Strawberry cake with chocolate and salted mousse and almond sponge

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

For the almond sponge, sift the flour and the baking powder into a bowl and mix them with the ground almond.

Start beating the egg whites with the salt, then gradually add the sugar, beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the egg yolks while stirring the mixture constantly. Finally, add the almond extract.

Fold the dry ingredients into the whipped eggs, and pour the mixture into a round cake pan (22cm in diameter) that has been greased with butter and sprinkled with flour. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C, and bake the sponge until it turns golden brown. Remove it from the baking pan and let it cool down to room temperature on a cooling rack.

For the mousse, warm 400ml whipping cream in a pan. In another pan, caramelise the sugar together with the butter, stirring constantly. When the caramel is golden brown, add the warm whipping cream, and warm the mixture until it is completely smooth. Remove from the stove and add the chocolate, stirring until it melts completely.

Soak the gelatine leaves in ice-cold water for 4 minutes, then press out the excess water. Warm 100ml whipping cream, remove from the stove and dissolve the gelatine leaves in it. Then mix it into the chocolate mixture. Cool to room temperature.

Whip the remaining whipping cream and fold it into the chocolate mixture.

Cut the sponge into three layers. Place the first layer back into the cake pan, spread 2 tbsp strawberry jam on it and top with some strawberries. Pour some of the mousse onto the strawberries. Place the second layer of almond sponge on top of the first layer and repeat the process, adding the strawberry jam, strawberries and mousse. Repeat with the third sponge layer. Put the cake into the fridge until the mousse sets (several hours). Finish the cake with a layer of mousse.