Whipped Cream and Strawberry Cake

In my notebook I have a couple of whipped cream cake recipes, which generally consist of a)some form of cake/sponge/baked basis in general b)whipped cream c)fruits to put into the whipped cream. In the summer, the simple strawberry version just does it for me, sweet, fruity, pretty much a perfect summer cake.

Need:
Cake layer ingredients
1 egg, 1 table spoon of sugar, 1 table spoon of flour (x times, depending on how big the cake will be)
0.5 liter of cream
2 leaves of gelatine (for 200 ml of liquid)
0.5 kg of fresh tasty strawberries

I purposely did not mention that this cake required 4 eggs. Thing is, with whipped cream cake you can make it as large as you want, just by following the proportion of 1 egg/1 spoon of sugar/1 spoon of flour for the cake basis part. It is very handy when you make elaborate cakes for the children birthdays, where there is no sure way to guess how much of the materials you will need.
Also, this cake pastry cannot be kept for long before baking, so it is easier to make a mix from 2 eggs (if you make usual round cake), bake one layer, then mix other 2 eggs, bake the second layer.

So, the cake layers. Separate egg yolks from whites. Beat the whites separately, beat the yolks with sugar. Sift the flour into the bowl and carefully mix it with egg whites and egg yolks. Do not use mixer for that, it will ruin the fluffiness of the egg whites. Just easy, relaxed, mix with the spoon.
Pour the mix on a baking paper, even it out, bake at 160C for 20-30 min, depending on how thick the layer is. For this cake I used cake form, but sometimes I also just make it square, without any form. Bake a square, cut it into 2 and there you go, it does not matter if you cut it in smaller pieces anyway.

While cake layers are cooling off, put gelatine leaves in cold water and let them soak. Cut the the strawberries in half, get rid of the leaves, save a few to decorate a top if you wish. Warm up 50 ml of cream, so it is hot, but not boiling (boiled gelatine is not suitable for consumption). Take the cream from fire, get excess water from the gelatine leaves and put them into hot cream, let it melt. Whip the rest of the cool cream (very important in the summer to keep it cool before whipping, otherwise you will be making a butter), then carefully mix in gelatine bit.

Assemble the cake, layer of cake, whipped cream, strawberries, cream, layer of cake, layer of cream, some strawberries on top. Leave for at least half a day in the fridge to stiffen and soak into the cake layer.

Apple/quince cheese

Quince cheese, also known as membrillo, is an ancient dish originating from the Mediterranean region. It seems it was known to the Romans; and a word "marmelade" originally meant a jam made from quinces. Quince trees, howeve,r are not reliably winter hardy in the colder parts of Europe, but there we have plenty of winter apple varieties available that do just fine; and we have an apple cheese instead of original membrillo. It's a lovely dried apple jam thingie, which can last for months even outside of the fridge.


Need:
3 kg of winter apples or quinces (peeled and cut)
0.5 kg of sugar

Apple variety matters a lot here, you need the proper winter apples, which ripen late in the season.

Peel and cut your apples. Pour the sugar over them and leave over night.

The next day pour the resulting liquid away. Put the apple pieces in an oven dish and bake for about 30 min. Boil the liquid part for about 30-40 min. Combine both and cook for another 60 min on a slow fire, constantly stirring, it is not a thing you can sort of leave and go away to check FB.

Once the apple mass thickens and does not run back after you separate it with a spoon, it is ready. Take it out and place it in the cheese sack or plastic bag, put a cutting plank on top and something heavy on it. Leave it for a day and then dry for the later use or eat fresh, it goes very well with some goat cheese.

Alternatively for the instant use can let it set in a form.