This year I was spoilt for choice since I had 2 boxes of delicious strawberries on hand as they are just showing up in the market. Also have been fortunate enough to receive many new baking books I was itching to try out, and exciting dessert ideas off blogs and web sites. This is what the holiday season does to you; spoils you with so much visible eye candy, that you want to try everything at once. Strawberries in the market doesn’t seem to make it simpler, just widens the horizon!
I grabbed 2 books of my shelf for inspiration. One the Australian Women’s Weekly ‘Cakes’, and the other Roland Meisner’s ‘Basic to Beautiful Cakes’. The latter is a beautiful cake decoration book that I won at a cake decoration competition run by Lis and Ivonne at the Daring Kitchen for this Cinnamon Buttercream Autmn Cake. Both books are bursting with great cake ideas, and I eventually zeroed on the second one. Basic to Beautiful Cakes shows how to create desserts that can be beautifully embellished to serve any occasion by using a small set of foolproof cake recipes.
I saw the Summertime Strawberry Cake in his book (yes I am aware this is the peak of winter, LOL), and that inspired my Bavarian cream cake. My cake is similar in essence and would have made the base cake from the book, had it not been for the added 1 stick of butter. Decided to fall back on my Swiss roll cake recipe, an airy and light fatless option, I wasn’t sure it would work well as a cake base, but it certainly did.
For the filling I decided on a Bavarian cream for many reasons. Primarily because of the power failure. Also because the kids loved it when I had made it earlier from Tartlettes for this Peaches and Cream Cake, and finally, because I needed to collect whites for making macarons for MacTweets! Three birds with one stone …yes!
The Bavarian cream is inspired by this recipe by Michale Symon on Food Network. Not sure if it was supposed to be firmer, but worked fine for me even though I used 25% low fat cream. I think you could decrease the gelatin by a 1/4 tbsp if you use whipping cream.
I did initially want to leave the strawberries peeking out of the sides of the cake, but was inspired by Ria‘s post to try making a different border. I had already topped the cake with a dark chocolate ganache, as we can’t have a birthday cake sans chocolate, so I tried a white chocolate piped border. The white chocolate we get here doesn’t melt as easily and smoothly as the dark chocolate, so it wasn’t a very easy task. I managed something anyway, and here’s what it looks like…
Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake
Inspired by Summertime Strawberry Cake by Roland Meisner
Sponge
6 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 cup vanilla sugar, divided into 2 bowls
Method:
Separate the yolks and whites.
Filling
400m cream (25% fat)
Method:
Whisk the egg yolks with a balloon whisk with 1/3 cup of vanilla sugar until smooth.
Unmold gently.
Topping:
Spread over the top layer, allowing some to drizzle over the sides. Use it before it becomes too firm or it will be difficult to spread smoothly.
Border with chocolate lace if desired.
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Happy New year Deeba and a very happy b'day to your lovely teenage daughter. When i saw the first pick i thought she had cut her hair short, but then second batch she has long hair
Cake looks so beautiful, i love that whit chocolate deco.
Was on a break will be back blogging tommorow.
Omg, so, so tempting and beautiful!
Happy birthday to your daughter! What a gorgeous cake — that beautiful side detailing just takes it over the edge!! Lovely!!
Happy Birthday to your lovely daughter!
That cake is magnificent!
Cheers,
Rosa
Happy Birthday to your daughter! Gorgeous cake…white chocolate deco is really beautiful!!!
Beautiful cake Deeba, love the white chocolate border. Belated wishes to ur daughter and wish you all a happy new year.
Happy Birthday to your daughter! I see that same look on her face – matching my nephew's when he was that age. lol!
What a beauty! She's going to break lots of heart and I'm sure she is already breaking some right now.
Love your cake and the beautiful border. Now you inspires me to try making one like this for poppet's birthday in June.
Happy b'day to ur daug…Cake looks luvly like mother's love..
Your daughter is beautiful – she must get it from you! Did she also get your wonderful baking skills as the cake looks delightful!
A Happy (belated) Birthday to ur Girl!
LOVED the cake ! She is one lucky gal!
Happy new year to u all.
Happy Birthday to your beautiful daughter Deeba! She is absolutely gorgeous!
