Cleveland Cassata Cake
Cassata cake is an Italian dessert made from cheese, fruit, and marzipan -none of which I’m particularly fond of. However, there is a Cleveland version full of cream, strawberry, and custard. Now that’s something I can get behind.
Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
6 eggs, separated
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
1 pint strawberries
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups half-and-half
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 335F.
Mix the drys (flour, 2 tsp cornstarch, baking powder, salt).
Mix the milk and 1 tsp vanilla.
Whip the 6 egg whites with 1 cup sugar until a stiff meringue forms.
Beat the butter with 1 cup sugar. Add the 6 egg yolks.
Alternate adding the drys and the milk-vanilla mixture to the butter mixture.
Fold in the meringue.
Bake in three round cake pans for about 25 minutes.
Make the custard by whipping 6 egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, half-and-half, 3 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp vanilla, lemon juice. Slowly heat in a saucepan on the stove until thickened.
Make the whipped cream by whipping the heavy cream and sugar.
Clean and slice the strawberries.
After the cake cools, assemble. Between each layer of cake, spread custard and strawberry slices. Frost the whole thing with whipped cream and top with more sliced strawberries as decoration.