Fraisier (French Strawberry Cake)

Fraisier is a French strawberry cake : a génoise (white cake) is filled with crème mousseline and fresh strawberries. This is a classic French dessert.

Lire la recette du fraisier en Français

Fraisier is a fancy French word for strawberry cake. If you want to know how to pronounce it, go : fray zee ey. There, you can now say fraisier ;)

Strawberry cake (this version, filled with cream and fresh strawberries) has been one of my favorite desserts ever since I was a little one. Most birthday cake pictures from my first ten years on this planet are of fraisiers. I think it's because it combines a lot of my favorite things when it comes to desserts : strawberries, cake, and cream. A lot of cream.

The cream filling in this French strawberry cake is crème mousseline, which you get by whipping cold crème pâtissière (pastry cream) with softened butter. You need to add half the weight of the pastry cream in butter : so, if you have 500g of pastry cream, add in 250g of butter to it to make crème mousseline. Make sure your butter is really, really soft, and that your pastry cream has cooled completely (it would be best to make it a day ahead so you can be sure it has cooled).

If it looks like your butter isn't mixing in too well with the pastry cream and your crème mousseline looks grainy, fear not ! Take a couple of tablespoons of your cream, and microwave for about 30 seconds before adding it back in with the rest of the cream and whipping on medium speed. The cream should come together (I should know, it happened to me ;) ). After that, your crème mousseline should start getting fluffier and lighter in color, kind of like a thicker whipped cream (if it still looks a little grainy, microwave a couple of tablespoons of it again).


Let me know in the comments if you make this French strawberry cake (aka fraisier) ! You can also share a picture on Instagram by tagging @acupofsprinkles and using the hashtag #acupofsprinkles !

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Here's the recipe for fraisier (French strawberry cake) :

FRAISIER
by A Cup Of Sprinkles

Fraisier is a French strawberry cake : a génoise (white cake) is filled with crème mousseline (pastry cream whipped with butter) and fresh strawberries. This is a classic French dessert.

8-10 servings

Ingredients :
1 recipe 4 ingredients cake
1/2 recipe of pastry cream
250g of butter, softened and cut up in cubes
Fresh strawberries

Instructions :

Start by making the pastry cream according to the directions of this recipe (halve the recipe), cover the surface with cling wrap and set aside in the fridge so it can completely cool off.

Make the cake according to this recipe, and let cool completely before assembly.

Make the crème mousseline : transfer the cold pastry cream to the bowl of a standmixer (or use a handmixer), and while mixing on medium speed (with the whip attachment), slowly add in the butter cubes. The cream should become lighter in color and fluffier. If it looks like the butter isn’t mixing in well, microwave a couple of tablespoons of cream for about 20/30 seconds, then add it back in and whip on medium speed. Once the crème mousseline is ready, keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Wash, stem and cut the strawberries (I cut them in half, but you can cut smaller pieces).

Assembly : set up the first cake on a plate, spread some crème mousseline on top, and add some strawberries. Cover with more crème mousseline, add the second cake on top, and use leftover cream to pipe a border on the cake. Decorate with more strawberries.

Keep the cake in a cool place until ready to eat.