Mary Berry´s Fraisier Cake

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What better way to kick of strawberry season that with a show-stopping cake? Mary Berry’s Fraisier cake is a stunning centerpiece fit for any occasion! A thick layer of fresh, juicy strawberries in a rich French crème pâtissière, sandwiched between two layers of delicate sponge. Finally, the Fraisier is topped with some chocolate-dipped strawberries and homemade chocolate decorations.

Mary Berry´s Fraisier cake will not fail to impress and can feed a big crowd. It cuts into 12 large pieces or 15 slightly smaller ones.

This is a Mary Berry recipe, the queen of cakes herself, so that should be proof enough that this cake works and tastes amazing!

Mary Berry´s Fraisier Cake topped with homemade chocolate decorations.

Showstopper Challenge GBBO 2012

Mary Berry´s Fraisier is a truly stunning cake and you might recognise it from 2012´s Great British Bake Off. Have I mentioned before that season 3 in 2012 is my absolute favourite?! I absolutely loved all the contestants, and especially the winner John Whaite.

The bakers were set this Fraisier cake as their technical challenge in the season’s semi-final (epic French pâtisserie semi-final by the way, definitely worth a watch if you haven´t seen it).

It is in the official GBBO recipe book from the 2012 series in which I found Mary´s recipe for this Frasier cake.

How do you make Mary Berry´s Fraisier Cake?

As you can probably guess from the pictures, Mary Berry’s Fraisier cake is a bit more time-consuming and challenging to make. There are a lot of different components to it, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to make it.

The to main “baking elements to Mary´s Fraisier are a delicate, whisked sponge (the rise in the cake comes from the whisked eggs) and a French crème pâtissière filling. You´ll also be making a sugar syrup, rolling out a layer of marzipan and prepare (a hell of a lot of) strawberries!

Some useful resources…

The assembly of the cake can be quite tricky, so I have included a video below to help you.
To finish the cake, you can make some homemade chocolate decorations. For tips on that, check out my Baking Basics post on How To Master Chocolate.

Assembly of Mary Berry´s Fraisier cake. — *Everything you need to assemble the Fraisier cake.*

What equipment do you need?

To make Mary´s Fraisier, you will need a 23cm, round, loose-based cake tin. I highly recommend this push pan from Lakeland.

For the cake, you will also need an electric hand whisk and a heat-proof bowl (I bought mine in ASDA) and to assemble, you´ll need a large, sturdy piping bag (again, Lakeland´s are good) and a silicone pastry brush. I have left the links to items I use, which I have found to be very good purchases.

Additional Recipe Tips:

If you are not a fan of marzipan, alternatively, you could also top the cake with a layer of fondant icing. The marzipan/fondant icing disk can be prepared in advance and left in the fridge for a few hours to firm up for assembly.
When making the crème pâtissière, leave out the Kirsch if you don´t want to give the crème that flavour and just want keep it vanilla-flavoured.
Make the cake a day ahead and leave in the fridge overnight so that the crème pâtissière can firm up.
For the chocolate decorations, make them only a few hours before serving your cake. You want to leave the chocolate at room temperature to harden (don´t put it in the fridge) so that it doesn´t lose it´s shine. Don´t leave it too long though, otherwise, the chocolate will turn a white-ish colour. For the best results, temper your chocolate before using it. I´d recommend making the chocolate decorations in the morning of the day you plan to serve the cake. For more tips on using chocolate, check out this post here.

More Great Baking Recipes

Are you looking for more baking recipes? Then why not also try these recipes below. Some absolute winners, and also a few more recipes from the Queen of Baking (Mary Berry) herself:

Recipe

Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKE

4 medium eggs, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
125g self-raising flour
50g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

FOR THE CRÈME PÂTISSIÈRE

600ml milk
1 vanilla pod
4 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
180g caster sugar
1tbsp Kirsch (optional)
100g cornflour
150g butter, diced, at room temperature

FOR THE SYRUP

75g caster sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
70ml water

TO ASSEMBLE

600g medium strawberries
200g marzipan (or white fondant icing)

TO DECORATE

200g dark chocolate
a handful of strawberries, washed with the leaves kept on

YOU´LL ALSO NEED

23cm spring-clip or loose-based, deep, round baking tin
a strip of acetate or clingfilm
a piping bag (alternatively, you could use a large freezer bag)
silicone pastry brush

