Strawberry Torte

 

So I had to google the word “torte” to find out what it meant. Don’t get me wrong.... I’ve always had some idea of what a torte was but not exactly what it was. According to Wikipedia it is bazillion different things! The definition I have chosen to accept as the meaning is - “A torte is a rich, usually

multilayered, cake that is filled with butter creams, mousses, jams or fruits.” Mainly because it suits my purposes for this blog today. I reserve the right to change the meaning to suit my needs at a later date.

The reason why I wanted to make this torte is because I had to find a recipe to use up some ladyfingers that my friend Kerry had bought. They didn’t work for her purpose and then nobody wanted to eat them plain because, let’s face it, they aren’t that fantastic on their own. After drifting through Google for about half an hour I decided to make my own creation after Frankensteining several recipes.

It appeared to go over well at the office so I think I did okay. It tasted like strawberry shortcake to me!

 

 

Strawberry Torte

Ingredients

12 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups whipping cream

34 ladyfinger cookies

1 lb fresh strawberries

1/4 cup cranberry juice

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions

In large pan, mash strawberries and sprinkle with a little sugar. Add cranberry juice and cornstarch and bring to a gentle boil. Stir constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool. (Put in freezer or fridge to speed cooling process)

In medium bowl, whip cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together.

In a separate bowl whip 2 cups of whipping cream until stiff peaks form. You do not need to add any additional vanilla or sugar.

Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.

Line a 5 X 14 1/2 inch loaf pan with plastic wrap.
Place a layer of ladyfingers along the bottom of the pan. (This should take 9 ladyfingers) Cover with half of the cream cheese mixture. Then layer half of the strawberry mixture on top of that.
Press another layer of ladyfingers into the strawberry mixture. (This should take about 13 cookies - it takes more because the pan slopes out as it goes up - at least, mine does!) Layer the other half of the cream cheese mixture over these cookies.
Here is where we switch up the layers a bit - instead of putting the rest of the strawberries, you are going to put another layer of ladyfingers. (I layered them the opposite way than I did the first two - again because there is more room - so it used 12 cookies) see photo below....

 

First pic is the first layer you put in the pan and the second pic is the last layer you are going to place. Don't worry about them not lining up to cut through - the cookies get squishy so you can cut right through them.

Make sure you press the last layer of cookies down firmly into the cream cheese.

Now, save the remaining strawberry sauce for after you have chilled the torte. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. (I did mine over night and it was okay.)  

Peel off the plastic wrap from the top. Carefully place a tray on top of the torte and invert. Carefully lift off pan then remove plastic wrap.

 Gently spoon remaining strawberry sauce over the top of your torte. Garnish with extra strawberries if you wish. Chill until ready to serve.

I think it would have looked even prettier if I garnished with a little whipped cream but, alas, I did not have any left. I need to get a new camera so the true colors can be seen. It was very pretty! Perfect for a Canada Day dessert.