Vegan Strawberry Stracciatella Cake
To be honest, I struggled with this vegan strawberry stracciatella cake at first. My thoughts were all over the place: Strawberries, chocolate chips, whipped cream and pastry are somehow nothing special. Dough on the bottom, cream with chocolate and strawberries on top. What sounds like a delicious cake somehow didn't appeal to me (and bored me a little). So, I thought back and forth for a long time about how to get a bit more out of this cake, and I have to say that I am now thrilled with the recipe because the cake looks super pretty and is still super simple! But step by step:
The bases: A moist chocolate sponge is the base of the cake. Using a cake cutter, we divide it into two-thirds of the cake base and one-third into a narrower lid, which we place over the stracciatella cream. We then divide the lid into twelve pieces and place it back on top of the cream to form a round circle. This has the advantage that you won't crush the cake when you cut it later. You can cut straight through the vegan whipped cream, and the cake will still look like a star even after cutting.
The stracciatella cream: For the cream, we recommend vegan whipping cream, which you can find online or in larger supermarkets. We explicitly do not mean cooking cream. There are now also a few varieties from the chiller cabinet that we like to use. On top, we chop dark chocolate, which we then fold in. Of course, you can also use dark chocolate chips, but they aren't quite as crunchy a bite. So it's better to use a chocolate bar!
The strawberries: In addition to the halved strawberries, which we have neatly arranged in the cake frame, the inside of our cake features a hidden strawberry core. We boil fresh strawberries and bind them with agartine, which contains 27% agar agar. Conveniently, we cook this mixture directly in a small saucepan and only turn the mixture out onto the cake once it has set. If you don't have a small pan that fits the size of the cake, you can adapt a cake ring to the size of the cake or use a deep plate and leave the mixture to cool in it.
Vegan Strawberry Stracciatella Cake
Ingredients
For the chocolate base:
- 270 g (2 cups) (spelt flour (type 630) or wheat flour (type 405)
- 60 g (2 oz) baking cocoa
- 225 g (1 cup) sugar
- 10 g (2 tsp) vanilla sugar
- 10 g (2 tsp) baking powder
- 75 ml (0.33 cup) neutral vegetable oil
- 375 ml (1.66 cup) sparkling water
- vegan butter for greasing
For the stracciatella cream:
- 400 ml (1.75 cup) vegan cream for whipping
- 16 g (2 tbsp) cream stiffener
- 16 g (2 tbsp) vanilla sugar
- 150 g (5.25 oz) dark chocolate
For the strawberry core:
- 500 g (17.66 oz) strawberries
- 10 g (1 tbsp) agartine (27 % agar agar)
For the decoration:
- 250 g (8.75 oz) strawberries
- 50 g (1.75 oz) dark chocolate
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 356 F (fan oven). Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, vanilla sugar and baking powder in a bowl with a whisk. Then add the oil and sparkling water and stir in briefly.
Gour a cake tin (∅ 22 cm / 8.5 inches) in the batter. Bake the batter in the middle of the oven for 60 minutes at 180 °C / 356 F (fan oven). Cover the pastry after about 30 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if the pastry is cooked through.
Prepare the cream in the meantime: To do this, whip the vegan cream with cream stiffener and vanilla sugar. Chop the vegan dark chocolate and fold it in. Chill the stracciatella cream in the fridge.
Once the dough has cooled completely, flatten it with a kitchen knife or cake cutter. Now divide the cake base horizontally into a thicker base (⅔) and a thinner top (⅓). Place the cake base on a serving platter or large plate.
For the strawberry core, cut the strawberries into small pieces and place them in a small pan (∅ 18 cm / 7 inches) with the agartine. Bring the strawberries to the boil, puree them, and remove them from the heat after 3–4 minutes. Leave the mixture to cool in the pan until it becomes firm. If necessary, loosen slightly with a knife and turn them out onto the center of the cake base.
Stretch the cake ring (or the cleaned cake tin) around the cake base. Hull the remaining strawberries, cut them in half and place the cut side along the cake ring on the cake with the tip facing upwards. There should be a few strawberries left over for decoration.
Pour the vegan cream onto the cake and smooth it out. Keep some cream back for the top. Cut the cake lid into twelve cake pieces and place them back on top of the cream layer to form a round circle. Brush the top with the remaining cream and decorate with the remaining strawberries. Chill the cake until ready to serve.
