Lifestyles of the Rich and Caramel-y: Millionaire's Shortbread

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine who lives in San Francisco sent me an email with the subject line "Millionaire's shortbread." She explained that she had recently attended a green living fair where the owner of Clairesquares was serving her millionaire's shortbread -- shortbread with caramel and chocolate on top. Even though I had never tasted millionaire's shortbread before, the name rang a bell with me, as it's one of the recipes included in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. Because I am not a big fan of shortbread, I had never been particularly interested in trying the recipe. But my friend was quite effusive about it and explained that the millionaire's shortbread she had tasted was a much yummier version of a Twix candy bar (the cookbook uses the same analogy: "Think of this bar as the rich man's Twix"). I love Twix and its combination of crunchy cookie and gooey caramel, so I decided to give the recipe a try.

The shortbread layer of this bar is made from sugar, butter, flour, and an egg yolk. You mix together all of the ingredients except for a half cup of the flour (most of the flour goes in at the beginning) in a mixer. Then you turn out the dough and form it into a square, sprinkle the reserved half cup of flour on top, and fold the dough over repeatedly until the flour is absorbed. Working the flour in by hand in this fashion is a messy process, and I'm not quite sure why the recipe doesn't just have you add in all of the flour together at the beginning. You press the dough into the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and bake it until golden brown.

The recipe provides two methods for making the caramel layer, a stovetop method and a microwave method. Since we don't own a microwave, the choice was easy! For the stovetop method, you simply heat two cans of condensed milk in a double boiler until it's thick and caramel colored. According to the directions, this should take about an hour to an hour and a half. I made this recipe twice, and both times it took about two hours. You pour the caramel over the cooled crust and refrigerate the pan for a few hours until the caramel is firm. Then you finish off the bars with a layer chocolate glaze (chocolate melted together with a little corn syrup and butter). You put the bars back in the fridge until the glaze sets, and then you can cut and serve the bars.

The recipe mentions that you should pull the bars out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cutting so that you don't crack the chocolate glaze. I cut my bars immediately out of the fridge and didn't have any problems with the glaze cracking, but the shortbread layer was quite crumbly (which I saw as a good sign, even if it caused a mess), and a lot of the bars ended up with broken-off corners.

I was surprised how much I liked these; they are, in fact, way better than a Twix. I liked these bars the straight out of the fridge, the same way I prefer my Twix. Chilling the bars helps keep the caramel firm and also makes the shortbread seem a little crunchier, which is a fantastic contrast to the other two layers. The shortbread is buttery and tender, the caramel is rich and decadent, and the chocolate is chocolate (enough said there). These simple yet luxurious bars hit all of the right notes, and definitely live up to their highfalutin name.

Recipe: "Millionaire's Shortbread" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

This Beats Ice Cream Any Day: Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce

When Tom and I recently had some friends over for an al fresco dinner, I decided that a frozen dessert would fit the bill nicely. (We were dining outside not only because it was a warm and pleasant spring evening, but also because our air conditioner was being replaced, and there was no functioning air conditioning downstairs.) I narrowed down a search for frozen desserts on epicurious.com to a few promising recipes, and I ran a few of the candidates past Tom. When I mentioned that one of the recipes involved an almond cookie crust that would require me to bake some almond clouds, Tom immediately weighed in in favor of that one. So I went along and decided to make "Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce."

This dessert contains an almond crust made from ground amaretti cookies and ground almonds, mixed with melted butter. You press the mixture into the bottom of a loaf pan and freeze it until firm. I used homemade almond cloud cookies instead of store-bought amaretti; because the almond clouds are so chewy, the ground cookies were a bit sticky, but they still worked out fine.

Stracciatella is the Italian gelato equivalent of chocolate chip ice cream. The first step in making the straccciatella tortoni filling is to beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt over simmering water until the mixture reaches 170 degrees; I always find having to use a hand mixer and a candy thermometer simultaneously in a double boiler to be rather unwieldy. Once it reaches the proper temperature, you take the mixture off of the heat, beat it to stiff peaks, and fold it into heavy cream beaten with Amaretto, along with shaved chocolate.

