Hi everyone; Happy Sunday!
Today was such a beautiful day; the sun was shining and the sky was blue and I got to eat my favorite cake!
Yesterday I made one of my top 5 favorite cake that my mom used to make when I was younger.
It´s a Norwegian style cake; made with an almond bunn, topped with pastry cream combined with whipped cream.
it is so topped with fresh strawberries and strawberry Jello-O.
I did not add gelatin leaves in this Cake, so the cream is so soft and smooth, just heavenly!
It might not be the most beautiful cake to look at, but definitely the most delicious one!
I hope you all want to try this cake, and let me know if you love it as much as I do!
Scandinavian Style cake with pastry cream and Jell-O
Almond bunn
- 4 egg whites, at room temperature
- 2 cups (225 gram) powdered sugar or confectioners’ sugar
- 2 cups (250 gram) ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, optional
Pastry Cream
- 2 cups ( 500 ml ) whole milk
- Seeds of one vanilla bean
- 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoons (100 gram) sugar
- 40 gram (3 tablespoons) cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 6 large egg yolks
Vanilla Cream
- 1 recipe Pastry Cream ( see recipe above↑)
- 2 cups ( 500 ml) heavy cream
Topping;
- Fresh Strawberries
- 1 box ( 3 oz) Jell-O Strawberry
Before you start making the almond base;
- Wipe a stainless-steel bowl and the whisk attachment, of a standing mixer, with a paper towel moistened with lemon juice.
- This step is done to eliminate any trace of grease, which would hinder the egg whites from stiffening.
Directions for the almond base;
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C). Line a 9-inch (24 cm) round springform pan with parchment paper, grease the sides and set aside.
- Place the egg whites into the bowl and beat on low speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form about 1 minute.
- Increase the speed to high then add the powdered or confectioners’ sugar, one spoonful at a time.
- Beat on medium/high speed until stiff peaks form and the meringue is glossy and thick.
- Add the vanilla and combine.
- With a silicone spatula, fold in the ground almonds
- Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan.
- Use your spatula to spread evenly and to eliminate any air bubbles.
- Bake on the middle rack of oven for 25-30 minutes.
- Do not over bake this cake! (I bake mine 25 for minutes as I love mine almond cake gooey on the inside)
- Let cool completely.
Directions for the pastry cream;
- In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk and seeds from one vanilla bean paste, stirring occasionally, just until the mixture starts to boil.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
- Whisk in yolks all at once until light and fluffy and batter reaches the ribbon stage.
- As you continue whisking, slowly add one-third of the hot milk to the yolk mixture to temper the egg yolks.
- Whisk in remaining milk into yolks and return entire mixture to saucepan.
- Place over medium heat and whisk frequently until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Whisk the mixture vigorously for another 2 minutes more, while boiling, until the cornstarch dissolves completely,
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Spread the vanilla cream to a thin layer on a small baking sheet.
- Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly over the vanilla cream.
- Refrigerate right away.
Direction for the vanilla cream;
- In a bowl, add the cold heavy cream.
- Whisk until fluffy, but still light in texture.
- Take the pastry cream out of the fridge.
- Loosen up the pastry cream with a spatula or whisk.
- Carefully combine the pastry cream with the whipped cream.
- Pour the vanilla cream into the cooled almond bunn, spread the vanilla cream evenly with a spatula.
- Refrigerate for one hour while you prepare Jell-O.
- combine 3 oz strawberry jello with 1 cup boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved.
- let cool to room temp and until it becomes less fluid.
- Take the cake out of the fridge, place strawberries on top.
- Pour the strawberry Jell-O over the top of the cake.
- My Jell-O was a bit too firm when I pour it over the cake so I did not get a perfect layer on top, but aside that it was soooo good!
- Refrigerate the cake for some hours or overnight.
- Slice and enjoy!
Note;
- As I mentioned above the cream is soft if you like the cream to be more firm, you need to add gelatin leaves, I would suggest 2-3 leaves, I did not feel the need to do that; it will not give you perfect slices when you serve it, but it is delicious!
- Directions for the gelatin leaves, Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. Gently wring the gelatin leaves to remove excess water, add in a small bowl, add 2-3 tablespoon boiled water, stir until completely dissolved. Add 2 tablespoon of the whipped vanilla cream and stir, and combine this with the rest of the cream, pour over the almond crust!
Have a beautiful day you all, check back soon!
Step by step pictures;
- Have you never made pastry cream before? Watch the video below, in the video, I add butter I left this out in today´s recipe!
