Strawberries & pastry cream
( Coppette di fragole e crema )

Strawberry and pastry cream dessert recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Prepare pastry cream following my instructions. Right doses for this recipe must be related to 2 egg yolks. Link to custard recipe below.
• - Clean strawberries, wash under running water quickly, pat dry with absorbent kitchen paper and plunge them in white wine for few minutes.
• - Then slice your strawberries and put apart.
• - Assemble your dessert.
  You can use plum cakes or ladyfingers (in Italian savoiardi biscuits).
  Halve biscuits lengthways or slice plum cakes crossways.
  Arrange your slices on the bottom of the deep dish in which you want to prepare the cake.
  Water down 2 tablespoons Marsala (Sicilian fortified wine) and soak plum cake or ladyfingers with it.
  Cover with pastry cream and prepare another layer with plum cakes or biscuits.
  Soak this layer too and cover with pastry cream.
• - At this point sweeten strawberries with icing sugar.
• - Arrange your strawberries on the surface of your dessert according to your fancy.
• - Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Just before serving

• - Remember to remove your dessert from the refrigerator few minutes before serving not to eat it too cold.

Note

Tips

• - This is a do-ahead dessert.
• - If you have no time you can choose ready-to-use or ready-to-cook pastry cream but your dessert will taste less.

Menu planning

• - Prepare strawberries and pastry cream in late spring and summer when strawberries are in season. They taste fantastic provided they are ripe.
• - Serve this strawberry dessert in a children party or at the end of a lunch or dinner. But remember: pastry cream and fish do not go well together

Useful links for this recipe

• - You can use handmade savoiardi (ladyfingers) following my step-by-step instructions but I always suggest to choose ready to use lady fingers when you have to assemble a sweet like this one. Homemade lady fingers are too good to use them in such way.
• - Interested in ingredients, doses and method to make custard (pastry cream) at home? follow the link :))

Healthy eating

• - It isn't possible to calculate nutrition facts as the amount of ladyfingers can vary a lot. But you have to know 100g (3 1/2 ounces) pastry cream have about 200 kcal :-)
• - This dessert made with strawberries and pastry cream is delicious. There are very few people who say no to a dessert after lunch or dinner, especially when people are out. But keep in mind that many sweets are the opposite of healthy eating.
  So how do you do? As usual, the equilibrium point is the salvation of each one of us.
  In the daily menu, as guidelines for healthy eating recommend us, we have to prefer dry and baked cakes paying attention to the amount of sugar.
  But if there is a special event (birthday party at home, ceremony, dinner with friends ...) let's enjoy our special cake. Once in a while, especially if you do exercise, the body can metabolize the calories, fats and sugars in excess.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Strawberries & pastry cream "?

Our suggestion is serving a sweet raisin wine after this dessert with strawberries and pastry cream.