Strawberry Cube

Strawberry Cube

I was planning on doing a series of strawberry recipes for Wimbledon season as who doesnt love a lil’ month of themed recipes, however as the strawbs are so delish right now I thought why not bring these out early and enjoy strawberry season for longer? First one up is this cute strawberry cube: strawberry bavarois filled with a cream cheese mixture and coated in a red mirror glaze. These look a little fancy, but they’re not that hard to put together, worst comes to worst they might look a little rough around the edges but they’ll still taste great!

When I was little my mum, sister and I would go to this local farm in the summer and do the ‘pick your own’ where you pick up a punnet and fill it with as many strawberries as possible. We’d then live off strawberries for the week, trying to get through them all before they went mouldy. One of my fave treats from back then was my mum’s strawberry ice cream which she’d make from the abundance of fresh strawberries we’d pick. It was always so fresh, zingy and bursting with a really authentic strawberry taste – completely different to the stuff you get in supermarkets. We stopped picking strawberries a few years ago and I haven’t tasted anything like that ice cream until I made these delish cubes. The bavarois is made with real strawberries, so whether you use fresh of frozen ones you end up with a really pure strawberry flavour!

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 3 hours, plus chilling time

Ingredients

For the Bavarois

  • 250g Frozen strawberries (or fresh if available)
  • 50g Caster sugar
  • 10ml Lemon juice
  • 4 Leaves of gelatin (around 8g)
  • 2 Egg whites
  • 160ml Double cream

For the Cheesecake filling

  • 65g Cream cheese
  • 1 tbsp Smooth strawberry jam (around 15g)

For the Crumble

  • 100g Digestive biscuits
  • 50g Butter

To Decorate

  • 100g White chocolate
  • Green food colouring
  • A few Sesame seeds

For the Mirror glaze

  • 150ml Water
  • 150g Caster sugar
  • 200g Condensed milk
  • 6 Leaves of gelatin
  • 370g White chocolate
  • A few drops of red food colouring

Method

  1. Begin by making the bavarois. Put the strawberries and sugar into a food processor and pulse until smooth.
  2. Fill a small bowl with cold water and soak the gelatin in it for around 5 minutes until soft. Warm the lemon juice in a small pan until just below the boil. Then squeeze the gelatin to remove excess water and put it into the lemon juice to dissolve.
  3. Take a whisk a gently whisk the egg whites and then the cream into soft peaks.
  4. Fold the lemon juice mixture into the strawberry puree. Then fold in the cream, followed by the egg whites until the mixture is smooth.
  5. Pour the mixture into some silicon cube-shaped moulds to fill it up half way. Leave these to set in the fridge for 2 hours.
  6. Now make the cream cheese filling. Mix the cream cheese and jam in a bowl until smooth. Then pipe the mixture into the centre of the set bavarois in a little blob.
  7. Pour the rest of the bavarois over the top of the filling and leave to set for at least 3 hours, or better overnight.
  8. Meanwhile make the crumble. Crush the biscuits in a large bowl with the end of a rolling pin to make a fine crumb. Then melt the butter in a small pan and pour it onto the biscuits. Mix to combine, then set aside until needed.
  9. Now make the chocolate leaves. Gently melt the white chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the green food colouring. Then dip a knife in the chocolate and press it onto a sheet of baking paper to make a leaf shape.
  10. Repeat to make a line of leaves across the sheet of baking paper. Then place the baking paper between two props on either side to make the paper sag in the middle. Leave to set until needed.
  11. When everything is ready make the mirror glaze. Put the water, sugar and condensed milk into a small pan and heat for around 1 minute, until the sugar has dissolved.
  12. Soak the gelatin in a bowl of cold water for around 5 minutes until soft. Then squeeze out the excess water and add the gelatin to the condensed milk mixture and stir to dissolve.
  13. Finely chop the white chocolate and put it into a glass bowl. Then pour the condensed milk mixture over this chocolate. Stir to help the chocolate melt for 3-4 minutes.
  14. Take a hand blender and carefully blend the chocolate into the liquid until smooth. Try to not take the blender too high in the mixture or it will create air bubbles.
  15. Sieve the glaze into a large jug to remove as many bubbles as possible. If there are still bubbles continue to sieve until the mixture is completely smooth.
  16. Add the red colouring to the glaze and then pulse again with the hand blender until smooth and uniform in colour. Set aside, covered in clingfilm, until needed.
  17. When ready turn the bavarois out onto a wire rack with a large tray or baking tin underneath to catch any excess glaze. Make sure the glaze is around 30-35˚C in temperature and then pour it over the bavarois to coat them evenly. Leave to set for 10-15 minutes.
  18. Carefully transfer the bavarois onto your plates. Then sprinkle a little of the biscuit crumb around the base of the bavarois. Carefully place some of the sesame seeds around the edge of the cubes to look like strawberry seeds.
  19. Finally, carefully peel the chocolate leaves off the baking sheet and then place them on the top of the cubes to look like leaves. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

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