Strawberry Génoise with Whipped Cream

[Genoise recipe adapted from an old recipe card collected more than twenty years ago]

For the Genoise:
4 eggs
80g caster sugar
110g plain flour
5g corn flour
50g melted butter, cooled

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C.  Line the base of a 20cm (8") round pan with baking paper.  
• Sift plain flour and cornflour together.  Set aside.
• Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring that the base of the bowl does not touch the water.  Beat the egg mixture for about five minutes until warm to the touch. 
• Remove bowl from the saucepan and continue to beat until thick and pale, has tripled in volume and reached "ribbon stage" (when whisk is lifted, the batter slowly falls back onto the surface leaving a trail).  The mixture should now cooled down to room temperature.
• Fold in half the sifted flours, then drizzle in the cooled melted butter around the edges of the mixing bowl (not in the centre which would cause too much air to be lost). Fold in gently but quickly; followed by the vanilla extract. Add in the remaining flour and fold gently.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan and drop the pan on the benchtop twice to eliminated any large air bubbles.
• Bake (on the lower bottom rack) for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Drop the pan from a height of 20cm (this is to prevent the cake from shrinking).
• Cool cake slightly before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Beat eggs and sugar over simmering water ...

until tripled in volume and "ribbon stage"

Syrup: 

20ml water
1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. 
• Add in vanilla extract.  Remove from the heat and let the syrup cool to room temperature. 

Cream:
380g thickened cream, chilled
30g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp powdered gelatin
4 tsp cold water

250g strawberries, hulled and cut into halves

• Sprinkle gelatin over the cold water in a small saucepan.  Let it stand for 5 minutes.
• Place the saucepan over low heat, stir constantly until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat.  Cool.
• Whisk the thickened cream with icing sugar until slightly thickened. Add in gelatin.  Whisk until stiff.

To assemble the cake:

• Slice the cake into 2 equal layers.  
• Brush the cake with the syrup then pipe or spread whipped cream over. Place cut strawberries on top of the cream.  Pipe or spread more cream over strawberries.
• Brush the second layer of cake with syrup, and place over the cream, cut side up.
• Pipe or spread remaining cream on the cake, then place strawberries on top for decoratioin.
• Chill the cake before serving.