You spread the filling over the frozen almond crust, sprinkle it with toasted sliced almonds, and freeze the entire thing until it's firm. One great thing about this dessert is the fact that you can prepare it in advance; I made it the day before.

I made the espresso fudge sauce the next day. It contains heavy cream, corn syrup, dark brown sugar, espresso powder, cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate, and vanilla. I let the sauce cool and reheated it right before I served dessert. Even though I thinned it with a little more cream during reheating, the sauce was oddly viscous. I had no trouble cutting the tortoni immediately after it came out of the freezer, and I served each slice along with a little puddle of sauce.

I loved the stracciatella filling. It was a lot of work shaving the chocolate for the filling, and it had crossed my mind to simply use miniature chocolate chips instead. But I'm so glad I didn't; the frozen chocolate shavings give the filling a wonderful texture, and I loved how the thin bits of chocolate were so delicate. The filling had the light, luscious texture of a frozen mousse. The almond crust was delicious, but it was a little difficult to cut through, and there was a lot of thwacking noise as our dinner guests were trying to scoop up bites with their spoons (somewhat reminiscent of what happened the last time I served a frozen dessert, although not nearly as severe). The fudge sauce was my least favorite part of the dish; the texture was too thick, and the flavor was very aggressive; in the future, I would serve this with a plain hot fudge sauce, such as this one that I love.

Other than the sauce, I have no complaints about this dessert and I would love to make it again. The fact that you can have it prepared entirely in advance and serve it straight from the freezer is fabulously convenient. It provides a great return for relatively little work and is absolutely delicious.

Recipe: "Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce" from epicurious.com.

Previous Posts:

• "Who Knew Clouds Are So Chewy: Almond Cloud Cookies," April 19, 2012.
• "This Bombe is Deafening: Frozen Chocolate Oh-Honey So-Fluffy Mousse Bombe," March 17, 2012.

Guilt-Free Vegetable Pies: Zucchini-Swiss Chard and Spinach-Onion Tarts

Recently I was looking for a vegetarian entree to serve at a casual dinner party, and I decided to try a recipe featured in the New York Times' "Recipes For Health" series, a Provençal Zucchini and Swiss Chard Tart. A tart is my usual vegetarian entree of choice, and I was intrigued that the crust for this tart is a Whole Wheat Yeasted Olive Oil Pastry. I've never made a tart with a yeasted crust before.

The crust is made from yeast, water, sugar, egg, olive oil, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. It was very quick to put together in the mixer, and the dough just needs a little kneading before you let it rise for about an hour. After it's risen, you roll out the dough and put it in an oiled tart pan. I found this dough very easy to handle, and I had no problems rolling it out thin and getting it in the pan.

The filling is swiss chard, salt, onion, zucchini, garlic, thyme, rosemary, Gruyère, eggs, and pepper. There was a lot of prep time involved to blanch, shock, drain, and chop the Swiss chard, as well as chopping the onions and zucchini. But once you have your ingredients ready, it's pretty quick to cook the vegetables and mix them with the eggs and cheese. Then you just pour the filling into the crust and bake.

This is a beautiful tart, although the crust was stuck in a few spots around the edges, so I wasn't able to release it from the pan before serving. I didn't know what to expect from the yeasted crust, but it browned perfectly and had a nice firm texture -- not as crispy as a butter crust, but still very good. The filling was mostly vegetables, bound together with a minimal amount of eggs and cheese; the zucchini was much more prominent than the Swiss chard and I loved its chunky texture.

The tart was substantial, and it made a great main course. The herbs and seasoning were spot on. I would definitely make it again. I think the knowledge that the tart was actually quite healthy enhanced my enjoyment of eating it.

Because the crust recipe yields enough dough for two crusts, I had enough dough left over to make another tart. I rolled out the second crust, put it in another tart pan, and stashed it in the freezer. The following day, I used it to make a Spinach and Onion Tart. The filling is made from spinach, onion, salt, pepper, thyme, eggs, milk, Gruyère, and Parmesan.

The spinach-onion tart had a much higher ratio of egg to vegetables than the zucchini version. The fact that it was eggier, along with fact that spinach was the most prominent ingredient, made it very reminiscent of a quiche, except that the texture was lighter. Tom preferred the spinach tart because of its classic flavor; he also thought that the zucchini was a bit overwhelming. I preferred the zucchini tart because it had more texture. Both are terrific. Either makes a wonderful vegetarian main course or side that is perfect for spring or summer.

