Strawberry cake with vanilla curd

Today is Midsummer! This is my favorite Swedish holiday and that I miss the most when I am not in Sweden. We celebrate a whole day that the summer is here, days are longer (4-5h between sun set and sun rise) and the vacation is around the corner. That is really something to celebrate. What I also like with Midsummer, and that you might have recognised if you have celebrated Midsummer in Sweden, is that everything is very Swedish this day. From celebrating in the nature, the food we eat and how we dress up in our flower dresses and flower crowns. I miss Sweden (and family and friends) extra much today.

I have made a dessert with strawberries. You can say it’s an obligation, a strawberry dessert for Midsummer. I have made a gluten free strawberry cake with a creamy vanilla curd and a lot (!!) of strawberries and garnish with mint from my own garden.

Ingredients (1 cake):

Gluten free crust

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tbsp sorghum flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp water

Vanilla curd

• 1 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 vanilla bean
• 4 tbsp granulated sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tbsp butter

Topping

• 1 – 1 1/2 lb fresh organic strawberries
• mint leaves
• 1 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

Mix almond flour, coconut flour, sorghum flour and salt in a food processor bowl. Add the butter in small cubes and mix in the food processor on medium power until it gets together to a dough. Add the egg and water and mix it all together. Take the dough out from the bowl and press it out into a pie pan (size 10”). Dip a fork in the crust and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Pre heat the oven to 400ºF. Pre bake the crust in the oven for 5-10 minutes. To avoid the sides to get burned, place aluminium foil around the edges. Let cool down.

For the vanilla curd, heat the milk on low heat and make sure it doesn’t boil. Add the vanilla bean seeds, the vanilla bean and sugar into the milk and whisk it all together.

Prepare a water bath with one high edges sauce pan with water and heat it on medium heat. Use a stainless steel bowl. Add the yolks and the starch into the bowl and whisk together. Place the bowl over the sauce pan and slowly add the hot milk while whisking. Now whisk while waiting for the vanilla curd to reach the temperature where it gets thicker. Then, remove the bowl from the sauce pan and add the butter. Whisk until the butter is nicely mixed into the curd. Now let the curd cool down. Store in the refrigerator until it’s time to use it.

Add the vanilla curd onto the crust. Wash and slice the strawberries and place them onto the vanilla curd. Garnish with fresh mint and some confectioner’s sugar.