Shell Fraisier (gf)

A shell-shaped almond dacquoise cake, with summer strawberries, and mascarpone whipped cream

Almost every year, I release a new version of a strawberry cake, my favorite early summer dessert. Last year’s cake was pretty gorgeous and delicious. It was a buttery, tender bundt-style cake with a fine crumb with a bit of density, so, this year, I wanted to go lighter.

One of my favorite versions of a strawberry cake is a fraisier, traditionally made with almond dacquoise, mousseline cream, strawberry jam fillings, and fresh strawberries for decoration.

Dacquoise is a naturally gluten-free style of dessert that is somewhere between meringue and a cake. It retains that melting-on-the-tongue aspect of a meringue while having more body and flavor. I have to be honest (and, apologies, not so humble): my dacquoise is the best I've ever tried. It is as light and airy as a meringue, but more marshmallowy and chewy at the same time. It also has a heavenly light and crisp shell. That's all because the formula itself is basically for a meringue with slightly less sugar and the addition of almond flour and cornstarch.

Because it’s similar to meringue, dacquoise is one of the few cakes that you can pipe by hand and it will hold its shape. This means you can make a cake in just about any shape you want :). So, I made this strawberry cake into a shell, inspired by a dessert I had some years ago at a church bakery run by nuns in Palermo. It was just about one of the cutest cakes I had ever seen. I loved how the doily acts both as the base of the shell and as a vehicle to pick up the cake without getting powdered sugar all over yourself.

I love dacquoise for a strawberry cake in particular because of its lightness in mouth feel and flavor. It pairs so nicely with the bright, fresh, and floral summer berries. For this recipe, I suggest making a freezer jam from raw strawberries (to retain those bright floral notes) and mixing in some sliced berries for a little texture. Unlike a traditional fraisier, this one is made with stabilized vanilla-scented whipped cream. This has two added advantages: 1) it eats super light (I originally made it with mousseline and it was too heavy) and 2) it’s super easy to make.

Taking a bite of this little cake is like eating a strawberry almond cloud. It really is perfect, especially for an afternoon dessert on a warm day. The individual portions also make it a great dessert option for a little summer party (not to mention the shell shape).

This cake is really easy to make. The hardest part is knowing when it is done baking (but don’t worry, if you do overbake it, you can hold it in the fridge for a day and it will soften). The dacquoise takes about 25-30 minutes, the whipped cream takes about 5 minutes, and slicing strawberries and assembling the little cakes takes around 20 minutes. Finally, this is a great cake to prepare in advance. It holds up incredibly well in the fridge – I once had it a day later and loved it even more!

Ingredients

Makes 7-9 cakes