Strawberry Genoise with Whipped Cream

Ok, so your probably thinking "what in the heck is a genoise?" Well, I wasn't too sure myself until I started browsing through my Joy of Cooking cookbook the other day. I was looking for a cake to make and of course, I stumbled upon this one!

JOY of COOKING describes it as: "a rich, moist cake of Italian origin...excellent with fruit fillings and as a roll cake with cream fillings". Don't be afraid by all of the whipping & beating of the eggs...it really wasn't that bad. I had a lot of fun with this recipe and it turned out really yummy! I knew I wanted to use whipped cream, strawberries and lemon curd as my topping, so I sort of muddled my way through the filling/topping part. Not too shabby...

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS for CAKE: Cake recipe from JOY of COOKING

(Makes two 9 inch. layers)

*Have all ingredients at room temp. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cake pans (9 in.) with parchment or wax paper. This (i've found) is one of the only ways my cake will release from the pan perfectly every time!

Pretty simple ingredients

Sift together 3 times and return to sifter:

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup sugar

Melt in saucepan:

• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 Tbsp.) unsalted butter

Set aside. Whisk together in a large heatproof bowl:

• 6 large eggs (room temp.)
• 3/4 cup sugar

**Set the heatproof bowl in a skillet of barely simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture is warm to the touch. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat on high speed until the mixture is lemony-colored and has tripled in volume. *About 5 minutes in a heavy-duty mixer with the whisk attachment, 10-15 minutes with a hand-held mixer.

Whisking like crazy!

In 3 additions, sift the flour mixture over the top and fold in very gently with a rubber spatula. Re-heat the butter until it is hot and transfer to a medium bowl. Fold about 1 1/2 cups of the egg mixture into the butter until completely incorporated, along with: 1 tsp. Vanilla.

Srape mixture onto the remaining egg mixture and fold in. Scrape the batter into the pans and spread evenly.

Bake until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pans and the top springs back when lightly pressed, about 15 minutes. Let cool in the pans on a rack for 10 mites. Slide a thin knife around edges to loosen from pan, inver the cake and remove the paper liners. Let cool right side up on the rack.

For the Filling:

• 3 cups strawberries, cut into 1/2 inch slices. **save some for garnish
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tsp. powdered sugar
• 1 jar lemon curd (I found this at Trader Joe's)

**Whip the cream and sugar in a heavy-duty mixer with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Place the strawberries in a bowl. Fold about 3/4 of the cream into the berries. Place bottom cake layer on a serving plate. Spread a generous even layer of lemon curd on bottom cake layer. Arrange sliced strawberries around the outer edge of the cake, on top of the lemon curd, then spread the whipped cream with the strawberries in the center of the cake.

Place the top layer on and top with remaining whipped cream and strawberries.

I didn't frost the sides of the cake, but feel free to do so with the leftover whipped cream!

This was my bottom layer...

My little piece of Italy