Method

Brush some melted butter around the base and sides of a 23cm spring-clip or loose-based, deep round cake tin. Line the base with greaseproof paper and dust the sides with flour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
To make the sponge, put the eggs, sugar and lemon zest into a large heat-proof bowl lemon zest in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the mixture over a medium heat until doubled in volume and pale in colour. The mixture is at the right stage when it forms a ribbon trail when the whisk is lifted out of the mixture. Remove from the heat.
Sift in two-thirds of the flour and gently fold into the whisked mixture with a metal spoon or spatula. Add the remaining flour and fold again. Try to keep in as much of the air as possible. Make sure all the flour is incorporated into the mixture. Then, gently fold in the melted butter.
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin. Try and keep the bowl as close to the tin as possible, so that you don´t knock out too much of the air. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Check if the cake is ready by inserting a metal skewer (you want it to come out clean), the cake is a pale golden brown colour and shrinking away from the sides of the tin.
When ready, remove the cake from the oven. Place the tin on a wire rack and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes so that the cake can firm up a bit. Then gently turn out the cake on to the rack and leave to cool completely.
To make the crème pâtissière pour the milk into a wide-based pan, split the vanilla pod along its length using a sharp knife, and add it to the milk. Bring the milk up to the boil, then take it off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Make sure all of the vanilla seeds have come out of the pod. If they haven´t, scrape them out with a knife and add to the milk.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, kirsch and cornflour until smooth and creamy.
Remove the vanilla pod from the milk and pour the hot milk through a sieve into the egg mixture. Whisk to combine. Then pour the custard back into a clean saucepan and set over a medium heat.
Stir the custard constantly until the mixture thickens. The mixture will take about four minutes to thicken, but when it does it happens very quickly, so you need to really keep stirring to prevent lumps and make a smooth crème. Be careful not to catch the crème at the bottom of the pan. Cook the mixture until the crème is very thick, so that it can be piped and it will hold its shape. Stir in the butter until thoroughly melted and combined.
Allow to cool slightly, pour into a shallow dish and chill in the fridge for about an hour until really cold and set firm.
To make the syrup, place the sugar, lemon juice and water into a small saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves, then boil rapidly for two minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, dust the surface with a little icing sugar and roll out a thin disc of marzipan or fondant icing to fit a 23cm circumference circle. It is best if you draw around the 23cm base of another loose-bottomed tin for the perfect circle.
Next, prepare your strawberries. Wash them and set aside a few smaller ones for decorating the top. Then select about 12 strawberries of roughly the same height and half them. Quarter the remaining strawberries to fill the cake with.
Once you are ready to assemble the cake (see my video on how to do it below), place a strip of acetate plastic around the inside of the springform tin. Alternatively, you could line the base and sides with clingfilm.
Spoon two-thirds of your crème pâtissière into a large piping bag and cut off the tip.
Slice the sponge in half horizontally, creating two slim discs of cake. The cut must be as level as possible as it will be visible in the finished cake. Place one layer of sponge cake in the bottom of the prepared cake tin. Then liberally brush the sponge with half the syrup. With the back of a spoon, gently squash the edges of the cake down so that they are pushed directly against the sides of the tin, creating the defined edges necessary for the Fraisier cake.
Place the cut sides of the selected strawberries halves against the plastic on the inside of the tin. The strawberry halves should be sitting snugly beside each other, so it looks like a little crown inside the tin.
Pipe a swirl of crème pâtissière, covering the exposed sponge completely in the bottom of the tin. Then pipe between each of the strawberries so the gaps are filled right to the top with the crème pâtissière.
Place the remaining chopped strawberries on top of the crème, so it raises the inside of the cake by about an inch.
Pipe another swirl of crème pâtissière on top of the cut strawberries to cover the whole surface. Then smooth with a palette knife.
Place the other disc of sponge on top of this, with the cut side uppermost, so it has a completely flat top. Brush with the remaining syrup. Gently press the top down quite firmly, so that the cake and filling push against the acetate to create the distinctive smooth and defined sides of the Fraisier cake.
Lay the chilled marzipan circle on top of the cake and put the whole thing back in the fridge to set.
To make the chocolate decorations, carefully melt the chocolate over a bain-marie. Then spoon into a piping bag with a 2mm nozzle or alternatively just cut off a very small bit of the end of the piping bag. Drizzle the chocolate onto a baking sheet lined with a piece of baking parchment in the shape of your choice.
If you like, you could also dip some of the reserved strawberries in the melted chocolate. Leave the chocolate to set at room temperature for a good few hours.
For more tips on how to master chocolate, read this post here.
When ready to serve, remove the cake from the fridge. Carefully release the spring tin/loose bottom and remove the cake from the tin and from the acetate or cling film. Place onto a serving plate and decorate with reserved strawberries and chocolate decoration. Serve chilled.

How to assemble Mary Berry’s Fraisier Cake – Video Tutorial

How to assemble the Fraisier cake.