Food & Drink

Swe-Dishes: Strawberry Cake with Elderflower Cream

Summer called. And it wants you to make this strawberry elderflower cake ASAP.

This deliciously light and fruity summer cake recipe comes to us courtesy of John Duxbury from SwedishFood.com. Perfect for a family beach trip or cookout, this airy sponge cake is filled with a lovely elderflower custard and sliced strawberries and is topped with whipped cream and even more strawberries.

John’s Tips 

• Elderflower essence is sold in some delicatessen shops or online, but if you can’t find elderflower essence, use a tablespoon or two of undiluted elderflower cordial.
• Garnish the cake with elderflowers, as the scent of the blooms is wonderful.
• If preferred, cut the cake into three layers and top one with the sliced strawberries and the other with the elderflower cream.
• If you like elderflower, make a double quantity of elderflower cream and spread half on top of the cake instead of the whipped cream.

Ingredients

Cake

• Margarine and breadcrumbs for the cake tin
• 4 eggs
• 200 g. (0.9 c.)* caster sugar
• 50 g. (0.4 c.) all-purpose flour
• 80 g. (0.4 c.) potato flour/starch**
• 2 tsp. baking powder

*John recommend using British units for this cake as quantities are not very convenient in American units.

**You can usually find potato flour (starch) in health food stores.

Filling

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
• 1 tsp. elderflower essence
• ¾ c. whipping cream
• 8 oz. strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

Decoration 

• ½-¾ c. whipping cream
• Wild strawberries

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 9″ round cake tin and coat with breadcrumbs.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and airy (about four minutes with a standing mixer on full speed).
3. Mix the all-purpose flour, potato flour and baking powder, and then fold into the mixture.
4. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake on the lowest rung for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean and the cake is just beginning to come away from the sides of the tin.
5. After 2 or 3 minutes of cooling in the cake pan, turn the cake out on to a wire rack. Let the cake cool completely.
6. When completely cooled, cut the cake in half horizontally. (Swedes often have a special device for doing this called a tårtdelare.)
7. Make the filling by whisking the egg yolk, a tablespoon of icing sugar and ½ teaspoon of elderflower essence together until thick and creamy (about 1-2 minutes when whisked by hand).
8. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and then gently fold it into the egg and sugar mixture.  Spread it over the bottom cake layer.
9. Crush the sliced strawberries lightly with a spatula or the flat side of a knife and place them on top of the vanilla whip. Place the other half of the cake on top.
10. Whip the cream for decorating until fairly stiff and spread over the top. Garnish with strawberries.

Enjoy!

John Duxbury enjoys cooking Swedish food and went to the trouble of learning Swedish so he could read Swedish cookbooks. The love affair with Swedish food started as a result of numerous visits to Sweden when he was working with Swedish students. When he retired from teaching he decided to set up http://www.swedishfood.com so other people with an interest in Swedish cooking could benefit from his work.