Love your cake. I can't believe the challenges you had to deal with while making this and still it turned out amazing!
happy birthday to your daughter. Hope she had a nice day . This cake looks absolutely spectacular. I like the decoration on the side. fantastic
Deeba, that chocolate border around the cake is stunning, I really love it. Your children look gorgeous, I hope your daughter had a wonderful birthday and appreciates her mums hard work!
Your daughter is as beautiful as you! And your son is a very handsome young man!
Thank you so much for sharing the instructions for the cake border. I love how elegant it is.
Hoping that 2010 is a fabulous year for you and your family. Dani
Happy Birthday to your daughter! The cake looks fantastic
Lovely cake for a lovely daughter. Belated birthday wishes to her..The cake looks awesome
Happy New Year to you and your family and a belated b'day greeting to your princess. Once again you have outdone yourself. This cake is amazing.
What a beautiful cake and with all the difficulies that arose. I love the chocolate border. I know what you mean about having a birthday so close to the holidays. My daughter turns 15 on the 10th of January. It's like bouncing from holiday to holiday and them throw in a special occasion. Happy birthday to your beautiful daughter!
Hi Deeba:
The cake is gorgeous and so yummy looking. What an artist you are. Happy Birthday to your daughter.
Cheers
SAUCY
What a spectacular cake! Happy Birthday to your lovely daughter! She is blessed to have such a wonderful mum!
happy birthday to your daughter deeba…. i love the latticed border… lovely as always and here's wishing you and the family a lovely passionately baking filled year in 2010… hugs dear girl
Happy Birthday Mehak……
Wishing you all the joy n happiness in the world n more….
Loved the border, Deeba… Looks totally fabulous…
It's gonna be my next try
Happy birthday to your daughter Deeba….what a lovely cake for a lovely daughter! Love the border…and I agree the white choc here is difficult to melt too and not as smooth as dark choc. The reason why i seldom work with it.But you did a great job nonetheless.
)
Your daughter is a stunner!!! Happy Birthday to the daughter! The cake sounds delish and as always your attention to detail and intricate designs are unsurpassable! xx
oh deeba – time does fly! but you make each minute edible! give my very fondest wishes to your daughter! the cake looks incredible love the strawberry choc combo!
Best wishes for your daugther's birthday. What a beautiful cake Deeba – you pulled this off even with a power failure. You constantly amaze me!
Your daughter is beautiful and so is the cake!
What a gorgeous cake. So much love went into it and what absolutely beautiful children.
happy b'day to your daughter! the cake looks divine, though for some reason i could see only one image, maybe you are using flickr?? thats banned here in uae.
Happy Birthday! a teenagers….
A-M-A-ZING this cake. Love the border idea, very chic. Very happpy kids with such an inventive and creative baking mother!!
The cake is a feat!! Simply gorgeous!!
I'll keep following your updates! Loving your blog!
Pei-Lin
A stunning cake for a beautiful girl! You are an amazing and creative baker!
14..they grow up so quickly don't they? Happy birthday!!! This is a stunning cake as always Deeba for a special girl.
That cake is beautiful.
Deeba,
You never disappoint. Amazing, and without power? My daughter would have had to make do with Nutella on a leftover Christmas cookie, so hope your beautiful daughter knows how lucky she is to have YOU!
Wow, beautiful cake for a beautiful Birthday girl!!!
I think that border on the cake is amazing – the amount of work that went into it! I've wanted to try something like that but just have never gotten round to doing it… I'll have to use you as inspiration now.
Deeba, Happy New Year to you and your family. I wish you all the best in 2010. And happy belated birthday to the bday girl. What a lovely cake! Everything about it sounds finger licking good. I made a similar lace border with dark chocolate a few years ago. I have pictures of it posted here: http://hanaaskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/heavenly-cake-baker-new-baking-group.html.
Happy Birthday to your daughter. She is indeed so lucky to have such a wonderful Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake for her birthday. Thanks for sharing the wonderful recipe.
Yowza! What a brilliant cake!! Just fantastic. You are such a fantastic baker Deebs and my cakes pale in comparison to yours. Happy Birthday to the lovely daughter – guess I know where she gets her good looks from!! Hugs!
Happy Birthday to your daughter Deeba! What an amazing border on that cake – love, love, love it! I'm very inspired to try it out now – Wow!
