Strawberry Custard Cassata Cake

For my fiance's 26th birthday, I wanted to bake him a special cake. As he's not really a regular old cake kinda guy, I decided to make him something a little more adventurous. What better cake to emulate than the infamous strawberry cassata cake from Corbo's Bakery in Little Italy, Cleveland. I searched for quite a while on google to find what sounded most like the Corbo's version of a cassata cake (which it turns out is very different from traditional cassata cake). Corbo's version uses custard layering instead of ricotta. The version here is pretty close to Corbo's, except I used whipped cream frosting, which if my memory is correct, is somewhat lighter than the frosting that you'd get on a cassata cake in Little Italy.

No disrespect to the classic Corbo's cake, but I prefer this version with whipped cream frosting. The cake as a whole is surprisingly light. It's also not too sweet, which is wonderful so the sweetness of the strawberries is not overpowered. This is the best cake I've ever made and I will definitely make it again. It is a little time consuming though so make sure you have enough time to make all the parts, and let it chill for 2 several hour periods. If you have a day without much to do, or a really special birthday to celebrate, I strongly recommend this incredibly tasty and beautiful recipe! And while you're at it, why not pay tribute to the unique traditions of one of my favorite neighborhoods, Cleveland's Little Italy :)

What you'll need:

Cake ingredients

All purpose flour - - - 2 1/4 cups
Granulated sugar - - - 1 1/4 and 1/4 cups
Baking powder - - - 1 Tbs.
Salt - - - 1 tsp.
Water, ice cold - - - 3/4 cup
Vegetable oil - - - 1/2 cup
Lemon zest, freshly shaved - - - 1 tsp.
Vanilla extract - - - 1 tsp.
Egg yolks, room temperature - - - 5 large yolks
Egg whites, room temperature - - - 8 large whites
Cream of tartar - - - 1/2 tsp.
Cooking spray, such as Pam for Baking
Wax paper and plastic wrap

Custard ingredients

Egg yolks, room temperature - - - 6 large yolks
Granulated sugar - - - 1/2 cup
Half and half - - - 2 cups
Cornstarch - - - 3 Tbs.

Macerated and Decorative Strawberries ingredients

Strawberries - - - 4 lbs. total (1 lb. for decoration - not to mix with sugar)
Granulated sugar - - - 2 Tbs.

Whipped cream ingredients

Heavy whipping cream - - - 5 cups
Granulated sugar - - - 2 1/2 Tbs.

Schedule of what to make when (it's important to plan ahead for this cake):

Night before (if not earlier):

Cake layers
Custard

Morning before eating (At least 8-10 hours before consumption - strawberry juices and custard need time to seep through cake layers. This chilling period is essential!):

Macerated strawberries
2 cups of the whipped cream
Assemble cake

At least an hour before serving (could do in morning also)

Decorative touches

Bake the cakes

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans by spraying with cooking spray, set aside.
In large bowl (but not your largest! - that's for later), combine flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking powder, salt. Sift these ingredients together two times.
In your largest bowl, combine 5 egg yolks, water, oil, zest, and vanilla. Beat with hand mixer until smooth.
Stir dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture, set aside.
In yet another large bowl (for this step, I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer), beat egg whites with cream of tartar at high speed until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Very carefully, fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture. Be sure to only fold enough so that the egg white mixture is not visible. Don't over mix, as you want to avoid the egg whites falling (and thus the cake losing its fluff!).
Pour/scoop/whatever works for you the batter into the two 9 inch cake pans. Make sure batter is split evenly between the two pans.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 35 minutes (poke with tooth pick or knife to make sure it comes out clean and thus the cake is done).
Allow to cool in the pans on a baking rack for no less than an hour (a good time to make the custard).
Once the cakes are completely cool, cover plate or flat surface with wax paper (I used the bottom of a cake carrier). Use wax paper-covered plate to cover open surface of cake pan, flip cake pan over and place on table/counter. Gently wiggle pie pan to remove from cake. It should come off easily, if not use a knife to loosen cake from pan. Just be careful not to damage the cake.
Wrap cakes in plastic wrap (I wrapped and also placed in plastic cake carriers).
Refrigerate until cold - chilled cake is easier to cut - I recommend just chilling overnight.

