High Altitude Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake

From-scratch strawberry cake made with fresh strawberries, filled with Bavarian cream, and frosted with strawberry whipped cream.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1 35

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings16

In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar, corn starch and salt. Slowly whisk in the milk, egg yolks and vanilla.
Over medium heat, cook the custard while whisking constantly, until the custard starts to bubble and thicken; this should take about 8-10 minutes. Once it begins to thicken, continue to cook and whisk for 1 1/2 minutes.
Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the butter. Pour the custard through a mesh strainer to strain out any bits of cooked egg, into a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap resting right against the surface of the custard, and refrigerate for 3 hours, or overnight.
When you're ready to assemble the cake, use an electric mixer to whip the cream and powdered sugar on medium speed for several minutes, until thick fluffy peaks form that hold their shape.
Add about 1/3 of the whipped cream to the chilled custard, folding it in with a spatula to loosen up the custard until smooth. Add the rest of the whipped cream, folding it in until you have a fluffy, creamy filling. Immediately use for filling the cake layers.

Wash and hull the strawberries, then use a small food processor to puree the strawberries.
Scrape the pureed strawberries into a small saucepan. Over medium low heat, simmer the strawberries, stirring frequently to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until reduced to 3/4 cup. This may take up to 30 minutes.
Once reduced, transfer the strawberry reduction to a container, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until needed. You can make the reduction up to 2 days in advance. You'll be using 1/2 cup of the strawberry reduction in the cake and 1/4 cup in the whipped cream.

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon juice, 1/2 cup strawberry reduction, eggs, egg whites, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until well combined. Whisk in the food coloring, if using.
I added 2 small drops super red gel food coloring; without the food coloring, the cakes will be a paler pinkish tan color.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk for about 10-15 seconds, until combined.
Divide the batter between the pans, then bang the pans on the counter a few times to pop any large air bubbles.
Bake the cakes until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, about 25-28 minutes.
Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.
When you're ready to assemble your cake, use a sharp non-serrated knife to carefully split each layer, so you have four thin layers of cake. Brush the cake layers with the 1/4 cup milk (1 tbsp per cake layer) before assembling the cake.

With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed for about one minute, until smooth. Add the 1/4 cup strawberry reduction and the vanilla, and beat until smooth.
Add the cream and food coloring, and whip on medium high speed until thick and fluffy peaks form that hold their shape.

Set one of the cake layers on a cake plate. Spread with 1/3 of the Bavarian cream. Repeat with another layer of cake and Bavarian cream, until you've filled all four cake layers.
Frost the cake all over with the whipped cream.

Store the leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Keyword Bavarian, Cake, High Altitude, Strawberry, Whipped Cream