Strawberry Brown Butter Genoise

Strawberry Genoise


When my mom moved to the U.S. from Japan after marrying my dad she had to learn to cook the kind of foods he enjoyed and this cake was one of his favorites. My Norwegian grandmother used to make this cake every summer and she taught my mom how to make it and my mom taught me. It was a staple in our house on Sundays in June. The cake is a simple genoise, one of the most useful recipes you can have in your repertoire as it can be baked in so many forms like a jelly roll, ladyfingers or this towering strawberry dessert. The cake is very easy to make, it doesn’t use any leavening other than the eggs and is very sturdy yet light and delicious. Be careful not to over bake it though or it will become dry. If that happens, brush the layers with a little simple syrup flavored with some liqueur and it will be good to go. 

Strawberry Brown Butter Genoise

Makes two 8 in. Cakes

8 large eggs

1 Cup/8oz./225g granulated sugar

1 stick/4oz/113g unsalted butter

1/4t salt

1.5C/7.25oz/195g cake flour

To finish:

3C heavy whipping cream

1/2C powdered sugar

2 quarts of strawberries, rinsed and sliced and sprinkled with 3-4T of sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C (Do not use convection)
• Butter and flour two 8 inch/20cm round cake pans and line the bottoms with a parchment paper rounds.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter and cook over medium heat until the milk solids turn a golden brown. Do not let it get too dark or it will be bitter. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. 
• Place the eggs and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and place over a pan of just simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the hot water. Whisk the eggs, salt and sugar together until they reach a temperature of about 100°F/38°C or just slightly warm to the touch. Remove the bowl from the heat and place onto the mixer.
• Using the whisk attachment, start beating the egg/sugar mixture on medium speed until frothy then increase speed to high and beat until pale and tripled in volume. The eggs are done when you lift the beater up and the thick ribbon of egg falls back into the bowl and stays visible on top of the batter. 
• Sift half of the flour onto the beaten egg mixture and gently fold it in using a large rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining half of the flour. 
• Scrape the browned butter into a small bowl being sure to get the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. 
• Whisk 1/2C of the batter into the melted and cooled butter then add another 1/2C of batter and stir. This allows the butter to incorporate more easily into the rest of the batter without deflating it. 
• Pour the butter /batter mixture into the main bowl of batter and carefully fold it in, going all of the way to the bottom of your bowl but don’t overmix and deflate the batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and give each a quick rap on the counter to remove any large air bubbles then place on the middle rack of the preheated over.
• Bake for about 25-30 min or until the top springs back when lightly pressed.
• Remove the pan from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 15 min.
• Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert the cakes onto the cooling rack, removing the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake and allow them to cool completely.
• Using a serrated knife slice each cake in half horizontally so you’ll end up with four layers.
• To make the strawberry cake shown above, slice 2 quarts of ripe berries (reserving 6 or so of the nicest ones for the garnish) and toss with 3 or 4 T of sugar depending on how sweet they are. Let the berries macerate for 10 or 15 minutes.
• Whip 3 cups of heavy cream with 1/2C of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla until stiff peaks. 
• Place one layer of cake onto a serving plate and spoon 1/3 of the strawberries evenly over the cake layer then top with 1/4 of the whipped cream. 
• Top with the second layer and repeat then the 3rd layer and repeat . Place the final layer on top and spoon the remaining whipped cream over it and smooth with a metal spatula then garnish with some reserved berries.
• This can also be made with peaches or raspberries or blackberries. 

NOTE: if making this cake a day in advance I would suggest using stabilized whipped cream.

Here is the recipe for 3C of heavy cream.

Chill the bowl and whisk attachment of a stand mixer in the freezer or refrigerator for 1hr

Make sure your cream is very cold also 

Soften 2 tsp of unflavored gelatin in 3T of cold water for 10 min. then heat for 5-10 seconds in a microwave until dissolved. Add 1T of the cold heavy cream to the gelatin and stir. This will help it combine with the rest of the cream. 

Start beating the rest of the cream with the whisk attachment in your stand mixer. Add 1/2C powdered sugar and 1 t vanilla extract as it starts to thicken. When it reaches soft peaks slowly pour in the reserved gelatin/cream mixture and combine to beat until stiff peaks. If the gelatin has started to set before you can add it to the cream, microwave it for a few seconds first before trying to add it to the cream. Do not over beat the cream or it will become grainy or turn into butter! I usually take it off the mixer just before it reaches the stiff peaks and continue to whisk it by hand until it’s just the consistency I want. That way I won’t over beat it. Use the whipped cream immediately or it will set. Refrigerate the finished cake for at least an hour. The cake can stay unrefrigerated at serving time for up to 2 hrs with no collapse or melting of the whipped cream this way.