Make the custard

I recommend making the custard the night before, while the cakes are cooling in their pans.
In a saucepan, combine 6 egg yolks, sugar, half and half, and cornstarch.
While whisking constantly, bring to a boil at medium to low heat - - note, my custard never actually boiled. I whisked for about 10 minutes, starting at a lower temperature and increased to medium heat over the course of a few minutes. If your custard never boils, that's ok. Once it gets to a hot enough temperature it will instantly become thick (like custard). Once this happens, take off heat immediately and pour into a bowl. If your custard does boil, reduce heat to a simmer and continue to whisk until it thickens (continue as described previously).
Chill overnight.

(the next morning...) Prepare macerated strawberries

Once prepared, strawberries will need 1 hour to macerate (i.e. allow sugar to extract juices and make a nice syrup that you'll use in your layering) so make sure to give yourself enough time.
Slice 3 lbs. of strawberries medium thickness (don't slice them too thin or they'll get mushy...).
Place in bowl or cooking pan (larger surface area is good).
Sprinkle 2 Tbs. sugar over top evenly and mix around (I sprinkled some, stirred, sprinkled more, etc...).
Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour, mixing occasionally.
Strain strawberries and collect juices. Keep juices and strawberries in separate bowls. Set both aside. I kept the strawberries in the strainer and put it on a plate with raised edges to collect any additional juice that may drip while working on other steps.

Prepare 2 cups of the whipped cream

This may be good to do while strawberries are macerating.
Beat 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with 1 Tbs sugar at high speed until stiff (not quite cheesy but a little clumpy is good).
Keep in refrigerator until needed.

Prepare cake for layering

Unwrap chilled cakes.
Using a bread knife, cut through horizontal plane of cake, rotating while sawing through to create two even layers from each cake.
Use wax paper to separate layers and set aside (or put back in refrigerator if you anticipate taking a while to set up cake layering station).

Now it's time to assemble!

You will have 4 layers of cake with 3 layers of filling, and whipped cream spread over the assembled layer cake.
Set up station so all your layering ingredients are at close hand: cakes, strawberry juice, strawberries, and custard.
Cover flat surface with wax paper. If you intend to transfer cake to pretty cake stand, make sure surface does not have ridges so you can slide the the cake off as you will likely not be able to lift it.
Place one layer of cake on the bottom
Brush 1/3 strawberry juice over surface of cake
Place 1/3 of macerated strawberries evenly over surface of cake
Spread 1/3 of custard with smooth spatula (may need to mix up a bit after chilling overnight in refrigerator)
Place next layer of cake on top
Repeat above steps until fourth cake layer is situated on top
Feel free to shave off peripheral edges of cake with sharp knife if slightly uneven
Remove whipped cream from refrigerator and spread on all sides of cake with clean spatula (may need to use less than the entire 2 cups prepared - safe left overs for later whipped cream decorating steps)
Place cake in refrigerator for at least 8 hours (may do decorating step at some point during that 8 hour stretch). Not necessary to cover cake as long as there are no strong odors in the refrigerator that the cake may absorb.

Decorating!

Wash and cut remaining 1 lb. of strawberries that were not mixed with sugar (cut to your own styling desire)
Make remaining whipped cream toping (3 cups heavy whipping cream with 1 1/2 Tbs. sugar - whipped as done previously). Keep chilled!
I used entire amount of whipped cream for decorating, using a piping bag with stylish tip. How you decorate the cake is up to you, but using amount of whipped cream turned out to be very well balanced with the rest of the layers, so I recommend using as much as you can. For detailed decorating with whipped cream it's important to keep the whipped cream cold (as well as the cake once decorated) so it remains stiff. If the whipped cream in your bowl starts to get soupy, just remix so it becomes stiff again.
Decorate with the strawberries you just cut that were not mixed with sugar.
Allow to chill for at least an hour before serving (or if the cake still hasn't sat for the 8 hours needed for the flavors to seep through the layers, allow it to continue sitting the entire time).

Now eat and celebrate!

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