Recipes: Whole Wheat Yeasted Olive Oil Pastry, Provençal Zucchini and Swiss Chard Tart, and Spinach and Onion Tart, by Martha Rose Shulman.

Previous Posts:

• "It Tastes Like Summer!: Tomato Confit and Marinated Tomatoes Served on a Crispy Tart," June 30, 2011.
• "Thank God for Vegetarians: Tomato and Onion Tart," November 14, 2010.
• "What I Learned at the Cabin This Year... Butternut Squash Tart = Good. Candles + Soufflé = Bad," November 9, 2009.
• "Vegetarian Quiche and Not-So-Vegetarian Panna Cotta," April 15, 2009.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

I was pretty optimistic about this week's recipe for Baked Sunday Mornings, "Peanut Butter and Banana Cream Pie."  I often have problems making fruit pies (see, e.g., here and here), but a cookie crust filled with pudding, bananas, and peanut butter cream should be pretty easy.

The crust for this pie is made from vanilla wafers, sugar, and cold butter ground together in a food processor, pressed into a pan, and then baked until golden brown. (The recipe includes a note that the crust comes out best when the pie is made in a glass pie plate, so that's what I used.) I found that I had a lot of crust mixture; I didn't use it all, because I didn't want the crust to be too thick. You fill the cooled crust with vanilla pudding (sugar, cornstarch, salt, heavy cream, milk, egg yolks, vanilla bean seeds, and butter), add a layer of sliced bananas tossed in orange juice, and then finish off the pie with a peanut butter topping (cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, peanut butter, and whipped cream). The recommended garnish is chocolate-covered peanuts and more sliced bananas.

I didn't have any chocolate-covered peanuts, and so I garnished my pie with a ring of Sweetriot dark chocolate-covered cacao nibs instead.  I skipped the additional slices of banana on top. I refrigerated the pie overnight before cutting into it, and I immediately noticed a problem with the pudding. It was loose and had not set properly. When I made the pudding on the stove, it thickened and I had every reason to believe that it would firm up to the proper texture after being chilled. But when I cut into the pie, pudding was spilling out and creating a big mess (I was able to get out one tidy slice for the photo above).

The loose pudding problem was bad enough that I decided the pie wasn't suitable to serve to anyone else. Nonetheless, it was pretty tasty. The bottom half of this pie is basically just a banana pudding -- vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, and bananas. (It's not as good as the banana pudding from DamGoodSweet I made recently, but it's up there.) I'm a bit ambivalent about the peanut butter layer. When I took my first bite of pie, I thought that the peanut butter flavor was too subtle (there is only one-third cup of creamy peanut butter in the topping); it left me wanting more. However, I noticed that the peanut butter flavor seemed to intensify over time. By day three after baking, I thought that the flavor of the peanut butter topping was perfect. That said, I am not a huge fan of peanut butter and banana together, and I think I would have actually preferred this pie with straight whipped cream on top. I also think this pie needed more banana flavor, so my bad for not adding more bananas on top.

I assume the problem with the pudding texture was probably my fault. This recipe is available on epicurious.com and the vast majority of reviews don't mention any problem with the pudding consistency. All in all, I didn't love the pie, but I enjoyed eating my messy slices.

Recipe: "Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie," from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings, or here on epicurious.com.

Previous Posts:

• "DamGood Indeed: Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafer Crumble," February 23, 2012.
• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Coffee Ice Cream (and Tart!)," August 28, 2011.
• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Peaches and Dream Pie," July 17, 2011.
• "Just Half a Slice Please... the Top Half!: Buttermilk Pie," July 12, 2011.
• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Blackberry Pie," July 3, 2011.

Got Crackers?: Crisp Rosemary Flatbread

Tom and I recently saw a movie at Cleveland Park's historic Uptown Theater and headed across the street to Ripple for a late dinner afterwards. The meal was delicious as always, but for some reason, I was particularly fixated on the crackers that Ripple provides to all of its guests. I don't know what it is about crackers; while I usually have no problem skipping the bread basket in a restaurant, I find it hard to pass up crackers (Proof is another restaurant where a cracker binge is inevitable). Anyway, it got me thinking about whether or not I could bake something similar at home.

