Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake Recipe

Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake Recipe with Strawberry Mirror Glaze

Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake is a perfect entertaining dessert very impressive & luxurious. Made with creamy strawberry vanilla pastry that feels like velvet on the tongue. A few extra step in the making but your guest will be truly impressed.

You know how passionate I am about my desserts. I love both making as well as eating them. Back in the days when I could afford a few calories I’d happily substitute my meal for a dessert.

Recently the kids have been asking for strawberry Bavarian cream cake. My kids will have strawberry in anything and everything!!

I noticed online that there are many different variations of the Bavarian recipes.  Anyhow,  Technically Bavarian cream also known as Bavaria is a dessert similar to pastry cream but thickened with gelatin instead of flour or cornstarch which is a custard sauce thickened with eggs.  (definition taken from Wikipedia)  and that’s exactly what we’re going to do!

Let’s talk ingredients and Substitutes.

• Digestive Biscuits / Graham Crackers – I’m all for substitution but this is what helps support the Bavarian Cream, so make sure you use not just something delicious but also something sturdy. For example those light wafer may not work well but graham crackers, even Oreo would work for this.
• Gelatin – I often substitute gelatin with Agar Agar to make this vegetarian. I don’t see the process chaning much – you can continue with the process the same way as shown below.

Can we make this Eggless Strawberry Bavarian Cream?

Absolutely!  just replace this vanilla pastry cream with my eggless vanilla pastry cream. Use Agar Agar instead of gelatin and continue with the rest of the process just as below.

Recipe – Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake aka Strawberry Bavarian Cake

Ingredients 

For the Biscuit Base

• Digestive Biscuits / Graham Crackers – 100 grams (about 8 to 10 crackers)
• Unsalted Butter – melted – 60 grams (1/2 stick)

For the Pastry Cream

• Whole milk – 375 ml (1 1/2 cup)
• White sugar – 100 grams (1/2 cup)
• Egg yolks – 4 nos
• Cornstarch – 2 tbsp
• Vanilla – 1 tsp

For the Strawberry Bavarian Cream

• Whipping Cream – 250 ml (1 cup)
• Strawberries blended- 2 cups
• White Sugar – 2 tbsp
• Gelatin – 2 tbsp (see notes above for substitutes)

For the Strawberry Mirror Glaze 

• Strawberries blended – 1/2 cup (about 2 cups whole strawberries)
• Lemon Juice – 1 tbsp
• White Sugar – 2 tbsp
• Cornstarch – 1 tsp
• Water – 1/4 cup
• Strawberry extract- 1/4 tsp (optional) or Strawberry liquor – 1 tbsp

Method:

Prepare the Biscuit Base

• Crush the biscuits in a zip lock bag.
• Melt the butter in a microwave
• Pour melted butter in the biscuits – mix well.
• Pour the mixture in the bottom of the spring form pan.
• Use the back of a spoon to press firmly making a nice tight base.
• Place in the fridge while you continue with the rest of the recipe.

Prepare Strawberries for Bavarian Cream

• Place two cups blended strawberry in a sauce pan with 2 tbsp sugar.
• Cook on low until it is reduced to half the quantity –
• Once done – add the gelatin and keep warm.

Prepare Pastry Cream

• Bring milk to almost boiling.
• In a bowl add the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla. Whisk well until nice and foamy.
• Add hot milk to the whipped eggs a few tablespoon at a time to avoid the eggs scrambling
• Once all the milk is incorporated in to the eggs – pour the mixture back into the milk pot and cook on low heat.
• Stir continuously until the mixture thickens to a thick custard. This will happen quickly since the quantity of yolks to milk is high.
  Note: Do not leave custard unattended to avoid curdling.
• One custard is ready – add the prepared strawberry gelatin mixture.
• Add 2 drops of pink food color if you want
• Strain this mixture while still warm into a clean bowl.
• Cover with cling wrap and set aside in a warm place.

Prepare Strawberry Mirror Glaze

• Place blended strawberries, lemon juice and sugar in a sauce pan over low heat
• In a separate bowl combine cornstarch and water.
• Add cornstarch mixture to the strawberries
• Cook on low for a minute until thick
• Strain and set aside – keep warm until ready to use.
• If necessary you can warm it up to bring to consistency.

Assemble

• Whip the Cream to stiff peak
• Fold the whipped cream to the strawberry pastry cream mixture – this is Bavarian Cream
• Pour over the biscuit base we prepared earlier.
• Let chill in the fridge for an hour
• Pour prepared warm strawberry mirror glaze over the Bavarian Cream Cake
• Let chill for at least another 3 to 4 hours before you
• Garnish with strawberries and serve.

Save this recipe for later; you can a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest 

Recipe Card – Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake

Now that is dessert for this weekend..