Simple, Easy to Assemble, and Great Flavors

Yellow Cake with a really good Italian Buttercream folded with Lemon Curd, light green Sugar Pearls to decorate. Pair this with some tea and you're good for coffee break.

Specimen #2

If you're able to make a sponge, genoise, a chiffon or even a yellow cake then you can make this mini strawberry shortcake.

Filling - make a small batch of pastry cream. Once it has cooled down, whip a small batch of heavy cream and fold gently into the pastry cream to lighten the mixture. Set aside, put in the fridge until it's ready to use.

You can make the cake and the pastry cream the day before assembly.

Fruit - thinly slice strawberries like in the photo. If the strawberries are not as sweet to your liking, put the slices in a bowl, add a little bit of granulated sugar and let it sit for a few minutes to macerate.

Cake Rounds - lightly brush with a 1:3 ratio of sugar to hot water.. e.g. 1 tbsp of sugar mixed into 3 tablespoons of water. Remember, your pastry cream has the sweetness, you've macerated the strawberries in sugar, so you really don't want a sweet sugar syrup to brush on your cake. Tip - you could even add some of the liquid from the macerating strawberries because the sugar will draw out their juices.

To assemble - put the first round of cake on a plate or cardboard then brush with the flavored syrup. Take the pastry cream out of the fridge and spread a dollop on top of the cake. Strain the macerated slices of strawberries and put on top of the pastry cream just a few slices in an even layer. Top with the second layer of cake and then brush with the syrup. Put the assembled cake into the fridge to set for about 20 minutes or if you have room in your freezer you can also place it inside for about 7-10 minutes until it is set.

When it is almost time to pull them out, whip some heavy cream and lightly sweeten with powdered sugar and whip until stiff peak forms.

Transfer the whipped cream in a piping bag inserted with a large star tip. Pull the cakes out and start piping the cream on the sides of the cake until it covers the top and the bottom.

Now, if you're serving the cakes immediately you can put the remaining slices of strawberries on top. But, your are making them ahead of time. Hold off on the garnish until serving.