June is one of my favorite months and not just because it’s my birth month! These early summer days are glorious as they’re not too hot yet, absolutely lovely for outdoor hangouts. Trees are covered in bright green foliage, flowers are blooming in the gardens, birds are chirping everywhere…. And, produce stalls and markets have all kinds of fruits in abundance. As I was shopping for something else the other day, I spied the most enticing looking strawberries. Once I saw them I couldn’t look away – they were luscious, bright red, juicy, in perfect ripe condition. I couldn’t resist and ended up coming home with two pounds! What else is summer for, if not spontaneity and making use of happy opportunities? I had just the thing in mind for them, a light strawberry cake with Chantilly cream, inspired by Swedish midsummer cakes.

I have a fascination for midsummer since childhood. Back then I had read a British children’s book where the main character, a little girl, was able to see fairies that lived in their garden because she was born on Midsummer’s Eve. I was crushed that I had missed that magical opportunity because I was born just a couple of days later. Anyway, somehow even after all these years I still associate midsummer with some special qualities. I like the Swedish Midsummer’s festival in New York that involves wearing crowns of flowers and dancing around a maypole, and I love how the Swedes make use of summer berries for a strawberry cake in honor of the longest day of the year.

The strawberry cake is easy to make, it’s simple, light and airy. It doesn’t require time-consuming fancy decorations yet comes out looking beautiful once you whip up some cream, lather it on top and then place those gorgeous luscious strawberries in whatever way you want. You could go all out with fancy decorating of course, but I think in the spirit of carefree summer days simple and rustic works best. Make an easy custard creme and place it in the middle layer, along with sliced strawberries before decorating, and you’ll have the best summer cake!

Tips and words of caution:

While you can bake the cake a day ahead of when you’re planning to serve it, I recommend that you not. It’s best eaten the same day. The cake settles a bit the next day and you lose the fresh, light airy quality. If you must bake the day before, leave it outside at room temperature (don’t refrigerate as it will dry out).

The day of, make the custard and whip up Chantilly cream. You can refrigerate these for a couple of hours if needed, and add to the room-temperature cake shortly before you plan to serve it. If you decorate the cake and leave it outside all day before serving, the cream will melt in the heat and your beautiful result may turn into a sad gob.

If you want to add sliced (instead of whole) strawberries to the top, do so a little before you plan to serve the cake so that they’ll stay fresh looking. I used a mix of whole and cut-in-half strawberries.

For the cake itself use cake flour if you’re able to find it easily, as it will produce a softer, more delicate cake with small crumbs. If you can’t find cake flour, substitute all-purpose flour; the cake will still be good, just a little denser.

And lastly, if you’re concerned about using toxic products that might be harmful for your health, pay attention to the parchment paper you use for baking. Many parchment papers are bleached, coated with toxic chemicals like quilon that release harmful chemicals when heated. I used parchment paper from the If You Care brand for baking my strawberry cake.