After a bit of internet searching, I decide to try an epicurious recipe for "Crisp Rosemary Flatbread." The recipe is quite easy -- you just mix together flour, chopped rosemary, baking powder and salt, stir in water and olive oil until a dough forms, and then knead the dough a few times. You divide the dough into thirds, and roll our each portion on a sheet of parchment into a 10-inch round. You brush the top with olive oil, sprinkle on flake salt and more rosemary, and bake.

I happened to have some lovely rosemary olive oil on hand from Secolari in Bethesda (a thoughful hostess gift from a guest at our last holiday party), so I used it in dough and to brush on top before baking. You are supposed to bake the crackers on a baking sheet preheated in the oven. I have a FibraMent baking stone that lives in my oven on the bottom rack, so I just moved it up to the middle rack and baked the crackers on the preheated stone (having the dough on parchment paper made it easy to slide onto and off of the stone). Most of the rosemary that I scattered on top fell off after baking; because I had rolled each piece of dough as thin as possible with my straight pin, I couldn't really press the rosemary into the dough as directed.

I broke up the baked rounds into smaller crackers, and Tom used them as part of a cheese plate he put together for some dinner guests. I really liked these crackers -- they were crispy, and the flavors from the rosemary and salt were delicious. They didn't have the buttery taste of the crackers at Ripple, but then again, these crackers don't have any butter, so that's not terribly surprising! I definitely plan on making these again, and I'm glad I found a quick way to get my cracker fix!

Recipe: "Crisp Rosemary Flatbread," from epicurious.com.

Previous Post: "Putting the 'Crack' into Crackers: Rosemary Raisin Pecan Crisps," March 13, 2012.

A Silly Name, But Seriously Delicious: Ginger Butter Balls

The other day I noticed a package of Penzey's crystallized ginger in my drawer of baking ingredients, and I browsed through the "Ginger" chapter of Lisa Yockelson's Baking By Flavor to find a way to put it to use. Her recipe for "Ginger Butter Balls" caught my eye because it is quick and easy. All you have to do is whisk together melted butter, walnuts, chopped crystallized ginger, powdered sugar and vanilla, and then fold in flour, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, and nutmeg. You let the batter sit for five minutes, and then form it into balls (I used a #50 scoop) and bake. While the cookies are still warm from the oven, you dredge them twice in powdered sugar.

This recipe is almost identical to Yockelson's recipe for Buttercrunch Melt-a-Ways (a cookie I love, by the way) from the same cookbook . The ginger butter balls contain ginger, walnuts, and nutmeg, and the melt-a-ways contain toffee, almonds, and almond extract -- but otherwise the ingredient lists and methods are the same.

I love this cookie. It is tender and buttery, and the first bite reminds me of a powdered doughnut (that is a good thing -- I haven't eaten a powdered doughnut in years, but I find them totally addicting). I was surprised at how subtle the ginger flavor was, but the pieces of ginger were quite small (the recipe specifies that both the ginger and the walnuts are supposed to be "very finely chopped"), and I have found Penzey's crystallized ginger to be less harsh in comparison to other brands I've tried. Still, the ginger added a nice little lift of flavor. I think that the walnuts were the more important component here, as the texture of the nuts adds a lot to the cookie.

While cookies of this type go by several names -- including Mexican wedding cakes and Russian tea cakes -- I think that "butter ball" has got to be the silliest, even if it is somewhat endearing. To me, it sounds like a turkey, or perhaps a recipe that would be featured on Saturday Night Live's fictitious NPR cooking show, "The Delicious Dish." But I suppose the name hardly matters -- these butter balls are boffo!

Recipe: "Ginger Butter Balls" from Baking By Flavor, by Lisa Yockelson.

Previous Post: "Melt-Your-Resolve Deliciousness: Buttercrunch Melt-a-Ways," June 20, 2009.

A Boost from Chocolate, Coconut, and Cold: Crisp Coconut Cookies

I was flipping through Nick Malgieri's Cookies Unlimited when I saw a recipe for "Crisp Coconut Cookies" that rang a bell for some reason. As I read the recipe, I saw that it uses baker's ammonia. That reminded me that commenter Louise, the person who first got me interested in using baker's ammonia, had mentioned this cookie when commenting on a post I wrote about experimenting with ammonia in speculaas.

