Genoise With Strawberries And Whipped Cream Frosting
The cake
The Genoise I made the other day was for a special event, it was made for a very special girl who turned 9 years old today. She wanted colored icing and strawberries. I wanted to try and make the frosting pink without the use of food color. I thought the genoise lent itself to a whipped cream frosting rather than a buttercream because of the addition of fresh strawberries. I have posted here on the blog the recipe I use for a stable whipped cream frosting, it’s a recipe by James McNair from his book Cakes.
It’s an excellent recipe, and makes a very stable frosting that will not turn watery or dissolve. Here is the basic recipe:
Whipped Cream Frosting:
From James Mcnair’s Cakes
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 cups Heavy whipping cream Divided
- 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
- Place metal bowl and wire whisk beater or beaters in freezer to chill.
- In a small saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature.
- In the chilled bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla beat with the chilled whisk of your stand mixer or your hand held mixer until the cream begins to hold shape. While still beating add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time. Beat just until the mixture forms stiff peaks when the beater is raised and is spreadable, be careful not to over beat. Use immediately.
I took the basic recipe ad changed it a bit since I wanted my frosting to be pink. First I made a strawberry syrup by simply boiling strawberries with a little sugar, strain, smash and bottle. Super easy. I did this the day before and refrigerated the syrup. It’s a beautiful red.
strawberry syrup
Here is the recipe for the pink whipped cream frosting using James McNair’s whipped cream frosting as a base:
1/2 cup strawberry syrup
2 1/2 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
In small saucepan add the strawberry syrup, cornstarch and confectioners sugar. Cook on medium heat until it thickens, immediately remove from the burner and spoon into a bowl . Let come to room temperature stirring occasionally.
To chilled mixing bowl add the heavy cream and vanilla, with a chilled beater or whisk attachment start whipping the cream, when it begins to hold it’s shape add the cooled strawberry pudding, whip until it becomes a spreading consistency. Spread on your cake and refrigerate. This was enough to generously frost a 3 layer 8 inch cake.
apuginthekitchen 
Happy Birthday to that special someone… 9 is a big deal 🙂 So is this cake and I love the whipped frosting. Mine seems to always get runny… boo. A keeper for sure!
Yes 9 is a big deal and I hope she likes her cake. I love whipped cream frosting but always had the same problem, this recipe fixed that never again a runny whipped cream frosting. Thanks so much Georgie.
Oh, this looks SO pretty Suzanne! I agree with you too, food coloring, yuck! I love how pretty, fluffy and light this is. The pink is gorgeous and I bet tastes light and incredible. So sweet of you to make the cake for that little girl.
The cake is light as a feather even with the frosting. I think the strawberries weigh more than the cake. I am keeping my fingers crossed she likes it. The cake and frosting is not overly sweet. You know how kids are with sweet things. Thanks Brandi.
Lucky lucky nine-year-old girl – an absolutely gorgeous cake. I particularly love the idea of the cream frosting – yum!
Thank you, I love a really light cake like this hope that she likes it too!
Oh Suzanne, the cake turned out beautifully! Your whipped cream frosting is perfect. Such a light cake and so naturally pink and festive. I want your white plate! 🙂
Thank you, it is a very nice cake, very light and not overly sweet. I love whipped cream icing.
So pretty ..Great job 🙂
Thanks so much Aryana!
The cake looks very pretty – perfect, I think, for a nine year old girl. Total kudos to you for not using food colouring, your idea has set me thinking about a St Patrick’s Day cake with green butter icing and I think I will experiment over the weekend with added avocado and lemon juice, plus some extra sugar to counteract the acidity. Thanks for setting my mind in motion. 😉
Thank you, I also was thinking about green, she originally wanted green icing but I couldn’t figure out what to use to make it green without using food color. Let me know how yours works out,
This looks special; happy birthday to her.
Thank you so much Stacey!
Such a pretty cake Suzanne! and I can just imagine how wonderful it will taste too! I’m going to have to try this special frosting, as there are certainly times when the butter cream is just way too heavy. Happy Birthday to your sweet little friend… how lovely to have been made a cake by you to celebrate!
Thank you, the frosting is fantastic, I love using it on cakes with fruit filling or when I want something lighter than a buttercream. I just heard back, she loved the cake. I am so pleased.
I’m not at all surprised that she loved it Suzanne… I would be over the moon to receive a Birthday cake such as this one!
Suzanne such a gorgeous cake! The genoise is so airy and the frosting so natural. Very inspiring indeed.I loved the beautiful pink colour, such a lucky nine year old child!
I couldn’t believe the vivid pink color of the frosting from the strawberries, they were really deep red so I got lots of color in the syrup, I love the combination of vanilla cake, strawberries and cream. Thanks so much Viviana.
