To escape the frost of winter, it’s sometimes nice to imagine that you’re somewhere else, perhaps on a beach, gazing towards a beautiful sunset, while sipping on a cocktail made with muddled strawberries, prosecco, and a splash of orange juice. Doesn’t that sound delightful? Jessica Phan took that very experience and wonderful flavors into a fun cake that can be served at any time of year. This fruity cake pairs a delicious strawberry fizz sponge, with a champagne mousse and orange curd. One bite and this cake will have you dreaming of beach sunsets and bubbly drinks! Cheers!

Strawberry Fizz Cake:

• 380 g sugar (2 cups)
• 350 g cake flour (3 cups)
• 30-32 g freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized into a powder (~1/3 cup)
• 1.5 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 egg whites from large eggs
• 8 ounces (1 cup) club soda (champagne works too)
• 1 teaspoon strawberry flavoring
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 340* F and prepare your cake pans.
2. Combine your sugar, cake flour, strawberry powder, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer; add your butter and mix until the flour resembles coarse sand.
3. In a separate bowl, combine your wet ingredients; while the mixer is on low, pour in 1/3 of your wet ingredients; once incorporated, increase the speed to med-high for 30 seconds; repeat these steps until combined.
4. Pour your batter into your pans – 15 oz for 6” tins; 22 oz for 8” pans.
5. For 6” pans, bake your cake for 28-32 minutes; for 8″ pans, bake for 38-45 minutes.

Champagne Mousse Filling:

• 6 egg yolks from large eggs
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup + ¼ cup champagne (divided)
• 0.25 ounces gelatin (typically one packet)
• 1 ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup powdered sugar

For the mousse:

1. In a saucepan, mix together your egg yolks and sugar; add 1 cup of champagne to the egg mixture and cook this over medium heat; whisk this mixture until a thermometer reaches 160*F (take care not to boil this mixture or else the mousse will separate when setting).
2. Remove from the heat and let cool for 3-5 minutes.
3. In another bowl, add your gelatin to the remaining ¼ cup of champagne and let bloom; once bloomed, heat this for 15 seconds in the microwave, or until melted; add this to the egg mixture and stir gently.
4. In a separate bowl, whip your heavy cream and powdered sugar until medium-stiff peaks occur; fold this into the egg mixture.
5. Take a springform pan (sized the same as your cake) and line this with plastic wrap. Pour the mousse mixture into the pan to whatever height you’d like your filling.
6. Let this set in the refrigerator overnight.

Orange Curd:

• 4 ounces egg yolks (approx. 6 egg yolks)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 Tablespoons orange zest (optional)
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter

For the orange curd:

1. The instructions to make this orange curd are identical to my lemon curd. It can be found here: http://phantasticjess.com/recipe/zesty-lemon-cake/

1 batch buttercream (I used Swiss)

For decoration (optional)

Strawberry Ganache:

• 8 ounces white chocolate
• 2 ounces heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon strawberry flavoring

For the strawberry ganache: Combine your white chocolate and heavy whipping cream into a microwave safe dish; heat in 30-second intervals until it is fully melted; add your flavoring and stir gently.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries adorned with pop rocks + chopped strawberries

Cake Assembly:

1. Level all of your cakes once they have cooled.
2. Brush on some simple syrup or sweetened champagne (optional).
3. Attach one cake layer to your cake board with some melted chocolate or buttercream.
4. Scoop ¼ cup of buttercream and spread level with your offset spatula.
5. Unmold the mousse using the plastic wrap and lay this layer onto the buttercream.
6. I spread another thin layer of buttercream before laying down another layer of cake.
7. Create a dam of buttercream around this cake layer and fill with the orange curd and chopped strawberries.
8. Top with your last layer of cake.
9. Frost the entire cake with your preferred buttercream (Mine was tinted yellow).
10. I airbrushed the top half of the cake with orange color; dripped the ganache down one side; piped a border on top; and filled the center with chocolate covered strawberries.