Hazelnut & vanilla strawberry cake

For those of you who follow me on instagram, you know that I stopped baking for a few weeks for the best of reasons, the birth of my daughter 😊 But here I am back with a new recipe, and for my comeback I could only offer you a new strawberry cake! A soft hazelnut cookie, a strawberry and vanilla mousseline cream, a whipped cream and of course lots of strawberries, here is this recipe that will allow you to enjoy the end of the strawberry season !
 
 

 
 Prep time : 1 hour + 35 minutes cooking
 For a 22cm diameter cake / 8 to 10 servings :

 

Hazelnut soft cake :

 3 eggs
 100g sugar
 30g hazelnut puree
 50g milk
 1 pinch of fleur de sel
 50g flour
 90g hazelnut powder
 130g brown butter (so about 160g of butter)
 
 Start by preparing the brown butter: put it in a saucepan over low heat and let it cook until it turns golden and stops crackling. Let it cool.
 Whisk the eggs with the sugar until the mixture swells and turns white, then add the hazelnut purée and the milk.
 
 

 

 
 Then add the hazelnut powder and flour, and finish with the warmed hazelnut butter.
 
 

 
 Pour the dough into a circle of 20 to 22cm in diameter and bake in the preheated oven at 170°C for 35 minutes. Let cool completely.
 
 

 
 

Strawberry & vanille soaking syrup :

 90g milk
 40g strawberries
10g vanilla extract
 
 Hull the strawberries then mix the 3 ingredients and set aside.
 
 

 
 

Strawberry & vanilla mousseline cream :

 150g milk
 150g strawberry puree
 75g liquid cream
 1 vanilla bean
 90g egg yolks
 90g powdered sugar
 30g cornstarch
 20g butter (1)
 85g butter (2)
 
 Heat the milk, the strawberry puree and the liquid cream with the seeds of the vanilla bean.
Whip the egg yolks with the sugar, then add the cornstarch.
 
 

 
 Pour half the hot liquid over it, then pour it back into the pan.
 
 

 
 Thicken over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add butter (1) and mix well.
 
 

 
 Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator.
Then whip the butter (2) and gradually add the cooled pastry cream.
 
 

 
 Continue to whip until you have a smooth, airy cream (if small pieces of butter form, lightly heat the bowl of the processor with a blowtorch while continuing to whip until the cream becomes smooth).
 
 

 
 Proceed immediately to assembly.

 

Assembly & finishing touches :

 200g of strawberries for the border of the strawberry cake
 About 600g of strawberries for the interior and decoration
250g of liquid cream
 25g powdered sugar
 
 Cut the strawberries in half and place them around the edge of the 22cm diameter circle previously covered with rhodoid and placed on your serving dish.
 
 

 
 Cut the hazelnut cake in half and cut it to the right diameter. Place the first half in the bottom of the circle and soak it with the syrup.
 
 

 

 
 Cover the cake with the cream, making sure to fill in the gaps between the strawberries. Cut the strawberries into small pieces and pour them over the cream.
 
 

 
 Cover with mousseline cream, then place second cake on top.
 
 

 

 
 Soak it, then cover with the remaining cream.
 
 

 

 
 Place the strawberry cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Next, whip the cream with the powdered sugar until you get a not too firm whipped cream.
 
 

 
 Unmold the strawberries, then decorate with the whipped cream (I piped it with a saint-honoré tip) and the remaining strawberries before enjoying!