Daring Bakers: Fresh Fraisier

BUT WHERE ARE THE STRAWBERRIES?

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make Fresh Fraisiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

Now, my confection isn't actually a fraisier. A Fresh Fraisier is a layer cake with fresh strawberries (strawberry in French is la fraise). But since I didn't use strawberries, it's not a fraisier.

And so, taking the liberty, I shall call it Ananasier, after l'ananas, the French word for pineapple. In fact, the Malay word for pineapple is nanas so it's quite appropriate.

Jana did an excellent job with her well-articulated instructions. They were easy to follow and the components were not difficult to make. It takes a little time, mostly due to the refrigeration, but it makes an impressive confection. Here are her instructions. For a slide show of the Daring Bakers' cakes, go to the website.

This is the Ananasier's makeup:

Sweet and high. It's heavy too... Lots to enjoy

The pineapple started out as rings, and then were cut in half and arranged end to end to make that wave pattern. I had some leftover jelly from a series of failures from another project, and cut out pieces to decorate in between the pineapple as well as to use inside the cake (with the pastry cream filling). The cake is flavoured with the juice of pandan leaves (chop them up, pound them in a mortar and pestle and use the green juice).

Cake, cream, fruit, almond paste – a good combination

I really like the disc of almond paste that tops the cake. When eaten together, there's a nice chewy bite to the cake combined with the soft, billowy pastry cream ­­– another component with an easy-to-manage recipe. As a filling, I might add a touch more gelling agent (I used agar-agar instead of gelatin) as the cake got somewhat squashed when I sliced into it. But then, that may just be the fault of  my heavy hand.

Those leaves that I used to decorate the plate, by the way, are edible. They are fuzzy and I am told they are lemon thyme. The bush is growing wild in a pot on my balcony.

My initial plan was to make two individual-size servings by cutting out discs from a sheet cake made in a Swiss roll pan and using a large biscuit cutter to act as the collar to mould the cakes. Obviously, that didn't happen. Maybe the next time I make the cake. And maybe next time, it'll actually be a Fraisier.