Deeba u r one awesome MOM..Belated belated wishes to lovely Meher! I loved ur lacey-white-choco border, brilliant, makes the cake look even richer! Been unable to comment though reading every post religiously-despite my kids!!
Wow, wow, wow! You are such an artist! Happy birthday to your little girl!
Mine is in New York City with her friends, I am biting my nails..
A beautiful cake for a beautiful girl
Hope she had a wonderful day. The cake is so decadent ! Love the detailing, i have the same book but have never baked anything from it. Think i should open it now 
Lovely cake — awesome! Happy Bday to your daughter! Jan 2 is a great day for a birthday! [It's mine too!]
An Indian cook in NY
This looks incredibly divine!!
Happy Bday Meher…. May God Bless U!!!
Amazing cake Deeba.. it kept me drooling…. When I saw the chocolate lace border on Ria's cake, I was wondering on how to do it. Now thanks to u on how to do a border…
Have a good year ahead.
It's gorgeous! Beautiful!
Happy Birthday to your daughter Meher and Happy New Year to you and your family.
Many birthday congrats to your lovely daughter Deeba, great photos. Love her cake with your signature decoration curls!
Many happy returns to your daughter, boy they grow up so fast, don't they!!!!! Lovely cake, I want some….please
Oh it's beautiful! Happy birthday to your daughter and happy new year!
Oh Deeba – that looks almost too beautiful to eat!! Although I'm sure you managed
Love the piped chocolate surround – you are a real culinary artist. And such a gorgeous daughter – she obviously takes after her mom 
I love your chocolate lace border! It's amazing that you can get it to bend like that without breaking.
What a marvelous cake for your daughter.. belated Happy Birthday for her!!!
This is exactly the kind of cake for parties, succulent and wonderful for the eyes
Cheers,
Gera
I love the border you put on this cake! It is wonderful.
Just wanted you to know I'm still lurking around your blog.
Happy Birthday to your daughter! I bet she will surely love this cake! It really is so beautiful and of course delicious!
Fabulous job on the cake, Deeba! I am so impressed with your talent!
And Happy Birthday to your daughter!
What an awesome cake. Happy Birthday to your daughter and Happy New Year to you. I love roaming around your blog. I had seen Ria's chocolate scrollwork too, both of you take the cake!!!!
Oh loved that cake deeba….especially that border…my sons birthday is just a couple of months away and Iam planning to bake something from ur blog…..This border thing is decided….will try a hand on that…..well, About cake, which one would you suggest?…Please let me know..i will be waiting….The one that ur family loved teh most (i know it will b difficult to choose) and the readers as well….Since you got soooooo many collections Iam just lost:)
Your kids are cute…like the expressions on ur sons face:)…..looks like he is a bit naughty like my bro's:)
BelATED b'day wishes to ur doter!
Shabs.
A very belated Happy Birthday to your daughter, D! It's amazing that you did all this without power. I would have given up! You're a great mom
The cake looks great, love the border!
A special cake for a special girl! Happy belated Birthday! Gorgeous looking cake!
yipppeee… tried the technique of making the border to make a bird on my cake…. came out nice… thanks
Haroun n the Sea of Stories Inspires Vibha's Hoopoe Lemon Cake
Cheers,
The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts – Nachiketa
Catch me on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts
Hi Deeba! I came across this post when looking for an idea of a cake for my husband's birthday. I couldn't make your bavarian filling because I wasn't sure I would have enough room in the fridge, but I used the decoration idea and also took a look at Ria's post that inspired you. I made it successfully and it was a hit at the party! I love the simple things that impress, and this one was one of them. I'll post it tonight on my blog. Thanks for sharing!
I stumbled upon your blog while searching for a “Fruit Bavarian Cake” recipe… wow you are just incredible!! The pictures, the stories… everything is beautiful. I look forward to follwing your posts. I recently started my own blog and and still adapting ot the blog world
Hi I agree with your daughter if you make it from the heart people love it a lot more it is made from love, I have been working with chocolates this year I now make wonderful truffles and a lot of other goodies my son love boston cream pie so this christmas I am making him one, since I have been dealing with cancer and cant work anymore I bake and my friend and family are loving it and me thank you for your recipie i cant wait to make it on friday HAPPY HOLIDAYS !
KAREN