To make the dough, you beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla, incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, ammonia, salt), and then stir in sweetened, shredded coconut. You scoop out the dough and bake. One thing you need to know about baking with ammonia is that you cannot eat the raw dough; it smells and tastes like window cleaner. I had specifically warned Tom (who is known to taste raw cookie dough now and then) not to eat the dough. I'm not sure why he ignored my caution, but while I was baking I saw Tom out of the corning of my eye sampling a piece of dough. I didn't need to say anything more; he immediately spit it out and ran to the sink for some water. I'm sure he will not make that mistake again!

When these cookies were fresh out of the oven, their texture wasn't what I wanted at all; they were friable and sandy. The whole point of using baker's ammonia is to get something crisp. I thought that the cookies were a bit meh, and to boost the flavor a bit, I decided to coat their undersides with chocolate and toasted unsweetened coconut. I call this giving them the Pepperidge Farm treatment, and it works exceedingly well with the Vanilla Dreams from King Arthur Flour, using chocolate and pistachios.

Because a spell of hot and humid weather hit D.C. the day I baked these cookies, I put them in the refrigerator so the chocolate could set. Straight out of the fridge, this cookie had a perfect, crispy, texture. The toasted coconut really boosted the coconut flavor in the cookie, and it added a wonderful texture as well. While I still think the plain cookie isn't terribly interesting, with the added chocolate coating and toasted coconut, the cookie is fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of coconut.

Recipe: "Crisp Coconut Cookies" from Cookies Unlimited, by Nick Malgieri.

Caraway with a Twist: Viennese Caraway Pretzels

The other day I was in the mood for some savory baked goods, so I perused the "Crackers and Savory Cookies" chapter of Nick Malgieri's Cookies Unlimited. The large photo of the "Viennese Caraway Pretzels" immediately caught my eye. I quickly surveyed our spice shelf, and since we had a bottle of caraway seeds on hand, I decided to give them a try.

The pretzel dough contains only a few ingredients, which you mix together in the food processor: flour, salt, cold butter, and yeast that has been dissolved in water. After the dough comes together into a ball, you knead it a few times and let it rest for 30 minutes, "until it puffs slightly." After 30 minutes, the ball of dough wasn't exactly puffy -- the texture appeared to be almost the same, but I could tell that it was slightly larger, so I decided to run with it. You flatten the dough into a rectangle and chill it for at least an hour. Then you divide the dough into 36 pieces, each of which you roll into an 8-inch rope and form in the pretzel shape. You brush the pretzels with egg wash and sprinkle them with caraway seeds and coarse salt before baking.

These pretzels were quite small, two inches across. I only sprinkled caraway seeds on about half of the pretzels, thinking that the caraway might not have broad appeal (after all, rye bread with caraway seeds is not exactly universally popular). After tasting both varieties, I think the caraway seed is a necessity; the ones without it were somewhat bland. While I liked the buttery-salty combination of flavors in the pretzel, I didn't know what to make of its texture. The pretzel was close to a cracker, but it wasn't crispy. I guess that I expect pretzels either to be bready (like the sort you buy at the food court at the mall), or crisp and dry (like the kind you buy in the potato chip aisle at the supermarket). These pretzels were neither, and for that reason I found them to be unsatisfying.

Recipe: "Viennese Caraway Pretzels," from Cookies Unlimited, by Nick Malgieri.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Waffles

This week's assignment for Baked Sunday Mornings -- "Malted Waffles" -- posed a logistical problem for me, because I don't own a waffle iron. I used to have one, but I donated it to charity years ago because I used it so rarely. Fortunately, my friend Dorothy was kind enough to both lend me her Belgian waffle maker and bring her family over to sample the waffles.

