Strawberry Brita Cake / Brita-Kakku
This Strawberry Brita Cake is delightful bake. It has both cake and pavlova, a layer of fresh whipped cream and strawberries.
If you are following me on social media, you might have seen me getting these beautiful organic strawberries from farmer’s market. We finished one pint just as it is, but I wanted to use the rest of it and decided to make Brita Cake. I have seen Brita Cake so many times, I think first time on Food 52 site and then recently on Susan Spungen’s page.
I am sure you have questions about Brita cake. If you haven’t heard of a Brita cake before, you’re in for a treat! Brita Cake is a Nordic cake known as Brita Kakku made with base of cake, layered with meringue, freshly whipped cream, and fresh berries. It’s a cake from Finland.
You can make this cake in any kind of pan, depending on how much you are planning to make. You can use sheet pan, cut the cake in half and layer it. Or bake it in square pan and just serve it as single layer. Or the way I have prepared it in a loaf pan. The original cake that I have adapted my cake is a full-size cake and serves more people. But I decided to make a smaller version because this cake is best served fresh. If I am having people over at my place or going somewhere I would make a bigger cake.
If you are scared of baking this cake it is so forgiving with its equally important rustic look. It quite the opposite of perfection in my opinion with meringue top having cracks as it bakes up and no additional skill or piping bag required to top the cake with whipped cream, you just layer it and go all out and furthermore decorate your cake with pretty much any kind of fruits. I was thinking of mango Brita-Kakku. Wow.
Let’s talk about layers of the cake. Even though cake has few components, its very easy to make.
- First layer is cake layer
- Second is meringue layer
- Thirdly, freshly whipped cream and then finally macerated strawberries or any type of fruits, I am thinking of berries, cherries, passion fruit, mango, etc.
- Moreover, even though, cake layer is at the bottom. I would suggest you make meringue first. Because anytime we make meringue the bowl has to be moisture/water free, and it becomes easier to work with clean bowl to make meringue and then you can make cake batter in the same bowl without any cleaning involved in between both steps. But the choice is yours. Just remember, you need a very clean bowl to make meringue.
Apparently, the thing I loved about this cake is that it uses yolks in the cake batter and egg whites in the meringue, so nothing really goes to waste. Besides all the eggs are used in the same recipe.
Once the cake is baked, keep other components ready but do not yet put it together. Just assemble them closer to serving it for maintaining the texture. The moisture from the whipped cream and fruit will make it soggy. It tastes the best on the same day! If you end up having leftovers, just store them in closed container.
If you like to check out more recipes for baking inspiration!
Strawberry Brita Cake – Brita-Kakku
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tbsp butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- ¼ cup milk
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp Zest of lemon
Meringue layer
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ cup 2 tbsp sugar
Assembly
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup crème fraiche
- 2 tbsp sugar divided
- ½ tbsp vanilla
- 1- pint strawberries sliced in half
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 350F and parchment line the bottom of a loaf pan and rub it with butter or non-stick spray. Separate egg yolks and egg whites in two separate bowls.
- Meringue – In a bowl fitted to a stand mixer with whisk attachment or if you have handheld mixer, beat egg whites on medium speed until they begin to look foamy and thicken up. They will change the texture to white fluffy shiny finish, add sugar, vanilla extract and speed up the mixer and whip until stiff peaks form and it looks glossy. Remove meringue in a clean bowl. Set it aside.
- Cake – in the same bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy, add yolks and vanilla extract and beat until they well combined. Add lemon zest, milk and baking powder and flour and mix until it is well combined.
- Add this cake batter on the prepared loaf pan, spread out evenly. Dollop the meringue mixture on top and spread it evenly covering the cake batter. Bake cake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Once done, let the cake cold in pan for few minutes and then remove it with parchment paper on a cooling rack to cool it completely.
- In a bowl, combine strawberries with 1 tbsp sugar and lemon juice and let it macerate until ready to add them to cake. You can do this step while cake is baking or cooling.
- In a bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and crème fraiche, 1 tbsp sugar and vanilla extract and whip until soft peaks form.
- Assembly – When ready to serve, transfer cake to a platter; dollop whipped cream and spread it with offset spatula all over the cake. Add macerated strawberries with the juices. I also added some silvered pistachios.
Notes
It’s totally normal for meringue to crack while baking. Did you try this recipe ? Tag @pistachiodoughnut and hashtag #pistachiodoughnut