This is Strawberry Maria from TCB - without the lattice band. It was my 1st time making Genoise Au Chocolat and I’m happy to report that it turned out better than I had expected.

I decorated it ala Hector and it was really fun to do! It is actually easier to pipe this decoration than to pipe roses. My only issue is that the strawberry cloud cream is pretty soft, so it was hard to get a distinctive pattern. I had to scraped off my 1st try, and ended up chilling the cream (inside the pastry bag) for 15 minutes.

I brought this cake to a get together at a friend’s house. There were 9 of us and we finished the cake. Several people took 2nd and 3rds! Comments range from “the chocolate cake is so soft”, “the cake is really good, not too sweet, I’m gonna have another piece”, “the icing taste like strawberry ice cream”, “do you use real strawberries for the icing?”, “love the texture of the cake”, “is it hard to make? can I have the recipe?”

So beautiful!  I love the design with the cloud cream—I think it’s the perfect level of “distinctness.”  Love to hear all the happy comments from the cake mangé-ers!!!!!  If I get the courage to try a genoise, I will definitely have to try this one.  Your cake part itself is so pretty out from the heart shaped pan!

Jenn, you cake looks beautiful!  The cloud cream on top literally looks like a cloud!  Is the Genoise Au Chocolat a nice a moist cake?  Is it lighter than Rose’s chocolate butter cakes?  I have never made it.  It is wonderful to hear all the rave reviews from your friends.  Sounds like you have a winner on your hands.

Beautiful, Jenn!  This is one of my all-time favorite cakes, so I’m in perfect agreement with all of your friends   Nice to see you had so much success with the genoise au chocolate, great job.

Thanks Anne, the genoise is easier than I thought actually. My friends were more impressed with the taste than the look (go figure). What was really sweet was around the time we’re gonna have dessert, hubby told me to take the cake and show it around, I think he was more proud than me (he called the cake “your marvel”).

Liza, this is so much lighter than butter cakes. It is moist because of the syrup. I usually prefer genoise/sponge cake type than butter cakes.

Julie, I was thinking about you when I made it, because I remembered you said this is one of your favorite. So I’m happy that I finally try this cake.

Jenn, delicacy! well done.

Jenn - 11 October 2010 11:27 AM

he called the cake “your marvel”.

Aaaaawwwwww.

hubby told me to take the cake and show it around

That is soooo cute!

Aren’t our men just little darlings?

This is one of my favorite cakes to serve to guests. It is always a winner. Your decoration “à la Hector” is outstanding!

Jenn, you did a fabulous job frosting the cake

It’s gorgeous!  The strawberry cloud cream looks delicious!

Looks beautiful.  I’ve never tried the cloud cream.  I must give it a try

Perfect timing!  I’m making this for a baby shower in a few weeks for the first time!  Your post gave me confidence!  : )

Thanks everyone!

SarahGS, glad to hear that! And I look forward to hear about your baby shower cake - pics are always welcome!

Hi, Jenn!  The baby shower is this Saturday and I was wondering if you could help me with the timing of everything.  Since TCB said this cake will taste better if left to sit with the syrup for a day, but the cloud cream says to use as soon as possible…what’s a girl to do?  I was planning on completing the whole thing the night before and keeping it in the fridge.  Do you think this is the best plan?  Or do I finish it the next morning??  Help!  : )

Hi Sarah,
How about if you do this. The night before make the cake, syrup it, and the strawberry puree. Then the cake has time to soak up the syrup. The next morning you only have to add the gelatin to a bit of the puree, whip the cream, mix the puree into the cream, then decorate the cake.

If this is not doable, I would think it should be okay to refrigerate the cloud cream overnight, but I have never tried it. Maybe someone else in the forum would have an idea?

When I made this I baked and syrup the cake in the morning, made the sauce, then started the cream around 3. The cake was then refrigerated until 7 PM. I took it out 1 hour before serving as I want it to warm a little bit to room temperature - but not too warm. I don’t think there’s a risk the cream will melt with the gelatin in it but I wanted to play it safe (plus not sure how warm cream will taste ). We ate the cake at 8 PM and it was still good at 9.

I hope this helps. You can do this Sarah. And please come back to tell us how it went and post pictures!