Making the waffle batter only takes a couple of minutes -- you just stir together the dry ingredients (flour, malt powder, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt), and then fold in the wet ingredients (eggs, melted butter, buttermilk). The waffle iron I used to own was quite rudimentary -- it didn't have any thermostat settings. Dorothy's is a bit more advanced. It has six heat settings, and I wasn't sure which one to use. I consulted the instruction manual, which said to set the thermostat "as required for the recipe" and to cook the waffles "for the time indicated in the recipe." It was no help when the recipe said, "Cook the waffles according to the manufacturer's instructions for your iron." It cost a few burned waffles to figure out a time and heat setting that worked.

I thought that these waffles were tasty. The malt flavor was noticeable, but more subtle than what I was expecting. They were not as crisp on the outside as I would have hoped, but I think that probably due to waffle iron operator error. If my enthusiasm seems a bit restrained, it's because I don't think I can get all that excited over a waffle. It was a perfectly good waffle, but it was only a waffle, after all. Dorothy opined that it seemed less fluffy and moist than her regular waffle, the "Classic Buttermilk Waffle" from King Arthur Flour. If I owned a waffle iron, I would be perfectly happy to make these again, but they aren't good enough to motivate me to go out and buy one.

Recipe: "Malted Waffles," from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Previous Posts:

• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Stump de Noël," January 1, 2012.
• "The Malt Fest Continues: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops," March 29, 2011.
• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Crisp Tart," March 27, 2011.
• "Baking the Baked Explorations Cover Recipe: Malted Milk Sandwich Cookies," March 8, 2011.

Like Cheesecake, But Lighter and Upside Down: Strawberry Streusel Cake

Last week I was looking for a cake to bring to the office for Administrative Professionals Day, and I decided to go with the "Strawberry Streusel Cake" from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes. I chose this cake in part because I could make use of a cake ring (my new favorite kitchen tool!), and in part because it's touted as "a great make ahead cake -- it keeps well for a full day in the refrigerator." Malgieri says that this cake is loosely based on a cake originated by Pierre Hermé.

The cake has four components: biscuit sponge cake, cream cheese mousse, strawberries, and streusel. First, I made the streusel by stirring together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and melted butter until the mixture formed large crumbs. You are supposed to bake the crumbs for 20 minutes until they are golden and firm. Instead, all of my crumbs grew together in the oven to form one continuous giant sheet cookie. I debated what to do. After the cookie cooled, I decided to break it up with my fingers to form streusel-size crumbs.

To make the biscuit sponge cake, you beat egg yolks with sugar until they are well aerated, fold them into egg whites that have been beaten with salt and sugar, and then fold in sifted flour. You pipe or spread the batter into disks (using circles you've traced out on parchment paper as a guide), and bake.

The cream cheese mousse is simply cream cheese and powdered sugar beaten together, with some kirsch and vanilla added, and whipped cream folded in. I didn't have any kirsch, so I used Grand Marnier instead.

To assemble the cake, you trim your biscuit disk to an inch smaller than the size of the cake ring (or springform pan) you're using. I made two streusel cakes, because the biscuit recipe yields two disks of cake and there wasn't much additional effort required to make a second cake. While I have several cake rings, I don't have more than one of any particular size -- so I trimmed my two sponge cakes to 8 and 9 inches in diameter, and placed them in the bottom of 9 and 10-inch diameter cake rings, respectively.

Then you cover the biscuit with half of the cream cheese mousse, filling the space between outside of the cake layer and the inside of the cake ring. You add quartered strawberries, spread on the remaining mousse, press the streusel into the top of the cake, and refrigerate the cake overnight to set.

Even after the cake had chilled overnight, the mousse was not very firm. It held its shape, but just barely. This cake doesn't look all that attractive before it's cut; it's just a white mass with crushed cookie on top. Individual cut slices are much more interesting, especially with the burst of color from the cut strawberries.

This cake was fabulous. It reminded me a lot of an upside down strawberry cheesecake, except that it was much lighter. The biscuit had the ideal sponge cake texture, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was not dry at all, even though it wasn't soaked with sugar syrup. The mousse was light, creamy, and not very sweet. And the streusel was buttery, crunchy, and delicious -- very reminiscent of the crust of a cheesecake, except that it was on top. This is a light and beautiful dessert, and I definitely plan to make it again; I can hardly wait for strawberry season!

Recipe: "Strawberry Streusel Cake" from Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri.

Previous Post: "Mind the Gaps: Fraisier," February 18, 2012.