The final dish of my meatless menu for the 2011 ZEITmagazin cooking competition is a variation of strawberry. I usually make the cake using rhubarb instead of strawberry and yoghurt for the mousse, but unfortunately the rhubarb season was already over when the competition was held. Because Goji-berries are about the same size as raisins, I used them similarly by soaking them in rum and adding them afterwards to the sponge cake base. Already in the cake alone there are three variations of strawberry present: diced and orange liquer marinated strawberry pieces, a light strawberry-yoghurt mousse and a quarter of raw strawberry at the top.

Next to the cake I added a coulis with some rosewater, which – used carefully – really emphasizes the fruity taste of the strawberry. The sorbet is based on a recipe by David Lebovitz. I used less sugar to keep the sorbet more refreshing. I also included a pinch of vanilla. You can definitely taste that something is there, but you will never find out its vanilla. Similarly to rosewater, the flowery note of the vanilla also enhances the fruity taste of the strawberry. Don’t panic if the color of your sorbet is different to the one depicted. I always get a new color when making this sorbet because strawberries and rosé wines have quite a big color range. I also wanted to have a crispy component on the plate, so I experimented with different chips. The best result came with this tuile, where I added some pink pepper. Pink pepper is sweet too and works really well with strawberry, so it was a nice complement.

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