Sponge Cake Base with Custard Cream & Summer Fruits
Feather-light, silkily filled and glossily glazed – summer on a cake plate
Hello fellow food lovers! When the market stalls are overflowing, there is only one right answer for us: a sponge cake base, silkily filled and densely topped with summer fruits. The batter is an airy sponge made with oil – which keeps it tender and soft even the next day, instead of turning dry. On top goes a smooth custard cream, then berries, apricots or grapes, depending on the season, and finally a wafer-thin sheen of cake glaze. As elegant as in a pâtisserie display case – and in truth surprisingly straightforward.
Ingredients
For the base
Step by step
Whisk the egg mixture until fluffy
Preheat the oven to 180 °C top/bottom heat. Put 150 g beaten whole egg, 150 g granulated sugar and 15 g vanilla sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk everything on the highest setting for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is pale, thick and noticeably more voluminous. This volume gives the base all its lightness.
Stir in oil, milk and lemon
Pour in 150 g rapeseed oil and 150 g whole milk and stir both in only briefly on a low setting. Add the lemon zest – it takes the heaviness out of the sweetness. Do not stir longer than necessary, or the whisked-in air will be lost.
Fold in the dry ingredients
Mix 225 g White flour, 6 g Baking powder and the salt in a separate bowl. Sieve the mixture over the wet mass and fold it in with the dough scraper in a few calm movements. The batter may still show a few streaks – the main thing is that it stays airy.
Baking powder 80g
Swiss white flour, 1 kg
Prepare the tin, bake and turn out
Now that the batter is ready, work swiftly: spray the fruit flan tin (Ø 28 cm) with non-stick spray and dust it thinly with flour. This way the base releases easily later and the typical hollow stays nicely intact.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake the base for about 25 minutes and do the skewer test towards the end – if the wooden skewer stays clean, it's done. Let it rest briefly in the tin, then turn it out and let it cool completely with the hollow facing up.
Tart and quiche tin Ø 24 cm, height 3 cm
250ml non-stick spray
Whip up the custard cream
Put 100 g Custard cream mix with 250 g cold water into a bowl and whip the cream for about 5 minutes, until it is smooth and spreadable. It should be firm enough to carry the fruit, yet still soft enough to spread.
Custard cream mix 1 kg
Fill and arrange the fruit
Spread the cream evenly into the hollow of the cooled base and smooth it with the spreading palette. Then arrange the 600 g of small-cut fruit on top: first the larger pieces as a framework, then the small berries into the gaps. Pay attention to the colour gradient, it makes all the visual difference.
Custard cream mix 1 kg
Glaze and serve
Warm 100 g Cake glaze with 20 g water over low heat, until it is clear and liquid. Brush the fruit swiftly and evenly with the silicone brush – this makes them glossy and stops them drying out. Let the glaze set for 15 minutes, then you can slice.
Cake glaze neutral, 220 g
Sponge Cake Base with Custard Cream & Summer Fruits
Ingredients
For the base
For the custard cream
For topping & sheen
Preparation
- Prepare: Preheat the oven to 180 °C, spray and flour the tin.
- Egg mixture: Whisk egg, granulated and vanilla sugar pale for 2–3 min.
- Liquids: Briefly stir in rapeseed oil, milk and lemon zest.
- Flour: Sieve flour, baking powder and salt and gently fold in.
- Bake: Bake for 25 min, skewer test, rest briefly, turn out, cool.
- Cream: Whip custard cream mix with water smooth for 5 min.
- Top: Spread cream into the hollow, arrange the fruit decoratively.
- Sheen: Warm cake glaze with water, brush the fruit, let set.
Nutritional values per 100 g
Storage & shelf life
Everything for this recipe
Recommended from our bakery — exactly the sizes the recipe was tested with.
Ingredients
Cake glaze neutral, 220 g
Custard cream mix 1 kg
Baking powder 80g
Swiss white flour, 1 kg
250ml non-stick spray
Equipment
Tart and quiche tin Ø 24 cm, height 3 cm
Silicone brush, 20 cm with stainless steel handle
Delivery in 1–2 working days · Free shipping from CHF 100
To make sure your sponge cake base succeeds
A base sponge cake for fruit may be airy, but it must be able to carry the topping. That's why you fold in the flour only briefly – too much stirring makes the crumb tough and dense.
For a particularly delicate fruit cake with custard cream, fold 100 g whipped cream into the whipped custard cream. It becomes airier and more mousse-like, yet stays easy to spread.
When glazing a fruit cake, the rule is: work warm, liquid and swift. Draw the brush over the fruit in one direction only, so no streaks form and the sheen stays even.
Frequently asked questions
Almost always the baking time is the reason. Take the sponge cake base out as soon as it is golden and the skewer test stays clean – the last few minutes decide how moist it is.
Spread the cream only onto the fully cooled base and place the fruit on as dry as possible. Dab very juicy fruit such as peaches briefly beforehand.
The base and cream can be prepared the day before without any problem. You should top and glaze it on the day of serving, then the fruit looks its best.
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