Gâteau Chocolat au Fraises

hohoho.....i was bored and looking at cakes online, and I stumbled across a diagram of a cake.   it had labels of all the components of the cake.....and i decided to challenge my self.  I wanted to try to bake this cake without concrete instructions, or so help me, I would die trying....i also wanted to find a cake that incorporated strawberries because my mom bought me these gorgeous strawberries that were small and sweet....almost like Fraise des Bois, but not quite.  :P  i always take on big projects with my sister (in the past, we have done things like the Opera Cake~).  when baking, she always does all the creams and frostings,  while i do the cake and assembly. (our dream is to open a sweets shop one day!)  The cake was actually quite easy, and came out very delicious--the strawberries also gave off a slight fruity smell that made the cake appear to have been imbibed with liquer...'kirsch'....oh, but only in my dreams; i still need to finish my bottle of frangelico's!

this is what i followed, but you need to know french food terms and the such to execute this.  i watch a lot of foreign shows, and visit a lot of foreign websites, so i know how to read it. :) lucky me.

Gateau Chocolate au Fraises

Mousse Chocolat:

150 g. chocolate paste
150 g. milk
3 egg yolks
450 g. sour cream (35%)

(for meringue italienne)

3 egg whites
200 g. sugar
70 ml. water
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Genoise au Chocolate

150 g. egg yolks
40 g. sugar
40 g. cocoa powder
80 g. simple syrup (2 sugar: 1 water) 

100 g. egg whites
75 g. sugar
a little salt
50 g. flour
50 g. corn startch
a little cinnamon
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Imbibing Syrup

100 ml. simple syrup (1 sugar: 2 water)
50 g. Grande Marnier
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Glacage

for the glacage ( frosting) i used chocolate ganache with a 1:1 ratio, and chocolate buttercream for the dirty ice, and the piping under the strawberries.
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I used the sponge method of making this cake as opposed to genoise, because unlike most genoise recipes, it lacked a source of fat content. (i.e. butter)





* did you know that separating the eggs in a cake will cause the cake to be airier and lighter, but keeping the yolks and whites together produces a more tender cake?