Strawberry Lemon Torte

I have been planning to do a torte for weeks but I keep forgetting to get the lemon. So, when I finally bought the lemon, I get straight to work. I need to make the base, the mousse (main filling) and the ladyfingers (but I am not baking the ladyfinger, instead, I used the ready made one since I have some in the pantry).

First thing first, we need to do the base, which is also the same batter with the ladyfingers (that is if you're making it by yourself). To make ladyfingers batter, you need eggs, flour, baking powder, butter, vanilla and white sugar. U need to separate the yolk and white. Then beat the egg white and add 1 tsbp of the sugar. Beat it until it is stiff and shiny.

 Then beat the egg yolk in a separate mixing bowl with the remaining sugar. When mixing is pale yellow, add the whipped egg white and stirred. 

Finally add the flour and vanilla & continue on mixing for a minute or two.

Fill a pastry bag with the mixture and pipe it using a plain tip in a circle motion by moving inward to fill the circle. Make sure you grease and flour the baking sheet just after you measure the diameter ok. Bake the base for 10-15 minute in a 200C temperature.  Or until just firm on the outside but soft in the centre. So, the base will look something like this..heheh...

Put it aside and let it cool off for a few minutes.

Ingredient for the base (if you are making your own ladyfinger, you need to double this measurement ok):

• 1 tbsp butter for greasing
• 1/2cup of flour + 1tbsp for greasing
• 1 tbsp + 1/3 cup of sugar
• 2 egg, separated
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Now, it's time for the lemon mousse. We need to get the lemon zest first before we squeeze the juice. Normal measurement is 1tsp of lemon zest but I love the smell of lemon zest in my baking and I love the taste so I used a lot of it. For this mousse, I am using 1 whole lemon for the zest.

Then, get the juice. Add the lemon juice with 1/2 of the sugar & bring it to simmer.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix the egg yolks and the remaining sugar.

Mix until it is pale yellow..

I hope you keep an eye on your lemon syrup. Don't let it over boil yeah. Once it start to simmer, remove it from heat and pour into the egg mixture.

Continue on mixing the mixture for a few minutes then pour back the mixture into the pot, and heat it up until you see the first bubble start to appear. Don't forget to keep whisking it while heating.

Once the first bubble appear, remove from heat back to the mixing bowl. Whipped the mixture until cool. Then add the butter and lemon zest...

Mix it..

In another mixing bowl, whipped the cream until it is stiff and thick.

Then add the whipped cream into the egg & lemon syrup mixture in two batches..

Ingredient for lemon mousse;

• 1/4 cup of lemon juice ( equivalent to 1 large lemon)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 tsp of lemon zest or as much as you like
• 3/4 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup of fresh strawberry

Next, we assemble the ladyfinger & the base. I am using a cake tray for this as I need something to support it. It look something like this..

If you want it to look perfect, you need to make sure the ladyfinger is the same height with the cake tray. But I do not want to cut too much so I just cut the bottom part of the ladyfinger just to give it stability. Next, pour half of the mousse batter and add some slices of strawberry.

Pour the other half of the mousse batter and even it up on top. 

Chill it over night. The longer the better actually. And it is ready to be serve.:)

Have fun trying!