Beautiful! This frosting looks perfect! Lucky girl!
Thank you so much, I love that frosting recipe.
The Genoise looks so beautiful! What a lucky girl. I like that you didn’t use food color – unfortunately so many products contain food colors these days. I always try to avoid them as best as I can.
I always try to avoid food color if I can, sometimes I can’t so I use it sparingly, This was great because the strawberries provided vivid color. Thanks so much Julian!
First…Happy Birthday to that special 9 year old!! Suzanne… I love everything about this. What an absolutely gorgeous cake… perfect for any girl from 9 to 99+ !! And that plate… yeah, I want that white plate!! 🙂
Thank you, you never know whether a cake will turn out. I sweat it every time. I was lucky this time. I really like the plate too, Marshalls, they have great pieces excellent quality and very well priced.
Happy birthday, what a special way to celebrate such a lucky kid’s day 😀
It looks soft and creamy!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you, I was so happy to make the cake and I heard she liked it! So happy.
A beautiful, beautiful cake, delicious too! Lucky young person. 😀
Thanks so much Fae!
Yey! The finished cake! I love the fresh raspberries on top, and I’m with you all the way on the pink whipped cream 🙂 Beautiful, well done!
Thanks so much, I love pink and was glad she chose that color. I don’t know how I would have gotten a natural green without using vegetables, LOL.
Also love that you made this without food colouring. Now if you would please just develop the perfect red velvet cake without food colouring!!! And next time I do whipped cream as a filling or frosting, I know to add the cornflour. Amazing. Thank you!! 😉
I am going to work on that, I love red velvet cake! Yes making the pudding with corn starch really stabilizes the whipped cream and makes a perfect frosting. Thank you so much.
Happy Birthday! Beautiful, beautiful!!
Thank you, thank you!
fun 🙂 Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous and can’t even imagine how amazing it tastes. As much as I love buttercream, cream cheese frosting, ganache, etc, whipped cream frosting will always be tops with me. This cake looks amazing and there is a very lucky 9-year-old out there.
I wish I could have tasted it, am tempted to make one I can taste. LOL, I did get a report back that she loved the cake, thanks so much Liz.
Suzanne, your frosting is spectacular! The color is so vibrant and so natural at the same time and the cake looks amazing. This girl must be very special if you decided to make such a beauty! 🙂
Very special girl and thank you so much. I was surprised at how lovely the color was, I didn’t know how deep the pink would be but the syrup was such a bright and vivid red I was so glad that it turned out noticeably pink. Thanks so much Francesca.
Lovely cake and I love the fact that you used no food coloring! I am making a wedding cake next month, and if not for the fact of the heat, here in So Cal, I would use this recipe (the plain version, obviously)! Sounds awesome!
Thanks Christina, it is a great recipe, yes with the So Cal heat now way a whipped cream frosting would work but I would think you could have problems even with a buttercream how do you keep it cool enough?
What a special birthday creation! This is so beautiful. I bet she was thrilled. I can practically taste the delicate genoise and that strawberry whipped cream. Mmm! I bet my girls would love this. Bookmarking it for the future!
It was good, the cake was great as was the strawberry whipped cream. She loved it and I was so happy Thanks so much.
What a gorgeous cake, Suzanne!
Thanks so much Patty!
What a pretty cake– perfect for a 9 year old girl! — I love whipped cream frosting. My sis taught me to stabilize it with vanilla instant pudding. About 1 tablespoon for a pint of whipping cream. I’d never thought of cornstarch, but that totally makes sense! going to give it a try Suzanne. Our grand-girl from China is coming to stay and has a April birthday– and loves pink cake. I think I”m ready thanks to you!
If your little grand girl loves pink this is a great frosting, thanks so much Rhonda. I haver never heard of the vanilla pudding, it makes sense also!
Happy birthday to the birthday girl! 🙂 This recipe looks fabo (and I love the strawberry syrup picture … so pretty!!). I’ll have to try it out!
Thanks so much, that syrup was so red, loved it!
This is beautiful! I love how you found the perfect natural pink from strawberries. My little girl would love this too – I need to bookmark this for the next big celebration. Thanks so much for sharing this great idea!
Thank you so much, it is really surprising to me that the pink was so vivid, although it is a bit darker in the photo than in real life but still nonetheless pink. I love whipped cream frosting with fruit and vanilla cake.
Absolutely lovely!
Thank you so much.
Looks gorgeous :)))
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful recipe. One question you used sugar twice (with cornstarch and while whipping the heavy cream. How much did you use for each? In the recipe there’s only one measure 1/4 cup