Ripe strawberries and a fruity lemon cream
Are you also one of those people who treat themselves to a cake at least once a week (if not maybe even more often)? I am an absolute advocate of a conscious, healthy diet, but a certain balance is still very important to me. Nobody should generally have to do without their favorite cake, a snack or chocolate to be considered healthy. Food is the fuel of the body and it has to be nourished, but you should not forget your soul and spirit. That’s what cake was invented for… and yes, that’s a scientific fact! Trust me, I work in research.
I personally love salty food and snacks, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy a piece of cake here and there. However, I am very, very picky and there are not many cakes of which I like to eat a second big piece. The cake recipe I share with you today is one of those cakes, where I really have to stop myself from eating it all.
What I especially love about this cake is its lightness. Not too sweet, a hint of lemon, low-fat curd, ripe strawberries and just a little bit of cream make the perfect, creamy and most delicious summer cake you can imagine. What is especially great is that this recipe works in the most diverse variations and can be modified according to individual taste. Furthermore, it looks absolutely beautiful and needs way less effort than you might think.. but ssshh don´t let anybody know.
I would definitely say that this strawberry lemon cake is my signature cake and requested the most from family and friends.
Recipe
Ingredients
(IMPORTANT: Cup in this recipe refers to the plastic sour cream cup)
Cake Dough
4 eggs
1 cup 250ml Sour cream/ Yogurt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable Oil (e.g. canola oil)
1 cup of sugar
1 pack vanilla sugar
1 pack baking powder
Lemon Juice from 1 lemon
Lemon Zest
A dash of rum
Quark Crème
500 g Low-Fat Quark
250 ml Low-fat Cream
1 pack Agar-Agar
1 pack vanilla sugar
75 g of sugar
150 ml water
Lemon Juice from 1 lemon
Lemon Zest
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Strawberry Jam
500 g Strawberries
Macros Quark Crème
500 g Quark: 355 calories / 1g Fat/ 62g Protein/ 20g Sugar
250ml cream: 538 calories/ 52,2g Fat/ 5g Protein/ 11g Sugar
75g sugar: 290 calories
Total: 1183 calories/ 53g Fat/ 67g Protein/ 106g Sugar
Step by Step Recipe
For the cake:
1. Preheat your oven: 175 degrees Celsius
2. Take a big bowl and put one cup of sour cream(250ml) into it
3. Wash out the cup and use it to measure the rest of the ingredients
4. Add in Flour, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla sugar, baking powder and the lemon juice and zest
5. Mix all together with a hand mixer until nicely blended and if you stop, bubbles in the dough should appear
6. Add a dash of rum and mix again
7. Prepare a greased cake pan by using a dash of the canola oil and spreading it all over the pan
8. Add breadcrumbs to the pan and shake until everything is evenly covered and take out leftover crumbs
9. The cake mixture should now be put into the greased and coated cake form pan and baked in the preheated oven
10. Place the cake in the centre of the oven and bake for about 45 minutes until it is golden-brown and cooked (test with a skewer)
11. Let it cool for some time until lukewarm
12. Cut the cake in half and put strawberry jam on top
13. Remove the green ends of the strawberries with a knife, so that small strawberry cones are created, which can be arranged nicely on the cake
14. Cut about a third (possibly more) of the strawberries lengthwise
15. Place a cake ring around the cake
16. Press the halved lengthwise strawberries against the ring
17. Distribute all other strawberries on the cake base as well (if needed cut them into smaller pieces)
For the Cream:
1. Put 500g of low-fat quark into a bowl and mix with lemon juice, vanilla extract and lemon zest – whisk until nicely blended
2. Put the low-fat cream and vanilla sugar in another bowl and whisk until fluffy
3. Mix half of the whipped cream with the quark mixture and put the other half aside
4. Mix 150ml of cold water, sugar and Agar-agar in a pot and let boil for at least 2 minutes
5. Cool for a few minutes and put one big tablespoon of quark into the agar-agar, water, sugar mixture and blend very well to avoid later lump formations
6. Combine the Agar-Agar mixture and the quark mixture until perfectly blended
7. Take the other half of the whipped cream and fold in carefully to the mixture
8. Pour the mixture on top of the strawberry covered cake base into the cake ring
9. Place the top half of the cake on top
10. Refrigerate at least for 30 minutes
Decoration Version 1
Put fresh mixed berries on one half the cake (strawberry jam below the berries so they would stick) – my style: ordered chaos
Put white powder sugar on top
Decoration Version 2
Do not cut the cake in half
Put strawberries and cream on top same as in version 1
Put strawberry fruit glaze on top (blended strawberries, lemon Juice, sugar and agar-agar)
Place strawberries and chocolate in the middle of the cake
Further Variations
This cake recipe is incredible, as it works in many other variations as well. Pick one of my favorite variations:
- 1 cup of poppyseed
- 1 cup of shredded coconut & lime juice (instead of the lemon juice in the previous recipe)
- ½ cup of dark cocoa powder & ½ cup of shredded hazelnuts
These are 3 of my favorite variations. Avoid using more than 1 additional cup of a dry ingredients otherwise you will need more liquid to balance it out. This recipe is really easy and fast and works in just about any composition.
I really hope you will enjoy this cake and love it at least as much as I do. Let me know in the comments down below, what your favorite way of decorating your cake is.
