Tender lemon almond cake with a creamy mousse and fresh strawberries. If you like strawberry shortcake, then you’ll love this!
If you don’t have strawberries on hand, raspberries or blueberries work too, and you can experiment with other fresh fruit, but avoid using fruit that’s too wet, because that can dissolve the mousse.
You can mix & match citrus flavours – lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, yuzu… They all pair well with berries and cream.
For the gelee on top, if you don’t have rose jam, you can use any other jam that would work with the flavours. You can also add a little rosewater or orange blossom water to make it more floral. I used pomegranate blueberry for my red berry juice, but any red coloured berry juice would do to give the gelee a pink hue.
This recipe makes a large 10 inch square cake, but you can scale down the ingredients to make a smaller cake.
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Ingredients for lemon grapefruit almond cake
168 g unsalted butter, room temperature
150 g sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
75 g all-purpose flour
135 g almond flour or ground almonds
Scant 1 tsp baking powder
Heaping ¼ tsp kosher salt (or heaping ⅛ tsp table salt)
1 tsp butter vanilla emulsion (or vanilla extract)
⅛ tsp almond extract
Zest of a lemon
Zest of a grapefruit
Juice of a lemon (about 45 g)
Directions for cake
- Generously grease and line a 10″ x 10” square pan with parchment. Alternatively, line a cookie sheet with parchment or silpat.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high for a few minutes until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and then the extracts/flavourings, beat until batter is uniform. Sift together flour, ground almonds, and baking powder. Fold in the flour and zest just until no flour streaks remain, then fold in the lemon juice. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and spread to the corners, don’t worry about getting the batter perfectly even, the batter spreads when baking. If you are using a larger cookie sheet, your cake will turn out thinner as the batter spreads over the larger surface area.
- Bake for 15 – 20 mins or just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely on a rack or in a refrigerator. Carefully remove the cake from the pan and invert it on to parchment paper. If making ahead, cover the cooled cake in saran wrap, place into an airtight bag, and lay flat in your fridge or freezer. Cake will keep in the freezer for at least a week.
- When you are ready to make the mousse, place the cake on your cake plate and surround the cake with a 10×10 inch square cake ring lined with acetate. If you don’t have a cake ring, you can use a large springform pan collar, and trim the cake down to the same size as the collar. If you don’t have acetate, you can use parchment, but the sides of your cake won’t turn out as smooth, as parchment will wrinkle when it absorbs moisture from the mousse.
Ingredients for the cream cheese mousse
400 g whipping cream
375 g cream cheese
Zest of a large lemon
Zest of a lime
Juice of a large lemon (about 45 g to 55 g)
80 g Cold water for blooming the gelatin
12g powdered gelatin (I used Knox brand)
80 g egg yolks (around 4 – 5 large egg yolks)
150 g sugar
25 g water
A carton of fresh strawberries
Directions
- Chop the strawberries to approximately ½ inch chunks.
- Bloom the gelatin by sprinkling the powder in the cold water. Wait at least 5 minutes before using.
- In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk the whipping cream to soft peaks. Remove from the bowl and set aside. In this same stand mixer bowl (no need to wipe down), whisk the cream cheese on med-high for a few minutes until smooth. Fold whipped cream and cream cheese together until mixture looks uniform. Set aside.
- Heat juice in a microwave until hot but not boiling, then pour it onto bloomed gelatine.
- Whisk the egg yolks with water and sugar in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water until the mixture is hot and frothy, and the sugar is completely dissolved. Do not step away and be sure to whisk constantly to prevent egg yolks from cooking. Pour in the gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved. Cool for a few minutes until no longer hot but still warm. Strain the mixture over fine mesh sieve (to remove any cooked egg yolks) onto cream cheese mixture, add lemon-lime zest and fold the mixture with a spatula, scraping the bottom of the bowl, until the mixture is uniform.
- Use immediately: Pour around ⅓ of the mousse onto cake. Place chopped strawberries on top in an even layer, then pour in the rest of the mousse. Use an offset spatula to smooth the top of the mousse. You can gently shake the cake if you are worried about trapped air bubbles. Chill in the fridge until set, 4 hours to overnight.
Ingredients for grapefruit rose gelée
50 g cold water for blooming the gelatin
6 g gelatin
70 g sugar
100 g hot water (just below boiling)
80g freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice with pulp
30 g rose jam
150 g red berry juice (any kind, as long as it is red)
Directions
- Bloom the gelatin by sprinkling the powder in the cold water. Wait at least 5 minutes before using.
- Dissolve the bloomed gelatin and sugar in the hot water, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Wait until this mixture is no longer warm to the touch, then pour over the chilled cream cheese mousse. Set in the fridge for at least a couple hours until firm.
- Optional: Top with chopped fresh strawberries and white chocolate curls.