Midsummer Cake/Gräddtårta med Jordgubbar

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Midsummer Cake/Gräddtårta med Jordgubbar

Midsummer Cake or Strawberry Cream cake is just as common at Midsummer as ham is at Christmas.

There are many variations of this cake but this is how we have been making it. The cake recipe is very old and has been used in our family for at least 4 generations.

Midsommartårta/Midsummer Cake

Cake:

3 large eggs

1 1/4 c sugar

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoon hot water

Filling and Decoration:

2 c whipping cream

1/2 tsp vaniljsocker (Dan Sukker vanilla sugar)

2 c fresh strawberries, for decorating

12 oz frozen strawberries, for layers

2 tablespoons sugar, optional

1 box of Marsan, Ekströms vanilla sauce

3/4 c cold milk

1/4 c whipped cream

To Make the Cake:

Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan. Set the oven to 350F.

Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
Bring the water to boil and set aside.
Beat the eggs and sugar until light, fluffy and thick. Fold in the flour mixture, alternating with the hot water.
Pour into the pan and bake on lower rack (not bottom) for around 40 min. Check if it's done with a cake tester, or toothpick.
Cool for 10 minutes, then remove the pan. Cool completely under a kitchen towel.

To Assemble the Cake:

Thaw the frozen strawberries and sprinkle with sugar, if strawberries are not very sweet.
Take one package of Marsan out of the box. Pour milk into a small bowl, and beat in the vanilla mix with a mixer. Put it in the fridge for about 15 min., it will thicken more as it sits. Add the whipped cream.
Divide the cake horizontally into 3 layers.
Whip up all the cream, if serving the cake the same day and add the vanilla sugar towards the end. If you are preparing the cake in advance only whip up 1/2 c cream and save the rest for the next day. If whipped cream sits for a while it tends to get watery.
Mash up the frozen strawberries, they will be wet but that only makes the cake more moist. Carefully mix in about 3/4-1 c of the whipped cream, making sure the whipped cream does not turn into butter!
On the bottom layer of the cake spread out the vanilla custard, top with the middle layer and spread out the strawberry and cream mixture. Place the third layer on top and cover with plastic wrap. Put in the fridge.

The cake can be made this far a day in advance.

To Decorate the Cake:

Whip up the rest of the cream, if you assembled it yesterday, and add vanilla sugar towards the end. Spread evenly a layer of whipped cream all over the cake, reserving some for decorating. Cover the sides and top with cream.
Put whipped cream in a cake decorating bag with a decorating tip or use a ziplock bag by cutting out a small hole in the corner for the decorating tip.
Decorate with strawberries, and Swedish flags if using.
Store the cake in the fridge until ready to serve.

This cake can be changed into endless variations, depending of what berries or fruit there are in season. This cake is also very popular as a birthday cake.