...made of pillow-soft chiffon layers sandwiching sheets of creamy strawberry mousse and silky smooth pistachio buttercream, enveloped by a velvety wrap of citrus buttercream, more pistachio buttercream in the form of cute squiggles, topped with fresh pichu berries, along with flora “foraged” from my very urban surroundings.

INGREDIENTS

GROUP A: CHIFFON CAKE

• 3 eggs, separated into yolks & whites

• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar (for the yolks)

• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 cup cake flour

• 3 tbsp old-fashioned buttermilk

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• Pinch of salt

• 2 tbsp + 3/4 tsp granulated sugar (for the whites)

GROUP B: FRENCH MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar

• 3 tbsp water

• 4 egg yolks (don’t throw out the whites - use one to make the strawberry mousse, the others for a chocolate mousse or mini meringues!)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 195 g unsalted butter at room temperature

• Dried citrus powder

• Pistachio powder

• Orange food dye

• Green food dye

• Corn starch (optional - to fix your buttercream if it looks too curdled)

GROUP C: STRAWBERRY MOUSSE

• 125g heavy cream

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 32g granulated sugar

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 8g cornstarch

• 1 egg white

• 7g salted butter

• 10-12 large fresh strawberries

• 42g very cold heavy cream

METHOD

• Make the buttercream: Whisk egg yolks till thick and frothy. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and cook on high heat to dissolve the sugar completely. Drop a bit of this mixture into a glass of cold water; if it turns into a sticky gobule, the sugar syrup is ready. SLOWLY drizzle hot syrup into bowl with yolks. Continue mixing until the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch and the yolk mixture has cooled to room temperature. Add in butter one cube at a time allowing each piece to incorporate before adding the next (don’t freak out if the mixture looks a bit curdled). Add vanilla and salt. Continue mixing until buttercream is smooth and creamy. Divide mixture in a 3:4 ratio. To the larger portion, add citrus powder & orange food dye (adjust both to your taste and aesthetic liking), and to the smaller portion, add the pistachio powder & green food dye, just enough to achieve a paste green. Cover and refrigerate till it’s time to use.

• Bake the cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Line a small cake tin with parchment paper and only grease the paper lightly with butter. Do NOT grease the walls of the tin. Beat the egg whites with the granulated sugar as listed, to stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar, vanilla, salt, oil, & buttermilk. Fold in the flour. Add the egg whites to this mixture in small batches, folding carefully to incorporate fully. Scoop batter into cake tin and bake for 18-20 minutes till a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in mold on a wire rack, at room temperature. Take out from mold only when completely cooled to room temp.

• Make the mousse: Whisk the salt, cornstarch, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and egg white. Whisk well again. Dice the strawberries. Add 125 grams of heavy cream and strawberry pieces to a saucepan and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Then, increase the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer till little bubbles form on the surface. At this point, pour a bit of this mixture into the egg white mix and whisk that continuously to prevent any curdling. Pour this new mix back into the saucepan, and keep whisking for another minute. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into another bowl. Whisk in the butter till completely dissolved. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap in such a way that the wrap sticks to the surface of the custard mixture. Refrigerate to cool for at least 2 hours. After cooling time is up, whip the remaining 42 grams of heavy cream to moderately stiff peaks (the peaks don’t have to have a very defined pointy shape, but the mixture should not fall out of the bowl when turned upside-down).

• Assemble the cake: Slice cake horizontally into 3 layers. Spread pistachio FMBC on the base layer, then follow up with the mousse. Repeat for next layer. Cover assembled cake with citrus FMBC and smooth all over with a spatula. Add random squiggles of pistachio FMBC as and how you please - have fun with it! Top with fresh gooseberries and some wild (but cleaned) flowers.

French buttercream recipe adapted from Preppy Kitchen.