Strawberries n Cream Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Dark Chocolate Minion Macarons

My friend requested for a Minion strawberries and cream cake for her son's birthday. Here it is!

You can almost hear them shouting "Happy Birthday!"

The Minion cake toppers are macarons filled with dark chocolate ganache. You may refer to this post for the macarons. I gently inserted a toothpick into the filling of each macaron so that the macaron figures are able to stand on the cake.

As my friend prefers a less sweet cake, I have taken care to use less sugar in the cake for a light tasting version. If you have a sweet tooth, do increase the amount of sugar used.

I created a rectangular cake without the help of cake rings. I will show you how it is done in this post. The cake is mounted on a 6x9" cake board.

Vanilla chiffon sponge recipe
Ingredients:
Plain thick layer cake (10 x12" tray)
3 egg yolks
10g caster sugar
42g vegetable/canola oil
42g fresh milk
56g cake flour
1/16tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
40g caster sugar

Green thin layer cake (10x12" tray)
2 egg yolks
5g caster sugar
28g oil
28g milk
38g cake flour
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Green and yellow gel food colouring

3 egg whites
1/5 tsp cream of tartar
30g caster sugar

Steps:
1. Line baking trays with baking paper. Set oven rack to second lowest position. Place a tray of water at the bottom of the oven (optional). This is to create steam. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Add oil and whisk until combined. Add milk and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined. Gradually add in sifted flour and salt. Whisk until no trace of flour is seen. Add colouring and mix well.

3. Prepare meringue. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks or just reaching stiff peaks, gradually adding sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

4. Quickly but gently fold the meringue into egg yolk batter in three additions. Pour into prepared trays. Tap the trays on table to release trapped air.

5. Bake for 13-18 minutes depending on thickness of layer. Use a toothpick to check for doneness.

6. Flip the cake onto another baking sheet and gently peel the baking sheet off from the cake. Cool with baking sheet over cake.


Vanilla cream
Ingredients:
250g dairy cream, chilled (I used Millac Gold with stabilizers added)
2tbs icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:
1. Chill the mixing bowl or prepare an ice bath that can fit the mixing bowl.

2. Beat the cream with icing sugar until  firm peaks form.

3. Add vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form. If using pure dairy cream, be careful not to over whip or the cream will separate.

Assembly
1. Place cakeboard on a tray lined with baking sheet for easy removal and transport of the cake in between steps. Cut the base vanilla cake according to size of cakeboard with a long serrated knife. Do the same for top vanilla cake and thin green layer cake.

2. Apply a thin layer of cream with spatula. Place strawberries on. Cut the strawberries to roughly the same height to ensure the top layers of cake are level.

3. Pile up more cream to cover the strawberries.

4. Place plain vanilla sponge on top to sandwich the strawberries and cream. Apply a very thin layer of cream and place the green layer cake on top. Both pieces of cake are cut to roughly the size of the cakeboard.

5. Press the cake down firmly but gently to squeeze the cream into the crevices between the strawberries.

6. Freeze for 1h with cling wrap covering the whole assembly. Use a long serrated knife to cut the edges to reveal strawberries. Wipe knife cleanly after each cut.

Ta-dah! No need for cake rings, turntables or tricky frosting top and sides of cake with cream

Decoration is simple but cute enough. Simply use a daisy flower cookie cutter to cut out some green cake and half it with a knife to create some tufts of grass. Stick them on with a bit of cream. You may wish to brush a little syrup (dissolve 10g sugar in 20ml water) on the "grass" to keep it moist. As quite a few words are required for the birthday message, I decided to print out a banner instead of thinking about how to write it with food. The way the minions are posing is screaming for a banner to be over their heads!

Pack the macarons in a separate box and assemble them on the cake just before serving. Store both cake and macarons in the fridge. Best served the day after assembly!

Thank God everyone loved the cake and macarons!

With love,
Phay Shing