Fraisier

Hello food lovers,

This week, I'm sharing a wonderfully seasonal dessert, perfect for Mother's Day.

A traditional recipe but with my own little twist! ;-)

A vanilla and pistachio fraisier.

For this recipe, I used the 22 cm heart-shaped mould, with a 6 cm high acetate strip.

If you want to make it in a round ring using exactly the same recipe, no problem! Use a 20 cm diameter ring with a 6 cm high acetate strip.

For a heart-shaped fraisier serving 8 to 10 people, you will need:

Joconde Sponge

- 75g icing sugar

- 70g almond flour

- 2 whole eggs

- 25g flour

- 2 egg whites

- 12g sugar

- 1 tsp pistachio flavouring

- 75g crushed pistachios

Diplomat Cream

- 400g whole milk

- 2 vanilla pods

- 60g egg yolks

- 60g sugar

- 35g cornstarch (cornflour)

- 3 gelatine leaves

- 106g mascarpone

- 160g heavy cream

Mascarpone Whipped Cream

- 30g icing sugar

- 140g mascarpone

- 200g heavy cream

Assembly and Decoration

- 1kg strawberries

- Crushed pistachios

- A few white pansies

We'll start the recipe with the Joconde sponge.

Joconde Sponge

In a bowl, mix 75g icing sugar and 70g almond flour together with a spoon.

In the mixer bowl, whisk 2 whole eggs at maximum speed.

The mixture will turn pale and become nice and fluffy.

Add the almond flour/icing sugar mixture to the foamy eggs.

Then using the whisk again, mix for 30 seconds at speed 2.

Sift 25g flour using a sifter and fold everything together with a spatula.

Add 1 tsp of pistachio flavouring and mix well.

In a bowl, whip 2 egg whites with 12g sugar until stiff.

We will need the 2 egg yolks for the diplomat cream, so keep them in the fridge in the meantime.

The egg whites should be nice and firm.

Fold them into the previous mixture in 3 additions, meaning add a little whipped egg white, gently fold with a spatula so as not to deflate the whites, and repeat until all the whites are incorporated.

The sponge batter is ready.

Preheat your oven to 170°C, fan setting.

Prepare a 27 x 36 cm silicone mat on a perforated baking tray.

Spray it with non-stick spray. This will make it easier to unmould after baking. :-)

Pour the batter onto the silicone mat.

Spread it evenly using a large offset spatula.

Sprinkle 75g crushed pistachios over your sponge.

Bake the sponge in the middle of your preheated oven at 170°C for 10 minutes.

Once the sponge is baked, let it cool for a few minutes.

Unmould it onto baking paper, then flip it over so the pistachios are on top.

Cut out 2 hearts from the sponge using a knife, following this template: HEART TEMPLATE.

For the decoration, use cookie cutters to cut small hearts from the sponge scraps.

For the hearts, I used this set of cookie cutters, use the smallest one (4 cm).

Now that the sponges are ready, let's move on to the next step.

Diplomat Cream

Diplomat cream is a pastry cream base into which whipped cream is folded.

In a jug of cold water, place 3 gelatine leaves.

We need 2 egg yolks. Use the ones you set aside when making the sponge.

In a bowl, place 2 egg yolks with 60g sugar and 35g cornstarch (cornflour).

Using a whisk, mix the egg yolks, cornstarch and sugar together well.

Set the mixture aside for a moment.

In a saucepan, pour 400g whole milk.

Add 2 vanilla pods to the milk, cutting them in half lengthways.

Bring the milk and vanilla pods to a boil.

Once the milk and vanilla come to a boil, remove the saucepan from the heat.

Pour in 2 additions over the egg yolk, sugar and cornstarch mixture, stirring well so the egg yolks don't curdle.

Pour everything back into the saucepan.

To stir and monitor the temperature, I recommend using the thermometer whisk. Set it to 82°C. Once the temperature is reached, it will beep. Very handy! :-)

Once the mixture reaches 82°C, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.

Squeeze out the gelatine and add it to the vanilla cream.

Whisk well.

Remove the two vanilla pods from the cream, making sure to scrape off all the cream and vanilla seeds from inside the pods.

Pour the vanilla cream into a bowl and cover it with cling film pressed directly against the surface (meaning you press the cling film directly onto the cream). This prevents a skin from forming on top of the cream.

Then place the cream in the fridge for about 1h, stirring every 15 minutes.

In the meantime, whip a firm whipped cream with 160g heavy cream and 106g mascarpone using the whisk.

Using a thermometer, check the temperature of the vanilla cream.

To be able to add the whipped cream, it must have cooled down below 30°C.

Fold in the whipped cream in several additions into the vanilla cream and gently fold with a spatula.

There you go, we now have a diplomat cream. :-)

Pour the diplomat cream into a piping bag. Use a jug to help fill it.

You won't be able to fit all the cream in the bag at once. Keep the rest in the bowl and once your bag is empty, refill it with the remaining cream.

Place the piping bag and the bowl of remaining cream in the fridge.

Now let's assemble our fraisier.

Assembly

For this recipe, I chose a 22 cm heart-shaped frame.

On a perforated tray, place a sheet of baking paper then your heart-shaped frame.

The mould is 4.5 cm high. To make unmoulding easier and to add height to our fraisier, it is best to use a 6 cm high acetate strip.

Place the acetate strip inside the frame.

Quick tip: unroll the length of acetate strip you need and finish at the bottom of the heart.

Place your pistachio sponge in the centre of your frame.

Cut your strawberries in half. If your strawberries don't fit between the frame and the sponge, you can slice them lengthways.

If needed, trim and adjust your strawberries if there is too much difference in height. I think it looks nicer when all the strawberries are at the same height.

Keep the strawberry trimmings for later.

Arrange your strawberries all around the frame, flat side facing outward against the frame.

For the fraisier assembly, cut 250g strawberries into small cubes, also using the trimmings from before.

Pipe approximately 400g diplomat cream and make sure to fill the cream well between the strawberries.

Using a small offset spatula, spread the cream well between the strawberries.

Then arrange half the strawberry cubes on the diplomat cream and place the second pistachio sponge.

Pipe approximately 200g diplomat cream, then smooth the cream with a small offset spatula.

Arrange the remaining strawberries, then the remaining diplomat cream.

Smooth the cream and place the fraisier in the fridge for a while, while you prepare the whipped cream for decoration.

Our fraisier is assembled, now all that's left is to decorate it.

Decoration

Whip 30g icing sugar, 140g mascarpone and 200g heavy cream into whipped cream.

Pour the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with an 8 mm round nozzle.

Pipe pretty little dots all over the fraisier.

Decorate with the small sponge hearts (the ones cut out earlier from the pistachio sponge scraps), strawberries and a few white pansies. You can also sprinkle the fraisier with some crushed pistachios.

Place your fraisier in the fridge for a minimum of 6h, you can even leave it overnight.

Quick tip: place it directly on a serving board/plate before removing the frame, to avoid breaking it.

In our range, we have beautiful cake stands.

Before serving or after a minimum of 6h in the fridge, remove the frame and then carefully peel off the acetate strip.

And there you have it, the fraisier is ready to enjoy! :-)

It keeps for about 2 days in the fridge in a box.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and that you treat your mum to this delicious dessert for Mother's Day. ;-)

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday, food lovers!

Sophie

P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.