My sisters daughter made this Highstreet strawberry cake the first time they met my parents after lockdown restrictions. Everybody knows that strawberry cakes are delicious. But this is not an ordinary strawberry cake. This is a Highstreet strawberry cake! Highstreet (Hoogstraten) is famous for growing the best strawberries in the world. More information on that below the recipe.
The recipe is based on the strawberry cake by the famous Belgian television cook Jeroen Meus. We improved it by using regionally grown strawberries from Hoogstraten.
Highstreet strawberry cake
Equipment
- springform 23cm
Ingredients
for the biscuit
- 6 eggs
- 200 gram caster sugar
- 200 gram self raising flour + some extra for the form
- 1,5 teaspoon baking powder
- 40 gram butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
- salt
for the finishing
- 1 liter heavy cream at least 40%
- 500 gram strawberries from Hoogstraten
- 200 gram strawberry jam
- 50 gram dark chocolate
- 50 gram vanilla sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
Instructions
for the biscuit
- It is best to make the biscuit one day in advance. The day after it will have cooled down completely and is firmer. This makes it easier to cut and fill it.
- Preheat the oven 1t 180°C.
- Break the eggs in a mixing bowl and let the food processor mix the eggs. Make sure the eggs are completely beaten before starting the next step.
- Add the granulated sugar and let the food processor run for 10 min, so that you get a frothy white mixture. The sugar granules must be completely dissolved.
- Let the butter melt.
- Grease the baking form with a little bit of the melted butter.
- Add the rest of the melted butter to the frothy egg and sugar mixture and let the mixer gently mix.
- Add a teaspoon of vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt and the baking powder and fold into the mixture.
- Sift the self-rising flour under the batter while gently splashing it under the batter. Always fold in the batter in the same way, and do not stir (!), Until the lumps are out of the batter. By gently mixing it through the batter, you ensure that the batter remains airy.
- Fold the dough into the baking tin.
- Put it in the oven at 180°C for about 40 minutes.
- Remove the biscuit from the oven and let it cool down.
- If you make it a day in advance, you can store the biscuit in a cling film. This way it is firmer the next day to cut it.
for the finishing
- Pour the full cream into a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla sugar and the seeds of a vanilla pod.
- Beat the cream. It must remain smooth to finish the cake properly.
- Rinse the strawberries from Hoogstraten and remove the crowns.
- Cut the biscuit in 2 or 3 equal parts. You can choose this yourself depending on the thickness of the biscuit. A handy trick to cut a biscuit into 3 slices: Prick a toothpick at ⅓ and ⅔ of the height in the edge of the cake. Turn the cake a quarter turn and do it again, until you have pierced a pair of toothpicks in 4 places.
- Use a serrated knife. The toothpicks serve as a marker for your carving.
- Set the 2 upper biscuit discs aside.
- On the bottom disk you spread a thin layer of strawberry jam.
- Spread a layer of whipped cream on top of the jam.
- Cut the strawberries into small slices and place them on top of the whipped cream.
- Then you place the 2nd layer of sponge cake and repeat the above 3 steps: the jam, whipped cream and strawberries on the sponge cake.
- Place the last layer of biscuit on top.
- Spread the whipped cream over the entire cake: the top and sides of the cake can be completely covered with whipped cream.
- Put the remaining cream in a piping bag.
- You can finish the cake as you prefer personally. I have placed toppings of whipped cream alternating with half a strawberry on top of the cake. Finally I grated the chocolate and sprinkled it on the cake.
Nutrition
About Hoogstraten (Highstreet)
Hoogstraten is a small city in the North of Belgium, at the border with The Netherlands. It is located half way between Antwerp and ´s Hertogenbosch (Netherlands) on an old military highway. That is also were the name comes from: high road. Even Today, there is a street called "´s Boschstraat". This name refers to the old military highway that used to be there.
About Highstreet strawberries
Strawberries are the most famous produce of Hoogstraten. Of course, they are also the best :-). They distinguish themselves from any other strawberry in the world with their typical sweet and sour balance. The largest auction site for strawberries in the Benelux is also located in Hoogstraten. They sell over 30.000 tonnes of strawberries every year. Globally!
In Hoogstraten most people buy their strawberries directly with the local farmer. Tourists however can choose to do a cycling tour of about 40km called "aardbeienroute" (strawberry route). This route is completely situated on the territory of the city. It combines the historic city center, the Mark valley (the local river) and the vast countryside of the border region with The Netherlands. Of course, on this route you will cycle past the many greenhouses where strawberries and grown. For sure you will meet a local farmer. He will be happy to sell you some of the freshest strawberries you can have. Before starting the route, be sure to visit the tourist center in the cosy basement of the city hall. The friendly people there will hand over further documentation and help you with any questions you have.
For sure, you are inspired for more recipes with strawberries by now. Please check these surprising.recipes with more strawberries:
If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.
DFV Queen
Great post, sounds yummy
toondebacker
Thanks a lot! I really like it 🙂