Anna and I went strawberry picking on Saturday, and then I had lots of strawberries. Normally strawberries don't last long around me, but I had eaten so many that I felt like I should do something with them rather than just eat the rest of them. I liked the idea of a strawberry tiramisu, but I didn't have any marscapone, so that was out. I researched strawberry trifles for a while, but decided that wasn't exactly what I was after. Strawberry Charlotte? I'm in the mood for more layers than that... I was just being hard to please, I guess. So, I sort of made something up. The bottom layer was ladyfinger mush, because that is my favorite part of a tiramisu. Then some strawberry mousse, mostly because I'd never made mousse before and it seemed like a good thing to try. Then a layer of angel food cake (because I like angel food cake and had lots of eggs to use up), then some strawberry sauce, then some strawberries, then more mousse. Um, I should mention this took up a good three hours of my morning and I trashed my whole kitchen...
First, I made an angel food cake. I meant to use half the recipe, but it was only after it was in the oven that I remembered that, so now I have lots of leftover angel food cake. Which is not at all a bad thing!
Next, the strawberry sauce, which was basically just pureed strawberries with a little sugar and a little lemon juice, strained, and heated for a while just to concentrate the flavor.
I dunked the ladyfingers in a combination of lambic and strawberry sauce, and arranged them in a pan. You'll note they're all broken in half--that is because I like my ladyfingers mostly mushy, and if you break them in half, they soak up more liquid. If you don't like mushy ladyfingers, don't break them in half and dunk them very briefly. I also lined the pan with strawberry-halves, to make a pretty exterior.
Next I poured half of the mousse over the ladyfingers. It was a lot runnier than I thought it would be, so poured out pretty well, but I still had to smooth it down. Over that went a layer of angel food cake, which I had baked in muffin tins, so it was lots of little round things. Hint: baking angel food cake when it is super humid is not always a good idea.
I put a dollop of strawberry sauce on each angel food cake round...
...covered it with sliced strawberries...
...and poured on the remaining mousse!
Then I decorated, by using a star cookie-cutter to cut stars out of some extra angel food cake, dunking them in the strawberry sauce, and plopping them on top.
Let the whole thing chill for 2-3 hours, and the mousse sets up really nicely, making it super easy to cut. (I meant to take the picture before cutting, but forgot about it until after I had cut it with the intention of sampling a small piece and hoping nobody would notice...)
Overall, it was very strawberry-y. Which makes sense, since strawberries were the centerpiece here. I must admit, though, I am a little strawberried out by now. Maybe some orange extract or orange liqueur would go well, I'm not sure. I also would make the mousse a little less sweet, and add more lemon juice to the strawberry sauce to cut through the sweetness. However, it is darn tasty as it is!
Should you want to attempt to repeat this experiment, here are the various recipes:
Angel Food Cake
11 egg whites
1.5C granulated sugar
1C flour
1 tbs water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2tsp salt
In one bowl sift the flour, 3/4C sugar, and salt together. In a separate big bowl, put the egg whites, water, vanilla, and cream of tartar. Beat that on low for a minute, then beat on medium high until it looks like a big bowl of froth, ~3-5 minutes. Add 3/4C of sugar one tablespoon at a time, as you beat, until the egg whites are glossy and smooth looking. You want soft peaks, not stiff peaks. Once you have soft peaks, fold the flour mixture into the egg whites in about 6 installations. DO NOT overmix. Scoop the batter into ungreased muffin tins, smooth out the tops, and bake at 350 for ~ 20 minutes. Made 48 cupcakes.
Strawberry sauce
2C strawberries
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
Puree everything. Strain it. Heat it for ~ 10 minutes on medium-low until it tastes more concentrated.
Strawberry Mousse
1C heavy whipping cream
2C strawberries
1/4C sugar
2 tbs icing sugar
1 package gelatin
1/4C cold water
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small saucepan. Let it stand for a minute, then heat it for a minute to full dissolve it. Add it to the strawberries and the sugar in a food processor, and blend until the strawberries are pureed. Whip the cream to stiff peaks with the icing sugar, then stir a little of the cream into the strawberries, to lighten the mixture. Pour the strawberries into the rest of the cream and gently fold to combine. Pour the mousse into whatever container you want it to take the shape of (a glass, a weird strawberry dessert pan, whatever), and chill for 3 hours.
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