It’s midsummer in Sweden on Friday, which means its a traditional day where every Swede is off, celebrating the midsummer eve with lots of food, family gatherings and of course, CAKE! The usual to be baked during midsummer is a strawberry cream cake, but I’ve notched it up a bit and created a lemon & poppy seed cake, with a strawberry mousse, and raspberry cream cheese – the cake is covered in white chocolate swiss merengue buttercream. It’s a mouth full I know, but it’s EXTREMELY TASTY! And trust me, you will probably want to make this cake every midsummer 😉

Here’s how you bake it!

INGREDIENTS :

Lemon & Poppy Seed Cake (8″) –

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup lemon juice fresh or bottled

3/4 cup sour cream

1 heaping Tbs poppy seeds

Strawberry Mousse –

• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin

• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1 cup whipping cream

Strawberry Compote –

• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 75ml water

Raspberry Cream Cheese –

• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cream cheese
• 2 tbsp sugar

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream –

• 4 Egg Whites
• 120 g Granulated Sugar
• 250 g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature And Cut Into Tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 200 g white chocolate, chopped
• 1 pinch Fine Sea Salt

METHOD :

For the Cake –

Preheat oven to 175C and line two 8″ round cake pans with baking paper and then grease sides with butter, set aside.

In large bowl whisk together your four, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined.

With hand or stand mixer mix in your eggs, oil and lemon juice until blended. Slowly add in your sour cream and continue beating until incorporated.

Fold in your poppy seeds.

Pour evenly into prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and cake springs back when touched, remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes in pans before inverting on wire rack to cool completely.

For the strawberry mousse –

1. Sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup water in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes.
2. Process 2 cups sliced strawberries and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as needed.
3. Transfer strawberry mixture to a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat.
4. Add gelatin to strawberry mixture, stirring constantly until gelatin dissolves. Cover and chill until consistency of unbeaten egg whites, stirring occasionally (about 30 minutes).

1. Beat cream at low speed until foamy; increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into strawberry mixture until well blended.
2. Cover and chill 30 minutes or just until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape when mounded.

Strawberry Compote –

1. In a small saucepan, add all the ingredients and simmer until the strawberries break apart and the mixture thickens.
2. Once it’s thickens then pour into a medium sized clean bowl and leave to cool completely in the fridge.

Raspberry Cream Cheese –

1. In a small bowl, beat the raspberries with a hand mixer so all of them have broken apart and become a slush.
2. In another bowl beat the cream cheese with the sugar until creamy.
3. Then slowly add in the raspberries and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until combined.

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream –

1. Place egg whites, sugar and instant coffee in a metal bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water, not touching the water. Whisk or stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to approximately 70ºC. If you don’t have a thermometer, then just keep checking that the sugar should be completely dissolved when rubbed between two fingers. Just be cautious that it will be hot to the touch.
2. Immediately place the bowl on the stand mixer (make sure to dry the bottom, so no more heat gets onto the bowl, and whip on high using the whisk attachment until frosting has become thick and glossy, forming a stiff peak. Continue to whip frosting until the bowl feels room temperature to the touch, a total of about 20 minutes.
3. Switch the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, drop in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. If frosting appears curdled or clumpy at any time, increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth.
4. Once all of the butter has been incorporated, mix in vanilla extract and the melted chocolate as well as pinch of salt. If needed, continue beating until smooth.

Assembly –

1. Slice your cakes in half so you have four layers.
2. Starting with the bottom layer, spread a thin layer of the strawberry Compote and then top with a 1/2 of the strawberry mousse. Then repeat with the next layer.
3. On the third layer spread the raspberry cream cheese and top with the final cake layer.
4. Cover the entire cake with the white Chocolate buttercream.
5. Decorate as you wish, I’ve created some white chocolate buttercream oil painted flowers and added some berries.

And voila! Enjoy!