelly bag or cheesecloth-lined colander & drain into a bowl for 15 minutes (Do not press down on fruit).

Soaking Syrup

Combine water & the 1/3 cup sugar in saucepan; bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Cool to room temperature; flavor with liqueur. Set aside or refrigerate in glass jar until ready to use.

To Assemble the Cake:

1. Brush sides of 10” springform pan lightly with flavorless salad oil or almond oil. Cut out a cardboard circle that is exactly the same size as the bottom inside of the pan; cover cardboard with aluminum foil & fit into bottom of pan. Center one layer of the cake bottom of pan. Brush the cake with some of the soaking syrup to just moisten(not drench) the cake; set aside. I lined with parchment paper (a mini springform pan) & didn’t use the soaking syrup, just added the liquor to the cake batter. I did that mainly because I forgot about the syrup.

2. Prepare Strawberry Bavarian Cream. Immediately pour about half of the Bavarian Cream over the first layer of cake in the pan. Set the next layer of cake on top of the cream. Pour remaining Bavarian Cream over cake & smooth top of the cream with spatula. Refrigerate until the cream sets (1 to 2 hours).

3.Prepare the Strawberry Mirror.

To serve: Wrap a hot towel around the outside of springform pan for a few minutes. Run a small sharp knife tip around the edge of the Strawberry Mirror to separate it form the sides of pan. Mirror will tear when sides are unlatched if it is stuck at ANY point. Slowly unlatch the pan & slide it off the cake. Slice cake in wedges & serve in upright slices.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 12:03 am and is filed under Daring Bakers, Dessert, tofu, fruit, Challenges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.